Hi, does anyone know any details about being a working farm?
In my area, if you live on one, you can legally bake "non-hazardous" foods in your home kitchen!
Are any of you living in this situation and could give me some advice?
(I have a potential working farm here, and would love to be official)
Thank you very much,
Mary
I think this is really going to depend on where you live. I live in NC and the same people that inspect farms inspect home kitchens, so that may be true, but I am unsure. Good luck!
It definitely depends on where you live. In Virginia, in my county, we are regulated by the Department of Agriculture and they do inspections too. I just sent off for all the info I need, so hopefully I can get the ball rolling on this soon!!
Everyone's right...it depends on where you live. Sometimes you can bake non hazardous foods out of your kitchen as long as you list all the ingredients & put a label on the food that says: This was made from a home kitchen...or something to that effect.
Can you give me any ideas of where to check (in my state/area) on what is legal and what is not. Crazy rules!! I like the days when you could bake what ever and give it to whoever 
You can certainly bake and give it away with no problems. It's when you start selling and advertising that you may run into some trouble. Check with your local health department or chamber of commerce. The Small Business Association in your area may be able to lead you in the right direction too.
I technically own a "working farm"...I sell eggs, baked goods and organic vegetables, but have no livestock other than chickens and goats. In Pennsylvania, I still needed to have a license and a food safety certificate to sell the baked goods and the eggs. PA is also funny about what exactly constitutes "safe baked goods". I'm not suppose to sell cheesecakes, cakes with dairy fillings or frostings, cream pies, anything with meringue...you get the idea, from my home. Crazy! Check with your state's department of agriculture and your local health department and hopefully they'll be able to help you.
Interesting potential loophole for those in New York State...sales of *wholesale* cakes not requiring refrigeration and cookies in NYS are okay from your own home, but *retail* sales are not okay. Wholesale is under Agriculture and Markets, and cakes and cookies are exempt from licensing; but retail sales fall under the Dep't of Health which will not inspect or license a home-based anything. So seems like the thing to do would be to hook up with a retailer of any kind -- caterer, hotel, candy store, etc. -- and sell to them during the "home-based" portion of your cake life. I just called both Health and Agriculture and Markets to confirm, BTW.
waltz - I am from upstate NY and you are right. I knew a lady that sold Italian cookies from her home. She advertised as "licensed kitchen" and even sold baked goods at craft fairs. I don't remember if she called it "wholesale" though. I am in Maryland now, I wanna go home to sell some cookies (eventually)!
I am from western New York. So to clarify, I really can't sell my cakes LEGALLY to friends and family because they are not reselling them? I read somewhere in another post that as long as they are under $500 its ok. Do you know if that's true or not?
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