Fyi: Stricter Federal Food Safety Rules May Pass This Year
Business By jason_kraft Updated 10 Oct 2010 , 4:44am by madgeowens
The US Senate is considering bill S.510 - the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act - for a possible vote this fall. This bill provides $1.6 billion for enforcement of food safety laws at the federal, state, and local levels, and it gives the FDA broad authority over food safety. Most of the impact will be on farmers, but small food service businesses could see stepped-up enforcement.
On the plus side, S.510 could potentially be an opportunity to create a legal framework for home-based food service businesses at the federal level.
After the election, I recommend contacting your US senator and asking them to propose an amendment to this bill creating a "cottage food" license allowing food to be sold from residential kitchens under the authority of the FDA. The additional revenue from this new license could partially offset the cost of the bill. The associated House bill (HR 2749) exempts cottage food processors from federal guidelines, but S.510 does not. IMO the creation of a specific license would be stronger language and more likely to be adopted by states than an exemption (since state guidelines are not mentioned in HR 2749).
Note that this bill could be passed during the lame-duck session, so even if your senator loses the election they would still be able to amend the bill until Jan 3rd.
How to contact your senator:
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
S.510 info:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s510/show
Recent article:
http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=20898
Thank you for sharing this information with us.
Theresa 
Got a heads up from my health inspector that in Canada next year the bylaw inspectors will be checking out all kitchens and cake shops and we will have another charge of $200 per yr added to our licience. We cant seem to win they want small business but keep making it harder.
exactly....and they are following that tact here in the states.........hoping next month takes care of that...elections..
exactly....and they are following that tact here in the states.........hoping next month takes care of that...elections..
After the recent salmonella scare there's no way a new food safety bill will fail to pass, regardless of who is in office. In any case, it's looking like this bill will be voted on during the lame-duck session, before any new senators have been sworn in.
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