I have a question to NC home bakers and decorators. I understand that you start with a call to Department of Agriculture? What happens during inspection? And also how to register your name and get license?

I want to know what happens during the inspection also. You have to apply for a business license. There is a form online that you can print out and send in.

The Department of Agriculture DOES NOT issue licenses. They perform inspections. Your license is called a " priviledge" license and will come from either your town or your county or both.

The inspection in NC is a joke. The only requirements are that you have no indoor pets and either have city water or tested well water.

My inspection was not a joke at all! I was inspected VERY THOROUGHLY.....the only real problem I had was that some of my cake supplies, ex: colors and dusts were not in an individual labeled container...the *2* inspectors who came to my home informed me that I needed to do that asap.

They checked into my refrigerator, my cake closet, my supplies, my water....checked for clean surfaces...I was not worried, I had cleaned for 3 days before!

All in all, I was okay with that they requested.

Do they provide a list of the things that they are looking for? What county are you located in country cakes?

I know nothing stored on the floor. Lables on everything. Cleanliness. Thermometers in fridges. Anything else?

About to be inspected soon.

My inspection is 20 days away! Any insight, advice would be appreciated. I am in Guilford Co (different inspectors go to different areas).

I live in Beaufort County. Best of luck with your inspections!

Midnight Snack cake...sorry....I forgot to read your post! YES, they will look for ALL THAT AND MORE. CLEAN, CLEAN AND CLEAN. You can not clean enough. Label and make sure that it's all LABELED. Be very organized with all your items.....mine were sticklers for making sure that the fridge had the correct temp, and the water too....I am on county water...but they still wanted to do a test....then decided against it. I am assuming that they just figured county water, okay...whatever......they really were thorough in looking for it all to be CLEAN AND LABELED AND ORGANIZED. HTH.

i'm about to call to get inspected as well! i'm in mecklenburg county. is there a cost, is so, how much? how much time from when you placed the call til they actually came to your house? if i have a fridge in my garage that i store my cakes, is that ok? is it ok if my flour, sugar, etc. are kept in the bags that they came in or should i put them in containers? i wish there was a checklist! thanks for your help.

I'm in buncombe county and they were very thorough as well. Labeling was the main thing. But they checked around faucets to make sure no gunk was there, gaskets on your frig, ovens, storage to make sure your supplies were in air tight containers. My inspector also looked to make sure I had disposable gloves.

My point is ...the department of agriculture does not report one single home baker failing their inspection last year. In other words, they may have requests for you, but they don't fail you if you don't comply.

so if they don't fail you, then do they simply have a list of who has gone through the process for the sake of catching those trying to fly under the radar?

That I don't really know, Sorry. My inspector told me she has failed plenty. That's all I can tell you. I know that don't help much. Sorry.

The whole process seems quite ambiguous from what Ive gathered. The document that the lady emailed me from Dept of Agri read like stereo instructions. All I have gathered is have a clean kitchen, no pets inside, nothing on the floor, everything labeled, thermometers in fridge and freezer, cake items separate from home items, disposable gloves, and shatterproof lightbulbs. Missing anything based on your experiences/what you've heard?