James McKenna

I haven’t heard of someone getting a barcode, but I’m sure it has been necessary for some indirect sales. If it were me, I’d wait until you have deals with the retail stores, and they can let you know if you need a barcode. They may not require one, or they may put a sticker on themselves.

I don’t know and it’s best to talk to your environmental health dept. I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to worry about the ink on your labels. As for the packaging, I think it wouldn’t need to be food safe, but if you’re selling the items in the box, then maybe there’s a rule out there that states that it must be safe.

I don’t think they are. You can check with your environmental health dept, but they aren’t on the list so I highly doubt they will be allowed. (even though they are the combination of two allowed items)

A cottage food operation is only for someone preparing and packaging products in their home kitchen, and then selling them to consumers for consumption outside of the home. I’m not sure if home cooking classes are even possible in CA, but you can talk to your health dept to see what the options are.

Are the boxes for transport? If so, I dont think it needs to be food grade. From the CDPH pamhplet #12 http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/fdbCFOlabel.pdf it seems like you only need food grade ink and packaging if it TOUCHES the food or PENETRATES the packaging.

*TINLA: This is not legal advice

I believe it’s the state that issues seller permits, but I’m not sure if you need one. I know some counties require them, and fortunately they’re free. Even if your county doesn’t require them, a venue you sell at might require them. I know some CFOs get one just in case. The environmental health dept can tell you if they require thme.

You can run it as a partnership, but each business has the $45,000 sales restriction, so that’d be $22,500 of sales (not profit) max per person.

The requirements don’t change much for Class B. You need to get an inspection so you can sell to stores and restaurants, and you can only do those indirect sales within your county, unless another county…[Read more]

To make even $1 of profit, you need to follow the cottage food law described on this site. That will entail talking to the health dept, registering, submitting labels, etc.
http://forrager.com/law/california/

Sorry, you can’t sell homemade salsa in CA. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Thanks David – even though it wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear ;). What kind of license would I need to obtain to be able to sell homemade salsa at fairs and festivals?

That’s correct — salsa is not allowed.

I did research on it awhile ago, and I recall experts saying that having an LLC doesn’t completely eliminate the owner’s liability. I’m not sure what that refers to, however. I know that an LLC protects the owners much more than a DBA, but the bigger question is whether or not protection is really necessary. If you follow all of the rules, on what…[Read more]

I’m not sure if they would be legal, though I’d like to know the answer to that question. My guess is that they are not, because everyone I know that is required to put nutrition info on their label has sent a sample into a lab. The calculators are still pretty accurate and are good for quickly determining the approximate nutrition facts for a recipe.