Hello! May we have animals in our home if we're baking and selling and operating under the Ohio Cottage Law????   Many thanks!!!!

Hi! Yes, under Cottage Food Law we can bake and sell from our homes if we have animals, but we cannot get a License if we have animals. Therefore, we have to stick to the list of acceptable foods to sell without a license, which does not include cheesecakes or anything refrigerated. I've attached the PDF of Ohio Food Laws. You can also check out the Licensing section of the Ohio Department of Agriculture's page for more information on a Licensed Kitchen. :-) 

http://www.agri.ohio.gov/apps/odalicensing/odalicensing.aspx?div=Food%20Safety (Licensing)

http://www.agri.ohio.gov/foodsafety/docs/cottage_Food_Rules_final6-09.pdf (Food Laws)

Both of these pages are current. Happy baking!

Just a word of caution: It is very difficult to keep a kitchen and products free of pet fur. Even though our permits allow animals (I live in NY), customers can be quite unforgiving if they find evidence of pets. I've heard enough stories to know these unhappy customers will probably not tell you, but will revel in telling friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, Facebook, etc, about their unpleasant experience. 

Too true Mimi, even transfer from clothes taken to another location can be a problem..ask anyone with a labrador or GSD what their work chair looks like 30 miles from home.

I have a cat because we live near the woods and a creek and if I don't have a cat I get mice. You have to be really careful to make sure your surfaces are all cleaned off before you start working. Some tips are:

1. Only get a black cat so you can see any fur.

2. Get a cat with a bad hip so they can't jump on counters. Or one with three legs, that works too.

3. I'm not kidding about the three legs.