Think we could do it if there were enough of us?? Where would we start? Any ideas?

I'll sign that petition.

I'm with you in a heartbeat!!!!

I think it begins with a petition to the govenor

Count me in!

I think a call to your local congressperson would be the ideal starting place. Great idea!

If you go to the State of MN website, go to the link for "How a Bill becomes a Law"...

Few things, the reality of it getting passed in MN is next to impossible given the party that currently is in charge of the House and Senate here. They'll happily ADD rules and regulations to make it more difficult to get into business, not decrease them (if you saw the list of stuff that was railroaded through this last year, you'll gasp, it's not just the absurdity of things like seatbelt primary offense, and you're a baby in the car until age 9, it's a LOT of other stuff that didn't get much press- the Gov's veto pen didn't come out NEARLY enough for how much stuff got added). Start with contacting your local Represenative and Senator's respective offices. Chances are you're going to need to get the lobbying power behind you (aka grease the wheels you could say, Rodney Dangerfield sort of nailed this point in "Back to School"..), but you'll need support of the pro's (Restaurant Assn., RBA, etc.)... You also need to have agreement about what specifically you're wanting changed about food code here (it's really not THAT difficult to become licensed here!). You also need to basically write the legislation yourself and get Rep's and Senators to sign on as sponsors of the bill and get it through House & Senate Finance Committee, Commerce Committee, Ag Committee, and Health Committee before it gets to the floor of the House and Senate.

Also, think about the person you know whose food you'd want to eat the least because of their handling skills, maybe the gal who has the dogs that they wipe goobers and butts without washing their hands before they go back to cooking (know someone like this..)... Now, imagine that same person starts baking and selling cakes out of their home without an inspection or even with an inspection (pets can get put in the basement for the time the inspector is there of course but of course not the rest of the time)...And then Little Johnny who is having his Golden Birthday party, his Mom orders a cake from this baker because her husband works with the gal, gets the cake home, Johnny takes one bite and goes into anaphalactic (sp?) shock because it has pet dander and he's intensely allergic to dogs which would NOT be listed on the ingredients list. It's the law of "Unintended Consequences", and sure, an extreme example, but food codes are in place for a reason!

There is a reason that there is a uniform standard for all food businesses being licensed through the state (there are also food businesses only licensed through their respective county which the respective county has uniform standards). The requirements are not as difficult as they might seem, but also, cities have their own ordinances so for many, they just need to start with simply changing their city codes.

Good luck!

Did the FL. law change? I currently live in Virginia where it is ok to bake from home. However, we are probably moving to FL where I didn't think it was allowed. Please let me know if somehow I could bake from home in Fl. Thanks!

Good points Couture. I was thinking yesterday that with several recent scares due to tainted food/facilities, that this project might be very difficult to get through the proper channels.

I checked out your website...any news on setting up your new kitchen yet?

I'd definitely be interested in getting involved in this!

I haven't heard of any law changes.. did fl law change? If so I'm getting my rent deposit back..lol