Judy Masters Fluke

Great! Thank you!

I believe that your zoning manager can prevent your home business, but in this case, it sounds like he may just be unfamiliar with the law. I’d recommend you call the state ag dept and try to connect the person there with your zoning manager, so he can understand that these home businesses are legal, and even common.

Unless there is some special permit for repackaging commercially-produced foods, I think you would at least need to become a limited food establishment — I think those foods would be allowed, but I’m not completely sure. It’s best to contact the ag dept directly and ask them about your specific situation.

You need a commercial kitchen to do this, and it wouldn’t fall under the cottage food law. It’s only possible to do at home if you build a commercial kitchen on your property. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Jenn, usually the only way to find info about this is to call the govt dept directly.

Jay, I’m pretty sure that your equipment doesn’t need to follow commercial standards. You should call the ag dept to make sure.

You should be able to, but there are strict standards to abide by. What I’ve heard from the ag dept is overviewed in the limitations section: http://forrager.com/law/pennsylvania/#limitations

You should be able to, but there are strict standards to abide by. What I heard from the ag dept is overviewed in the limitations section: http://forrager.com/law/pennsylvania/#limitations

Some counties in some states (not sure about PA) offer temporary event permits that allow someone to sell certain types of homemade food for a short period of time. If your county (ag or health dept) doesn’t offer that, then you would need to setup yourself as a Limited Food Establishment: http://forrager.com/law/pennsylvania/

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet heard about the specific requirements in PA. Here is some general info about sales tax: http://forrager.com/faq/#sales-tax

You will need to pay yearly income taxes, as you would with any business. I believe most exemptions revolve around sales tax, and your ag dept might be able to guide you to the correct dept for tax info.

You should talk with your health dept to get the proper license. You wouldn’t need to bother with the special licensing for Limited Food Establishments since you wouldn’t be using your home kitchen to produce your items.

The letter of the law is that pets cannot ever be anywhere in the building where production is taking place, regardless of where the pets have access. I’ve not sure if your health dept would overlook that or not.

There is probably somewhere in the food code that says something about commercial licensing and commercial kitchens, and it may even list some requirements about how producers handle food, but you really won’t be able to get the full scoop without talking to them directly.

I don’t think it will matter that the extra building is almost a house.…[Read more]

I don’t think you can use the cottage food law, since the kitchen is not in your primary residence. You should call the health dept and ask if they would allow it.

You definitely need to call your health dept before spending a ton of money on this. I don’t think you can use the cottage food law, since it’s not the kitchen in your primary residence. You can probably do this with a commercial license if you make that building into a commercial kitchen, but you need to be aware of all the requirements that go…[Read more]