David Crabill
@david
active 4 days, 9 hours agoForum Replies Created
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Sonja, one of the reasons cottage food laws were created was to help entrepreneurs test out their business idea without going through the whole process of becoming a commercial food processor.
You should know that cottage foods cannot be temperature controlled, and therefore prepared soup would not fall under the cottage food law. If you still wanted to test out your idea, you could do this by making dry soup mixes and selling those instead.
The general idea behind the sale limitation of $15,000 is that once you get to that point, you’re ready to get licensed as a commercial food processor.
Nita, you are not required to get insurance, but many cottage food businesses do get some to protect themselves, just in case anything goes wrong. In Florida, you’re not allowed to do indirect sales like selling to a store so they can resell your products.
Annette, all of the info I know is on the Nevada page. Unfortunately, the government agencies haven’t put much info online yet. You should call the health department in your county and see if they know about the law yet. They are the ones that need to get you registered.
You need to be meeting the buyer, face-to-face, and transferring the product and money in-person. As long as you’re doing that, you’re good! So yes, you can take an order agreement by email as long as you meet them.
Mary Jane, maybe I can help clarify from what I think is happening. It’s actually all good!
HB 1094 has already passed and will go into effect in November, as you know. The other bill, SB 920, has not yet been passed, as far as I know. But the reason it’s also being considered is because it doesn’t have some of the limitations that HB 1094 does. I don’t think it would replace HB 1094: it would just be another option for a producer.
SB 920 would not have the $20,000 sales limit and would allow producers to sell many other types of food. So if HB 1094 didn’t apply to someone, they could use SB 920 instead, which is more expensive due to the lack of sales limitations and the health inspection requirement.
Angelica, yes, they should be allowed.
Yes, you are absolutely reading that right in terms of your state’s requirements. You should check with your city or county though (probably the planning division)… they may have some requirements. For instance, you might have to get a standard business license, which is usually easy and inexpensive.
Erin, as you deduced, this would be classified as an indirect sale. I understand your desire to support the business, but the intention of the law is that the end-consumer would meet the producer. I’d imagine that this wouldn’t be the case with your gift boxes. Best of luck!
It depends on the type of sale. If it’s for your personal profit, then yes, technically you’d need be registered. However, as a one-time thing at such a spontaneous event, it really wouldn’t make sense for you to go through that process. I would think you’d be fine just selling under the table.
Generally speaking, pet treats have special requirements and are not allowed in the cottage food industry. Technically, a state could allow them, but I haven’t seen one that has yet. Often the phrase “food for human consumption” is in the law language. You could try checking with your ag or health dept though and see what they say.
