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California cottage food act introduced in state assembly

post #1 of 145
2/19/12 at 10:44pm
Thread Starter 
The California Homemade Food Act (AB 1616) was recently introduced in the CA state assembly!

The rules from the bill are at the link below (these rules may change as the legislative process continues). Registration with the local health dept would be required, probably including a fee, but no routine inspections are required (unless there is a complaint) and there is no limit on sales. Wholesale, mail order, and internet sales are OK. Section 113406 of the bill also restricts the ability of municipalities to disallow legal homemade food operations for zoning reasons, which is great for home bakers but this provision may not survive. From what I can tell it looks like compliance with the trans fat ban is handled on the honor system, but that may change. I would also be surprised if a gross sales limit was not added to the bill.
http://www.theselc.org/cottagefood/cottage-food-lawscottage-food-law-bill-language/

You can support the bill by contacting your state representatives:
http://www.theselc.org/cottagefood/takeaction/
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post #2 of 145
2/20/12 at 5:59am
Thanks for the heads-up. Good luck to you all.
How to Price Your Cakes
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How to Price Your Cakes
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post #3 of 145
2/20/12 at 1:00pm
I just told the girl from the telemerketer who called me from California about this. She was very surprised that you can't work from home in California since she's in pastry school and was obviously planning to do that.
http://www.acaketorememberva.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/acaketoremember
http://www.youtube.com/karabuntin
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http://www.acaketorememberva.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/acaketoremember
http://www.youtube.com/karabuntin
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post #4 of 145
2/20/12 at 4:03pm
You can also track the bill here.
Know your audience.
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Know your audience.
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post #5 of 145
2/24/12 at 10:13am
Thread Starter 
AB 1616 was referred to the Assembly's health committee on 2/23. Contact information for the committee can be found at the link below:
http://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/

And a list of members in the committee:
http://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff

If you live in California and your rep is on the committee this is a great opportunity to voice your opinion.
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post #6 of 145
3/15/12 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
This bill (among others) will be discussed at a health committee assembly hearing on Tuesday, March 27th, at 1:30 p.m. in the State Capitol building, Room 4202 in Sacramento.

If you live in the area and would like to testify for the bill (you'll have 3 minutes max), contact the committee at 916.319.2097.

http://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/hearings
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post #7 of 145
3/18/12 at 12:49pm
I currently live in NY but will be moving to CA in a few months. I read over the outline of the bill and it states that you can only sell "non-potentially hazardous foods". That same line is in the NY supposed "cottage food law" and from what I understand, here in NY that means you can't make cakes (too high in moisture) or buttercream (uncooked butter) in your home kitchen to sell (although you can build a separate commercial kitchen on your property). Basically all you can do is sell cookies at the farmer's market. Yeah, not so helpful for a cake decorator. Anyway, do you know what it means in California? Dare I hope it could include cakes? Anyone know?
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post #8 of 145
3/18/12 at 2:41pm
A quick search pulled up this site about the Cottage Food law in Texas. Sounds similar to the proposed components of the California law.

http://www.texascottagefoodlaw.com/FAQ.aspx

Cakes, cookies, and even Earlene's Cream Cheese Icing are ok.
http://www.texascottagefoodlaw.com/Resources/Recipes/CreamCheeseButtercreamEarlene.aspx
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Thanks for posting, Jason!
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post #9 of 145
3/18/12 at 4:55pm
Thanks! That gives me hope then. I had noticed that other states seemed to treat it differently (why is NY so weird?). Now if only this bill will pass! I'll see if there's anything I can do to help it along. But I probably need a resident address first. icon_smile.gif
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post #10 of 145
3/18/12 at 6:01pm
Thank you jason_kraft. I have created a thread on Wilton.com as well. Please send this information to all the cake forums you can think of so the maximum # of people can start writing!

Here's the link to the Wilton.com thread:
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=160834&STARTPAGE=1&CFID=49973427&CFTOKEN=28298455
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post #11 of 145
3/18/12 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by traci_doodle

I currently live in NY but will be moving to CA in a few months. I read over the outline of the bill and it states that you can only sell "non-potentially hazardous foods". That same line is in the NY supposed "cottage food law" and from what I understand, here in NY that means you can't make cakes (too high in moisture) or buttercream (uncooked butter) in your home kitchen to sell (although you can build a separate commercial kitchen on your property). Basically all you can do is sell cookies at the farmer's market. Yeah, not so helpful for a cake decorator. Anyway, do you know what it means in California? Dare I hope it could include cakes? Anyone know?


California has a very specific definition for potentially hazardous foods. Basically, if it doesn't require refrigeration you should be OK, so things like cheesecakes and cream cheese frosting are probably out, but regular BC and most traditional cakes are safe at room temp.

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/HSC/1/d104/7/2/s113871
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post #12 of 145
3/18/12 at 7:47pm
Thank you jason_kraft! I'm glad to know that is California's stance. I'm really rooting for this to pass!
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post #13 of 145
3/20/12 at 9:32am
I just signed it today, if you live in California please sign this even if you are not interested in starting a business now you never know if your interest will change in a few years.
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post #14 of 145
3/21/12 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

This bill (among others) will be discussed at a health committee assembly hearing on Tuesday, March 27th, at 1:30 p.m. in the State Capitol building, Room 4202 in Sacramento.

If you live in the area and would like to testify for the bill (you'll have 3 minutes max), contact the committee at 916.319.2097.

http://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/hearings


Discussion of AB1616 has been pushed back to the April 10th health committee hearing (same time, same room).
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post #15 of 145
3/23/12 at 10:57am
I've already signed if you live in CA please sign and then come back to this thread and sign your user name or put a smiley face or something so that this thread will keep going back to the cc home page and make more people aware of this. Once you reply to the the thread it will show up under the forum tab as one of your watched topics.
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