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Yes, as long as the sales are face-to-face, and you are selling items that are on the list of allowed foods, you should be fine.

Agnes, I don’t like being the bearer of bad news, but I have to be honest by saying that aside from you moving to a another county, or getting the law in Miami-Dade changed, there is not a way for you to legally sell your homemade goods. You need a license and need to be making your items in a commercial kitchen, unless you want to run your b…[Read more]

Yeah I know. Aside from pushing through an amendment in the next legislative session (will take awhile), I’d say you have two options, both of which existed before these cottage food laws came into place. The first is to start a regular food business. Yes it is more expensive, and you do have to make everything out of a commercial kitchen, but the…[Read more]

Tom, the caramel is fine, but cutting the apple is not. Cut fruit is not a cottage food unless it is baked or prepared in such a way that it no longer needs refrigeration. You need a regular food license to do this.

Jennifer, I think you’d just be best to call your health department. Miami-Dade is an exception… most counties are allowing CFOs. I’ve already talked with someone who is interested in amended the law next year… clearly Florida needs it!

No, pickled items are not allowed in Florida. Sorry!

You should be fine with the herbs (although there may be some restrictions on certain medicinal herbs), and the oils might be fine too. You’d be best off to contact the department directly about those items: 850-245-5520

No you do not, but many people recommend getting liability insurance to protect yourself. It just depends on how big your business is, who you’re selling to, and how comfortable you are that nobody would want to sue you. Generally, this kind of insurance costs between $200 – $400 per year, and one common option is the FLIP Program.

You do not need to get registered… you just need to understand the rules and you can start immediately. I don’t know if there’s any way to “prove” that you are a cottage food operation, other than that you may need to get a business license from your county — at least that would show that you are a business.

Sonja, one of the reasons cottage food laws were created was to help entrepreneurs test out their business idea without going through the whole process of becoming a commercial food processor.

You should know that cottage foods cannot be temperature controlled, and therefore prepared soup would not fall under the cottage food law. If you still…[Read more]