What Is Cottage Food

A cottage food production may not sell to customers potentially hazardous foods.

What is cottage food. The cottage food bill allows food entrepreneurs to operate small food businesses and produce a variety of food products that are low risk from a food safety standpoint if prepared properly in a private home kitchen while protecting public health to the greatest extent possible. A cottage food production operation is defined in chapter 3715 of the ohio revised code to mean a person who in the person s home produces food items that are not potentially hazardous foods including bakery products jams jellies candy fruit butter and similar products specified in rules. A cottage food product is a non potentially hazardous food that is sold in maryland directly to a consumer from a residence at a farmers market at a public event by personal delivery or by mail delivery.

Here s our list of 31 cottage food businesses you can start right away that operate within the restrictions of the cottage food laws in most states. The allowable products list is based on the food safety risk level. While cottage food laws allow a person to legally bake and prepare certain foods in their home kitchens and sell them on a small scale typically at farmers markets and direct to other consumers very few states allow them to sell to restaurants and grocery stores.

Cottage food laws are basically laws that allow small time producers to use appliances in their homes to bake cook can pickle dry or candy certain low risk foods for sale. Cottage food operations pdf cottage food approved food list pdf registration and permit requirements pdf cdph is in the process of reviewing and updating the cottage food operator frequently asked questions document. A cottage food operation must comply with all applicable county and municipal laws and ordinances regulating the preparation processing storage and sale of cottage food products.

Bakeries are generally pretty sound structures for a food business because the costs of the core ingredients are so low. A potentially hazardous food phf is a food that requires time and temperature control for safety tcs to limit pathogen growth or toxin production. Breads biscuits donuts and bagels.

We will post the updated document as soon as possible. Cottage foods must be properly packaged and labeled. Approved cottage food is to be sold at a farmers market with one exception.

The main ingredient is described as an agricultural product food that is the defining or distinctive ingredient in a cottage food product. Cottage food operators can serve free samples for tasting but the samples must be prepackaged. The exception is for cottage food operations that have a locally grown agriculture product from their farm as the main ingredient.