Alicia

Yes, you must follow all of the requirements on this page, which includes getting registered with the ag dept. How long you run your business for is insignificant. You do not need to get your kitchen inspected, but I’m not sure what other local requirements you will have to follow. http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Your products can’t have any type of meat in them.

If you’re just using a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract in a cookie recipe, then you don’t need to worry about it. But if it’s a significant amount of alcohol, then you need to talk to your health dept to learn about what permits are necessary.

You won’t be able to use the cottage food law and make your ice pops at home. You should probably double check to make sure that that Berkeley business is actually legal. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

The limit isn’t actively regulated, but a health or ag dept could shut down an operation if it was clear that they were making too much. I’d say it’s more self-regulated, in that people know if they make more than $15K then they’re doing something illegal. That limitation is baked right into Florida’s law, so an amendment to the law would need to…[Read more]

That’s correct.

You wouldn’t be using this cottage food law for that kind of business. I’m not sure what you need, but your health dept should know.

It should be true, but there are some counties with weird ordinances. You can check with your local ag dept, but usually you don’t need a license from them to sell produce. You may need a business license or something else from other depts in your county, though.

As far as I know, owning a smoothie shop will require you to setup a commercial kitchen, with inspections from the health dept. As long as you’re going to do all of that, you might as well also use it for making your dried fruit. I don’t think your shop can sell homemade goods.

Bake sales like this may be possible, but it’s up to your health dept to draw the lines for what’s allowed.

I really don’t know. My guess is that the added processing would require you to make it in a commercial kitchen. I doubt you’ll be able to find specific info about creamed honey online — you should just talk to the dept.

I think you might be referring to ServSafe’s online course, in which case you should contact them for help. The ag or health dept is in charge of in-person training courses.

One thing that complicates things is that CFOs do not need a permit from the ag dept, so most probably don’t check with the ag dept before starting their business. But from what I’ve heard, in Miami-Dade a CFO would get stopped if an inspector walked through the market.

It is actually what the law doesn’t state that matters. It doesn’t say that…[Read more]

I assume you’re talking about an online demo on some other website. I can’t help with other sites but I can tell you that you won’t be able to use Flash with an iPhone. You should contact that website’s support team if you can’t access it. I don’t have county-specific info for courses in Alabama. Sorry that I can’t be of much help.