Jeanetta

That would not be legal as far as the cottage food laws are concerned. You must use only your own kitchen to prepare cottage foods.

However, I know that personal chef websites are becoming more popular. There may be some way for the family to hire you as their chef, and then you use their kitchen to make them food. So instead of selling them the…[Read more]

Yeah, it is frustrating, but you really can’t move forward without talking to them. You might need to stop by in-person.

Joan, baking for friends and family becomes a business when you start selling your homemade food items to them, or doing monetary transactions for your goods elsewhere. There is no technical definition of a cottage food business, but basically, it’s a for-profit business that sells homemade food products.

If the health dept finds that you are…[Read more]

So sorry for the confusion. “Enacted” means that Missouri does have cottage food laws, but oddly, each county implements them differently. HB 617 was introduced as a way to create a universal cottage food law for the state, and that hasn’t been enacted yet.

But you should talk to your county’s health dept and see if they currently allow you to…[Read more]

Margie, setting up a commercial kitchen in your home is definitely complicated and not many people do it. However, if you can’t get access to another commercial kitchen, or if working out of your home is a must, then putting a commercial kitchen in your home will be the only way to have an unrestricted food business.

A cottage food operation…[Read more]

Syrups are not part of the cottage food law in Illinois. I’m not sure what the rules about production are, but you might start by asking the health department.

Kathleen, you’re right… it is strange that sales are allowed at farmers markets and not from home, and yet, a number of states have restrictions like this. Fortunately most allow sales from home too.

From what I’ve seen, it takes just one person to activate a cottage food law, or an amendment, in a state. Usually it involves finding a…[Read more]