Advice needed in Iowa

Hey everyone out in the pepper world. My dad randyp has been on the site for a while and has recruited me to handle the "business and legal" side for his pepper products. He's been making jams, sauces, powders, etc. I've been his guinea pig from the beginning, along with most of his work buddies and am ready to get him up and running. Given I'm 19 and a dental assisting student I don't know nearly as much as him or anyone else on this site. I'm here to learn and will take any advice I can get from manufacturing to laws we have to follow and everything in between.
 
        Truth be told none of us knew what to expect when the first pods ripened last fall.As far as guinea pig,yea she was a trooper.HA
 
First off...  :welcome:  from sunny South Florida!  :woohoo:
 
Secondly, laws concerning growing, manufacturing, etc., by and large vary from state to state. A cursory look shows that Iowa has now restrictions against the sale of pepper based products: http://cottagefoods.org/laws/usa/iowa/. So you will not run into any laws state-wise. If you're using some sort of commercial kitchen or commercially built facility, even better, since in general, anything made at home is required to be labeled as such.
 
I know that getting a Process Authority is a big plus. They're FDA certified labs that test your product to make sure there isn't anything potentially dangerous in them, and some can also do nutritional value labels for the, All they need is one fully packaged item of each thing you want tested. You only have to send each item once, and only need to re-send it if you change the recipe in any substantial way.
 
Also, if it's superhot stuff, one thing to put up as a disclaimer is to say that the items in question are extremely hot, and by purchasing them, whoever does so agrees that they are hot and your dad's company isn't liable for acts of stupidity.
 
That's all I can think of right now... There's no shortage of others here, from all over the world (no joke), that have plenty of info to add.
 
Thanks elcap1999! I was looking at the zoning for our town thinking he would have to get a place to manufacture his products but at least now we know he won't have to do that just yet. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
 
ThePepperProdigy said:
Thanks elcap1999! I was looking at the zoning for our town thinking he would have to get a place to manufacture his products but at least now we know he won't have to do that just yet. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
 
You're welcome! And yes, the one step at a time approach is best, since it can otherwise get very overwhelming, very quickly... And if you do need to get a place to manufacture, that would solve quite a few issues, not the least of which is space, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a good old college try in the kitchen, to see how it works and go from there
 
:welcome:
From Southeast Louisiana! Listen to these people... they have they isht together.... for the most part
 
Welcome from BC :) All I've got to add is it's fairly easy to rent a kitchen from a restaurant during off hours, which may or may not be handy depending on any potential restrictions.
 
AbeFroman said:
That was nice of your dad to let you handle the "business and legal" aspects of his business ;)
       The best thing I can handle is a beer in one hand and a garden hose in the other.That legal and lawyer type stuff just confuses my head.Truth is I don't want to go farther then my local FM and my friends at work.Sneaking it thru the cracks and not abiding by a code would have me not sleeping well.It's a fun hobby and I want to keep it that way.So to all of you with your vast input we thank you. 
 
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