This May Help Those Stuck With Licensing Issues...
Business By LizzyLaw06 Updated 27 Aug 2009 , 8:51pm by kelleym
So I thought i'd pass some information i got from my county Dept of Health and State of Ohio Dept of Agriculture...
When was looking into legally selling my cakes within my state sites i found a no pet rule to licensing my kitchen. being that i have pets i refused to accept this was my dead end. so i started emailing. Got an answer back from Dept of Agri saying that i would have to be licensed with inspection if i was using "potentially harmful products" that would require refrigeration to keep bacteria from growing. Said that usually the butter in the icing is usually what causes cakes to require to stay in the refrigerator. Said that if i use crisco(which i do) then i may not need the inspection or licence. Said that that would consider me as a "cottage production" which was the loophole i needed. In order for me to be a legal cottage food producer i have to label my food with an ingredient list with "this product is home made" on the label as well, therefore being my legal warning to the consumer.
I know every state is different, but i thought if some other people here were having similar issues then maybe they could take this info the their state and see if there is something similar that would help!
I looked in to the cottage production a few weeks ago, but it's a no go in SC 
What about eggs though??? I'm pretty sure they would be considered potentially harzardous wouldn't they???
What about fillings? Some of them need refridgeration too
What about eggs though??? I'm pretty sure they would be considered potentially harzardous wouldn't they???
I mean basically all food can be hazardous. Health departments draw the line around like cream cheese, whipped cream and fruit items that have to be kept chilled--when we're talking about cakes that is. They have lots more lines but this is not about chopped steak or sushi fish or anything.
Eggs cooked in a cake or icing do not have to kept refrigerated.
There's a 4 hour window--I always think of it as a 2-hour window because I try to allow 2 hours for the cake to have display and serve time--but anyway--you have to handle cream cheese filling and cheesecake and fresh fruit differently than you do a buttercream filled fondant covered cake-those potentially hazardous items have a 4-hour window to be outside of a 40 degree environment.
And honestly some people don't know this. I have cake buddies who say they leave thier cream cheese out for days before they use it--whaaaat? They leave the cream cheese out overnight so they can use first thing in the morning. That's horribly wrong by Health Department standards.
Yes Ohio is not just easy it is loose as a goose by comparison to the rest of the country. But even they draw the line at cream cheese etc. stuff.
In my state of MA we can't sell perishables either. Having butter in the icing is not what makes it perishable though.
My recipe has butter in it, but the PH when tested came back at a safe "shelf stable" level. You need to have the correct fat/sugar ratio for it to pass the PH test. I had to work on my recipe to get it approved. It wouldn't surprise me if each state's PH requirement were different though.
Ask to have your recipes tested, in fact I didn't have a choice, mine needed to be approved before my license was approved.
I live in SC and I talked to a lady at DHEC. She said as long as I didn't do advertising, didn't do fillings, and only sold to friends and family (not friend of a friend), then I could do my practicing until I got good enough to open a shop of something. But if I passed out 1 business card or sold to a friend of friend that I didn't know it would make it all illegal. I am looking into trying to find a rental kitchen.
To the OP or anyone else with any knowledge:
New to cake making and the forum,
I'm confused how they are allowing you to run a cottage business in Ohio with the pets as the rules for baking under a cottage business specifically state 'no pets in the home.'
I too live in Ohio and I have pets and I would like to start a cake business. Please tell me who you talked to at the State Dept. of Ag because I would really like to be able to sell some cakes 
Any information on how I can make this happen would be great!
In Ohio, "Cottage Foods" and "Home Bakeries" are two separate things.
In Ohio, you may sell certain homemade foods without license or inspection. These foods must be labeled. This is called operating under "Cottage Foods".
You can obtain a "Home Bakery" license for $10 which is the one that restricts you to no pets in the home, but also allows you to sell a wider range of foods.
Go to this link and on the left, click on 'Fact Sheets' for both 'Cottage Foods' and 'Home Bakeries'
http://www.agri.ohio.gov/foodsafety/#tog
This page states the requirements for a Home Bakery (no pets, no carpet in kitchen):
http://www.agri.ohio.gov/apps/odalicensing/odalicensing.aspx?div=Food%20Safety
As always, contact your local Dept. of Ag office to confirm this information for yourself.
God bless Ohio! 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%