Homemade Food Act signed into law
Home cooks will soon be able to prepare and sell meals from their own kitchens, if they get a permit. The bill was authored by local State Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, and it’s the first of its kind in the country.
Right now, the only way to sell food is through a commercial facility or through the Cottage Food Act, which only allows for a very restrictive list of foods to be sold. The newly signed legislation will ensure foods sold from home meet proper safety standards while decriminalizing a practice that’s already so common.
“(It’s) something that happens every day in our community. The woman who sells tamales or the gentleman who makes that good bread at home. (We’re) Creating a legal path to license them, inspect them, like you would any restaurant,” Garcia said.
Garcia has been working on the bill for more than two years.
“We wanted to establish public health standards to make sure that we’re protecting the public, and lastly we wanted to stimulate economic expansion within our micro enterprises,” said Garcia.
The bill becomes effective January 2019. The county you plan on selling in must adopt the policy and create a framework to process and license small business owners.
“Riverside County already allows for food trucks and Cottage Food, cookies, and that sort of stuff, to be cooked at home, this now expands that to food,” said Garcia.
Jenny Ishikawa currently runs a local dessert business from her home through the Cottage Food Act.
“It’s a great incentive for some people to make a little bit of money, while still enjoying what they do,” Ishikawa said. “It’s a great option because you don’t mass produce it, so it’s a small amount.”
Similar rules apply for the Homemade Food Act. Food must be prepared, served or delivered on the same day as it’s made, there will be no sales of raw milk products or oysters, food preparation is limited to 30 meals per day (or 60 individual meals per week), and the operation has no more than $50,000 in verifiable gross annual sales.
