Hi CC friends.

Could you please tell me what Cottage Industry Criteria is and why we would be allowed to bake at home under that instead of being licensed?

I do not understand what that is all about.

Kathy

Oh, me too! I don't understand this and would live to know!

As far as I know, the Cottage Food Industry law is only in the state of Ohio.

Sorry

Laura.

The lady I used to work for had a cottage business, I was never really sure what that meant? We live/work in Tennessee.

A cottage business is a general term for a home-based business, which you can probably find in any state. I did a google search for "cottage industry business" and found lots of links that give more information on those.

I think the OP was asking about the cottage FOOD laws, which in the state of Ohio allows us to bake at home, without a license, and sell to the public, as long as we follow a set of rules (no perishable fillings, must label food properly, etc). I'm not aware of any other states that have a similar law, from discussions I've read on this site over the last year or so, although I certainly don't know for sure that there aren't any others . . .

Laura.

EDIT: Here's a link to the Ohio Dept of Agriculture page about it:

http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/pubs/divs/food/curr/cottage/food-cottageindex.stm

I am working under a similar law in my county. Although I am not licensed I am legal to sell cakes from home. ONLY cakes. The health dept. deems cakes to be a low risk item and does not govern them. I am however in the process of building a separate kitchen just for my own peace of mind as I do have pets and also just so I can have the room to "do my thing".

Joanne

Thanks for your input. The explanation helped me a lot to understand it better.

Kathy