Deborah Lott

Lisa, the law says that you can sell at “a municipal, county, or nonprofit fair, festival, or event”. You can also sell at farmers markets. All other types of events are not allowed. So if it is not run by the local govt, or if it is not run by a non-profit, or if it is not a farmers market, then you can’t sell at it.

It’s true that lobbying plays a big part in the strictness of Texas. However, when it comes to canned goods, botulism is a major concern.

You would need to use a commercial kitchen and go through a much different, and much more complicated, process of getting a license. Instead of searching for how to sell tea, simply search for how to start a food business in Texas. The rules are similar for all food businesses. You should also talk to your health dept about what you need.

I don’t think any savory pies would be allowed. You cannot use meat or cheese in your items. If you make a savory pie that does not require refrigeration, it may be allowed. Otherwise, you need to prepare your pies in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I’m not sure… you will need to contact the health dept.

Yes, that is considered a cottage food, and no, you can’t sell it on Etsy unless you are using a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I am trying to help my mother in law find out if it would be legal to package her dry hot chocolate mix and sell it on Etsy. Is it considered a cottage food if no cooking is involved?

You need to use a commercial kitchen to produce salads, and I’m not sure if they’re taxable. You will need to contact the health dept. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Even when an item is given away for free at a public venue, it could potentially pose a risk to the public health. I doubt you can do coffee or tea, but it might not be too hard to acquire the permit to make those and offer them. For water, I really have no idea, but I’d like to think that that would be fine, assuming it is city water. Obviously,…[Read more]

The only legal way to sell homemade food online is to build a commercial kitchen in your home, have the health dept approve and inspect it, and use that to start your commercial food business. I’d highly recommend finding an already existing commercial kitchen instead. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Generally speaking, for Texas, if it’s not on the allowed list (as specified in the law), then it’s probably not allowed at all. You can check with the health dept about items that aren’t on the allowed list, but they’ll probably say that you need to produce them in a commercial kitchen.

If you’ve remove it from its package, I don’t think you can even sell commercially-prepared dry pasta.