It appears everyone is confused with the Cottage Food law. I hope I can simplify it for all of you.

The cottage food law allows you to have a home business in your home. This does not apply to renting a storefront or commercial kitchen.

You can make $15,000 per year in sales
You cannot sell on the internet/mail order or wholesale (wholeslae means to restaurants etc)
You must label it with your business name address and ingrediants.
The following statement printed in at least 10-point Type in a color that provides a clear contrast to the background of the label: "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations."

It states to be packaged, there are some cakes that cannot be packaged because they are too big but, it is your responsiblity to give your customer this information on a piece of paper or include it in their contract.

If you are going to rent space in a store front or commercial kitchen than the Cottage Food does NOT apply to you. Than you need to follow the rules and regulations for a "Food Establishment".
Cottage Food is for a home business ONLY.

I hope this clears things up. The bill still needs to go to other committes to the senate and than the Governor signs into law.

The state is not limiting us to certain foods so you are able to cook, bake, canning any foods. The state is trying to make it as simple as possible so you can have a chance to make a businesses for yourself. Some of you are reading too much into the bill.
When the bill passes I will let you know or if you are watching it on the website you will see the progress.

This is amazing! Thank you so much, Barbara!

Your last post really helped in summarizing the bill and helping me understand it better.

When they say you can't sell on the internet. They just mean for example someone couldn't come on your website, order a cake, and have it shipped right? You can still have a website with information on what you offer and contact information can't you?

Thanks for the clarification, I think I have it now. So, under
the bill I can cook, bake at home and sell from home. I own another property, I don't live there, and it is zoned residential and commercial. If I want to prepare/sell from that property,it will not fall under the cottage food bill. Do I have that right? It sounds like this will support those who sell to order, not those who want to prepare products and then try to sell. It is a great thing wither way, and I guess I will have to wait and see the final product to be sure I maintain compliance. Thanks everybody who worked to make this possible;!!!

redvelvet4u, The Cottage Food Act allows you to sell to the public meaning if I called you to order a cake you can sell it to me. If you are wanting to sell to the public as a walk in business or sell on the internet (ship product to consumer) you cannot do this under the Cottage Food this falls under the Food Establishment regulations.

Yes you can have a website to promote your business this does not mean you can sell on the internet baked goods and ship them to the customer.

Once the bill is passed and if any of you have questions you will need to contact the dept of agriculture, dept of business and professional or the dept of health.

The bill is very basic but it appears it is still confusing some of you. If you follow the regulations and do not do any more than what is required you will be fine. If you want to sell to restaurants and have a walk in business you have to follow the regulations of the "Food Establishment".

I am not familiar with their site...I found bill #CS/HB 5007 on MyFloridaHouse.gov, but cannot find the entire text, I clicked on everything. Does anyone know the correct link?

Found it!

I went to the site and it looks like they had a vote on 3/30/11. The appropriations committee voted favorable. It's been added to Second reading Calendar on 3/31/11.

Here is what i'm reading.

- Appropriations Committee
On agenda for: 03/30/11 10:00 AM Notice
Favorable (final action) See Votes

Here is the link that takes you directly to the bill status. http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=46689&BillNumber=hb5007&SessionId=66

Here is just a small part of the history of this bill. If you click on the link in my previous post and scoll down, you will see the history of the bill.

Added to Second Reading Calendar Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:37 PM

Bill released to House Calendar Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:37 PM

Reported out of Appropriations Committee Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:37 PM Appropriations Committee

Favorable by Appropriations Committee Wednesday, March 30, 2011 8:00 PM Appropriations Committee

Added to Appropriations Committee agenda Monday, March 28, 2011 4:12 PM Appropriations Committee

Baked goods are sold at farmers markets, on the internet and by mail order in other states. I certainly hope farmers market sales will be allowed in Florida. As far as I know our current bill does not address them.

The Florida Cottage Food Bill CS/HB 5007 is not having it's Third Reading and has made it to the Senate http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/5007

It won't be long now when the Senate passes the bill I believe it will go into effect July 1, 2011

Happy Baking

I am literally on the edge of my seat!!!!

I see it passed the house and was sent to the senate. I'm not sure I understand what happened after that, lol. There are votes listed for the senate but then after that it has a request for conference. Very exciting to watch this process as it happens!

"acceded to request for conference committee"

What the heck does that mean?

Congratulations. That is great news, I am so happy for you guys. We Texans are still waiting for the bill to be read in our State. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I am looking at the bill here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/5007

From what I can find online, Senator Hays filed an amendment that says "Delete everything after the enacting clause". This means to strike all the language of the bill and replace it with new language (from what I read on google). What does this really mean??

I know that the "acceded to a request for a conference" means they will have 6 (?) people conference about the amendment. Again, this is just from what I can find online.

Is this a bad sign?

I can answer this for you....

Since this bill combines so many different professional practices to be amended, after the House voted on the bill they first proposed (which includes "Cottage Laws"), it went to the Senate. The timeline for everything was July 1, 2011. One senator proposed an amendment to change the timeline to July 1, 2014 for Section 10. Our concern is Section 42. The senate voted and approved the amendment.

The request for a conference means that since this is all one bill, the House has one version (with ALL parts starting July 1, 2011) and the Senate has a version with one clause starting July 1, 2014 and all others starting July 1, 2011, representatives have to get together to discuss the change. If the conference committe agrees, then the House goes back and votes to accept the Senate version, the Senate would vote on their version, and then it goes off to the Governor for his signature. If the committee comes up with something different from either, then both houses have to vote on the conference committee amendment and then vote on the whole bill.

Thanks again to the sponsor of this forum for getting the ball rolling!

Paul

Wow! Thanks, Paul! That is exactly what I wanted to know.

Good evening, is anyone able to tell me what the status of this bill is? I am not able to find any information. I also want to thank Barbara for keeping us in the loop and "translating" this for us! I was just about to -reluctantly- sign a contract to start baking from a shared kitchen.

So, I found the bill. For those of you more familiar with it, lines 515-519 talk about regulations for preparation, processing and storage in your county. If there wasn't a Cottage Food Act in effect until now, does anyone know where to find those laws and ordinances? I entered the website for my county, and it does not give me any information. Thanks!

Im in Arkansas and am so so so excited for you in Florida! I hope it passes, then hopefully it can get started here! There are so many people I teach that are talented enough to make them for people but would prefer not to open full time retail or could use it as supplemental income! I would like more information on how this bill was started, if you have the time! I think Arkansas especially those in the deep rural areas, could benefit from this!

Arkansas just passed a food cottage law. It is now in effect.

Just to let everyone know, I was worried about the bill sitting in messages since April 7, so I wrote to the President of the House, my house representative and my senator. I received the following reply from my senators assistant:

Thank you for your email. HB5007 will be discussed in the Budget Conference scheduled to begin on Monday April 25th.

Hopefully, they will take swift action and get the ball rolling again.

Is it too late to get a change to the 15,000 max? Seems awfully low considering its gross sales and compared to some other states.

I went online and I found this, am I looking at the right bill? And if I am what does it mean at the bottom
Senate- Died in Committee in Agriculture? Here's the link

http://archive.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&Tab=session&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&BillNum=1900&Chamber=Senate&Year=2010&Title=%2D%3EBill%2520Info%3AS%25201900%2D%3ESession%25202010

bizcocho, The link you provided is not the correct bill, I believe that was last years. Here is the link to the current bill, HB5007, the part we are interested in starts at line 410:

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=46689&SessionIndex=-1&SessionId=66&BillText=&BillNumber=5007&BillSponsorIndex=0&BillListIndex=0&BillStatuteText=&BillTypeIndex=0&BillReferredIndex=0&HouseChamber=H&BillSearchIndex=0

If this link doesn't work, just google Florida House Bill 5007 and you will be able to find it. HTH

Oh Thank GOODNESS! When I saw the whole "it died" thing, I just about cried!!!

Thank God for letting you take this on. So many lives will be blessed. Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

I am so happy everyone is finding the bill and you are able to follow the movement. I haven't been online in awhile not much to tell you guys. Them bill is sitting in "Return Messages" and they should be discussing it next week. I know they are breaking for the Easter Holiday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday, and I hope next week we all will be celebrating.

Happy Easter!!!!
Krazy About Cake

I just had a wild idea, once the bill passes everyone should send one cupcake to the House and Senate as a Thank You. If you do make sure you follow the rules that they implemented!!!!!!