Laureen Pittman

This is a fantastic advancement to the cottage food law! Good work Rebecca and team. Hopefully the governor signs it soon.

Although this is a dramatic improvement to the current cottage food law, and it represents a breakthrough in a state that has consistently been stubborn, I don’t think this can be properly termed a food freedom initiative. I…[Read more]

The health dept could fine you, but I’m not sure if they will take immediate action. But once you go over the limit you are no longer operating as a home kitchen operation.

Here are some ideas for finding a commercial kitchen: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial-kitchen

I don’t think you can sell from your retail store, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask the ag dept to see if they will allow it.

You need to contact your health or ag dept. The requirements are different in every area.

Yes, you can do that with the cottage food law. Here is some info about repackaging: http://forrager.com/faq/#repackaging

I don’t think many, if any, counties allow meringue powder. Other CFOs who are using it may be doing so illegally.

Rules are often different for B&Bs. I’m not an expert on those laws, though I’ve heard that laws usually only allow B&Bs to offer food to customers on their premises. Some states don’t allow B&Bs to sell food to their own customers (even though they can serve the same food to them onsite).

Assuming that’s the case, then you probably need to…[Read more]

You ultimately need to move production to a commercial kitchen. But I’d recommend focusing on getting it to take off before worrying about that.

The requirements are listed on this page: http://forrager.com/law/florida/
Please let me know if you have more questions.

There is no license from the health or ag dept, but there are allowances for selling cottage foods, as described on this page: http://forrager.com/law/south-dakota/

No — you need to prepare it in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

1. I’d be surprised if such a list exists. You will probably need to call each area to find which ones will allow your business.
2. It sounds like you already have a good idea for what’s required, generally speaking. I can’t help you beyond that because each area has different requirements. You need to contact the local officials to get…[Read more]

No. It refers to things like maple syrup and sorghum syrup.

I believe you need to use a commercial kitchen to do that. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Selling icing sheets should be allowed in most states, but selling online is not. You probably need to produce these in a commercial kitchen and contact your health dept for the necessary licenses.

Perfect! I’m glad you got it to work. I haven’t heard of that error before so it will be interesting to see if someone else has the problem.

Hmm…. I just tested this and it worked. Can you give me some more information? First of all, are you using this page to add your CFO: http://forrager.com/add-cfo/

If so, I assume you are adding something to all of the required fields? And if yes, then can you tell me what you’re putting in each field? (except your email address — you don’t…[Read more]

Angela, I haven’t heard of an update. My response to Aimee above is still as much as I know. If you talk to the ag dept and can post an update, that would be much appreciated!

It should be fairly simple to sell unopened and commercially-prepackaged items, as long as they do not need to be refrigerated, but you may need some sort of permit from the ag dept to do so. You should not need to use a commercial kitchen to do this.