Legality of Cakeing in Upstate NY? - Page 2

Hello, CakeCop41... You wrote:

From NY States Dept. of Ag and Markets - " The use of the internet in any form (sales, advertising, email addresses or websites-including Facebook, Craigslist etc) is prohibited under the Home Processor exemption."

This rule is to stop us from using the internet for world-wide sales. But you're right, it makes no sense. The internet is mostly for communicating with our customers. I'm a board member on the NY Small Scale Food Processors Association and I'm actively working to get this changed.

Mimi

Mimi -
Thanks, that is the best explanation I have heard so far.

I've just started looking into getting a Home Processor certificate for my home kitchen and I notice that something very important has changed since this discussion began. The following is copied directly from the HP information page from the NYS Department of Agriculture webpage:

NOTE: Direct internet sales (commercial on-line transactions) are prohibited under this exemption. Use of the internet for communication or promotional purposes is permissible.

Looks like the rules were revised January 2012. They must have changed their minds about advertising on facebook and such. Though we are still prohibited from selling to anyone through the internet.

Can anyone who has gone through this process give some insight into what they are going to be looking for in my kitchen? Cleanliness of course, but to what level and what other stipulations? Thanks so much.

Sara

I am in Orleans County and I was told that I had to build a seperate kitchen in order to sell. So I built a "bakery" in my basement. It gets inspected every year. I also had to get my property converted from Residential to Commercial. I was told if I wanted to sell wholesale then I would need to contact the Dept. of Ag. Because this is a part time thing for me, my inspections are all sceduled. The first inspection, Dec. 2010 was very detailed. They are looking for cleanliness, a 3 bay sink, seperate everything from personal use, fire extinguishers, stove, fridge, asked me about a bathroom but I have 2 in my house so they said that would be okay, city water (I live in the country), septic, etc. It was a very time consuming process for me, probably about 6 months with all the meetings I had to go to.
The inspection that was done in Dec 2011 was about 5 minutes. She just came in and took a look, tested the temperature of the fridge/freezer and was gone. I am going to contact the Dept of Ag, which I have to use Buffalo, to have them do an inspection just to cover all my basis.
The first time I called the Dept of Health, the man tried to convince me it was a bad idea. So I went in and spoke with a lady that was nothing but encouraging. I hate that it is so different from County to County. It just makes no sense.
Oh and she did tell me that it was going to be a requirement for 2013 that you have taken and are certified in Food Safety.