Emma

Vanessa, the food safety certificate that Sonia was referring to is probably a food manager certificate. However, CFOs in Florida aren’t required to get food safety training. If you’d like basic training, you can look up a food handler training course.

You don’t need a license from the ag dept, but you may need other licenses to start your business. You will have to check with local officials for the process of starting a business in your area. http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Samantha, you may need licensing and you need to reach out to your county. You probably don’t need insurance unless a sales venue requires it.
http://forrager.com/faq/#starting
http://forrager.com/faq/#insurance

In Florida, cottage foods cannot require refrigeration, so ice creams aren’t allowed (even non-dairy ones). I also would not expect the ag dept to allow non-dairy creamers. In both cases, the water activity level (aW) of the product would be high and probably potentially hazardous (cottage foods are non-PHFs).

The USDA says that you can still use the word to identify “organic sugar” or other organic products on your ingredients list only, as long as you do the following:

Prevent commingling with non-organic products and contact with prohibited substances.
Meet the USDA organic labeling requirements.
Maintain records for at least three years that…[Read more]

That label wouldn’t be legal. You might be able to use the word “organic” in your ingredients list, if you meet certain requirements. Here’s an overview about organic labeling: http://forrager.com/faq/#organic

The map links to the law page for NY: http://forrager.com/law/new-york/

That page gives a fairly detailed overview of the law and should answer many of your questions. You cannot start an online business from your home kitchen, and if you wanted to start a CFO, you would need to get registered by the ag dept. To start an online food business,…[Read more]

Yes, you would need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You cannot do that type of business from home. Instead, you need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Geani, probably the best thing would be to create two labels for the different types of cupcakes. If you are selling a package that contains both kinds, then I think it’s okay for you to merge them into one label, but not as useful for the consumer. From what I’ve seen in the grocery store, usually the ingredient lists are separated when a package…[Read more]

I’m not sure about buttercream. Florida’s ag dept has said that it prohibits “milk & dairy products”, but they might allow milk and/or butter in a frosting.

Actually the ag dept’s stance on sampling recently changed, and this element got overlooked when I updated that law page a couple weeks ago. Sorry about that!

You can offer samples as long as they are prepackaged in your home kitchen. They don’t need to have individual labels, but you do need to have a fully-labeled product on-hand to show the…[Read more]

You would need to start using a commercial kitchen and get a license from your health dept. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You would need to start using a commercial kitchen and get a license from your health dept. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Yes, you can use all of those methods, but your sales must be made in-person.