On January 1st, Illinois' Cottage Food Law, that was passed by the General Assembly last spring and signed by Governor Quinn this past summer, went into effect.

The cottage food bill changes Illinois’ food safety laws to allow homemade non-potentially hazardous baked goods, jams and jellies, fruit butter, dried herbs, and dried tea blends to be sold at farmers markets provided they are properly labeled as homemade products, annual gross receipts from sales are $25,000 or less, the “cottage food operation” is registered and the person preparing and selling the food has a valid Illinois Food Service Sanitation Manager Certificate.

To make things easier for potential conttage food operations we have put together a Cottage Food Guide that describes what the law does and doesn’t allow and what you have to do to qualify to become a cottage food operation. More importantly the Illinois Department of Public Health has created a Technical Information Bulliten for local health departments and potential cottage food operators. The TIB put together by IDPH can be found here.

If you are planning on starting a cottage food operation please read and review TIB #44. In addition, it is highly recommended that you reach out to your local health department early and start a conversation about your cottage food related plans.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me, wes@ilstewards.org or 217-528-1563.

SB 840 the bill that created Illinois Cottage Food Law was sponsored by Senator David Koehler (D-Peoria) and Representative Lisa Dugan (D-Kankakee). Both Senator Koehler and Representative Dugan deserve our thanks for all their hard work because without it, the passage of SB 840 would not have been possible.

The Cottage Food Bill, Senate Bill 840 (Formerly SB 137), is receiving increasing attention.  The bill allows home bakers to sell non-potentially hazardous products at farmers markets which will grow jobs, farmers markets and increase availability of locally produced foods. There are many examples of nearby states passing similar legislation.  Read more about SB 840 by clicking here.

Ohio: Ohio's Cottage food laws date back to 2001, they originally only included non-potentially hazardous baked goods, jams, jellies, and fruit butters. In 2009 they expanded that list to include a whole bunch of other products (candy, granola, granola bars, popcorn, flavored popcorn, kettle corn, popcorn balls, caramel corn, unfilled baked donuts, waffle cones, pizzzelles, dry cereal, nut snack mixes with seasoning, roasted coffee (while beans or ground), dry baking mixes in a jar, dry herbs and herb blends, and dry tea blends). According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Food Safety, they have not seen an increase in foodbornes illness as a result of their cottage food laws. Ohio's laws do not contain any sort of registration or licensing provisions and unlike the other states, including the proposal for Illinois, they allow cottage food items to be sold beyond farmers markets at groceries and restaurants. Ohio's law does not contain a gross receipts threshold and does not require any licensing, registration or inspections.  FOr more information click here. 

Minnesota: Minnesota's cottage food or pickle law date back to 2004, which allow the production and canning of pickles, vegetables or fruits having an equilibrium pH value of 4.6 or lower (a component of the definition of not potentially hazardous) along with some baked goods and maple syrup. Minnesota has a gross receipts threshold of $5,000. According to the Minnesota Department of Health Foodborne Disease division, they have not had any problems with cottage food operations. For more information click here and click here.

 
Iowa: Iowa's cottage food laws date back to at least 2005. Iowa's cottage food laws just allow non-potentially hazardous baked goods . According to the Iowa food & Consumer Safety Bureau Department of Inspections & Appeals they have not had an increase in foodborne illnesses attributable to their cottage food laws and in the 6 years there has been only one incident regarding home bakers. For more information click here.

Kentucky: Kentucky's Home-based Processor laws date back to 2003 and allow farmers in their home kitchens to process whole fruits, vegetables, mixed-greens, jams, jellies, preserves, bread, fruit pies, cakes and cookies. Kentucky's Home-based processor law limits sales to farmers markets and similar direct to consumer venues, but does not include a sales threshold. According to the Kentucky: Cabinet for Health and Family Services - Food Safety Program they have not had an increase in food borne illnesses related to cottage operations/homebased processors. More detailed information http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/info/phps/food.htm (scroll down) http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/217-00/015.pdf [see definitions (51)-(56)] and http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/217-00/136.pdf   

Indiana: Indiana's cottage food laws or home-based vendor laws were just passed and finalized in the summer of 2009. They allow for the home production of baked goods, jams, jellies, and other not potentially hazardous foods for sale at farmers markets. The Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection Program said that the program is just too new and they don't have enough data yet to make a claim one way or the other. For more information click here.
 
Michigan: Michigan's cottage food laws were just passed and signed into law last summer (2010). There is no data from which to make a claim one way or the other regarding the impact on foodborne illness incidents.