Tracy Mason

Yes, that’s correct. Generally, starting a cottage food operation is the cheapest way possible for you to start a food business legally. In terms of the last question, you might want to check out the book “Cooking Up A Business”, by Rachel Hofstetter: http://bestmomproducts.com/top-3-foodie-entrepreneur-tips/
http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Many states would allow this, but in Florida, you can only handle and package your items in your home kitchen.

Basically, your final product needs to be non-potentially hazardous. When you add milk to cake batter and then bake it, it is no longer considered potentially hazardous. When you mix milk into frosting, the sugar stabilizes it and the final frosting product is non-perishable. Ice cream is a potentially hazardous food and cannot go in a cottage…[Read more]

This is an interesting product… haven’t seen something like it before. On your site you say that your creamers come in “liquid or powder”. It does sound like the liquid version would probably not be allowed.

However, you should be okay with the dry version. As long as the consumer is adding the water, there shouldn’t be any issues. I’d imagine…[Read more]

I haven’t seen any rules published by the Ohio ag dept, but generally, you should be individually packaging your samples in your home kitchen, and they should be opened by the consumer. That’s the way a number of other states do it, and you can’t go wrong with that. If you contact the ag dept, maybe their standards would be a bit more lenient…[Read more]

This would probably be fine, especially if you use water instead of milk. Since there’s a very small amount of milk, it’s possible that the sugars in the cookie dough would stabilize it and even that would be okay. The butter shouldn’t be a problem. Obviously you’d need to check with the ag dept. Technically, you should even be able to use…[Read more]

Susy, that’s all correct as far as I know. I haven’t heard anything different.

The list hasn’t been updated and you can request an addition with these links:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/fdbCFOaddfoodrequest.pdf
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/fdbCFOapplication.pdf

In Georgia, it’s fine if you produce your own tea from dried herbs (you can dry them yourself), and it’s also okay if you start with commercial bulk tea as a base. If you’re just reselling commercial tea in smaller amounts (reselling individual unopened packets), you may not need to register as a cottage food operation. You can ask your ag dept if…[Read more]

Hola Haimara, asumiendo que tu torta no requiere refrigeración, toda información respecto a tu negocio suena bien y sin ningún inconveniente. Siempre y cuando tu producto esté apropiadamente etiquetado, no tienes que dar factura por cada venta. Por igual, no necesitas cobrar impuestos.

From the law:

“Farm direct marketer” means an agricultural producer that sells farm direct products or producer processed products directly to the retail consumer.

I take that to mean that anyone can sell these types of goods, including a home gardener. That’s my interpretation — I’m not sure what’s the ag dept’s interpretation is.

I don’t see any problem with that, as long as the food prep isn’t happening in a bedroom.

Irvine, CA? Neither California nor Texas will allow these products, with the exception of almonds, which both states allow.

The list of allowed foods that matters is here, under questions 2 & 3: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/foodsafety/docs/CottageFoodOperation-factsheet.pdf

Ohio’s law used to be more limited and then they passed an amendment that expanded the list of allowed foods. It appears that only foods that are on the list are allowed. I don’t think there’s a reason…[Read more]

I believe you can’t sell dry or prepared tea without a commercial license. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Brownies are a non-potentially hazardous baked good and are allowed.