House Sponsor: Representative Lois Kolkhorst
Signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on 6/17/2011.
Summary of sections 5 and 6 of the bill, which pertain to Cottage Food Operations.
1. Food must be sold from your home, directly to another consumer. No sales at farmer's markets, county fairs, roadside stands, local festivals, craft shows, wholesale, or resale to restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc. The food must be purchased at your home.
2. Foods are limited to
non-potentially hazardous baked goods (cookies, cakes, breads, Danish, donuts, pastries, pies, and other items that are prepared by baking the item in an oven), canned jams, jellies, and dry herb mixes.
THESE ARE THE ONLY FOODS ALLOWED. If you do not see it on this list, it's not allowed.
3. Annual gross income from sales of above food items must be $50,000 or less.
4. The local health department may not regulate these home cottage food operations, but they must maintain a record of any complaint made. This is a consumer safeguard, so that consumers can call the local health department and check for complaints on their "cake lady" before they purchase, if they wish.
5. The food items sold must be labeled as follows:
(See a sample label)
(A) the name and physical address of the cottage food production operation;
(B) the common or usual name of the product;
(C) if a food is made with a major food allergen, such as eggs, nuts, soy, peanuts, milk or wheat that ingredient must be listed on the label; and
(D) the following statement: "This food is made in a home kitchen and is not inspected by the Department of State Health Services or a local health department."
(2) Labels must be legible.
6. Food must not be sold through the internet. This simply means that these operations can't set up a shopping cart on your web site and let people purchase blindly. The "no internet sales" clause goes back to the fact that we ARE small "cottage" operations, and helps ensure that sales are local and face-to-face, which is in keeping with the spirit of the bill. Again, it does NOT mean that web sites are prohibited. Web sites, Facebook pages, Twitter, and any kind of marketing you want to do are all perfectly allowable. Just don't allow purchase and payment on the internet.
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