Sheri Saskowski

I don’t know of anyone who has compiled a list of counties, but perhaps some health dept has one. Try calling up Cook County and seeing if they know more. If you can’t find a list, it’s possible that one doesn’t exist. If you spend the time to create one by contacting every county’s health dept, I’d be happy to incorporate it into the law page so…[Read more]

Can anyone tell me which counties we can operate as a home baker to sell baked goods from home? Im new to this and new to Illinois as well and not sure where to find out which counties allow this. Thank you

I’m not sure if that is allowed under the cottage food law. The law recently changed to give health depts the ability to allow other types of nonperishable foods, so I recommend that you ask your health dept. If you want to pop the popcorn at the market, you wouldn’t be able to use the cottage food law.

It would not be legal. Aside from the fact that your box sale likely wouldn’t sell well without the cookies (the box is not really what you’re selling), typically food laws place the same requirements on publicly-available foods, regardless of whether there is a charge for them or not.

If you’re referring to the Home Kitchen Operation law, that was signed by the governor in 2014. This year’s amendment was also signed a couple months ago. Maybe they were just referring to the fact that they haven’t signed an ordinance?

Sorry Amanda, I don’t know. Have you tried registering via the link above?

Is there a cost to applying for a sales tax identification number?

No, I think all of your production for that business needs to happen in a commercial kitchen.

Iowa doesn’t use the term “cottage food” in their law, though they do allow some types of homemade food to be directly sold. All of the information is based on the resources in the Resources section.

I think that neither of those would be allowed. I’ve never made toffee before, but I always thought that it was made with a stovetop cook process, like most candy. There aren’t too many types of candy that I know of that use a baking cook process, but some do, so that’s why it’s listed as a possibility. I think you will need to use a commercial…[Read more]