Preserving MI Harvest-Michigan Cottage Food Law
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EmailFebruary 24, 2025
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Learn about the Michigan Cottage Food Law, food safety practices related to producing cottage foods and how to start a cottage food business.
The 2025 MI Ag Ideas to Grow With conference was held virtually, February 24 - March 7, 2024. This two-week program encompassed many aspects of the agricultural industry and offered a full array of educational sessions for farmers and homeowners interested in food production and other agricultural endeavors. More information can be found at: https://www.canr.msu.edu/miagideas/
Video Transcript
We do just want to let everyone know that the Michigan State Extension Food Safety team has a food safety hotline. This is operated Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. To 5:00 P.M. If you ever have any type of a food safety question, maybe it's how long your leftovers are good for or maybe your power goes out and you're wondering if your food still safe, you can give us a call at 877-643-9882, and one of our food safety extension educators will answer the question for you. If it is after hours or maybe the weekend, or maybe it's not a food safety question and another extension type question, you can reach out to us at Ask Extension and you can email us your question and it will be routed to the appropriate expert and they will be able to get back to you on email with an answer. Today's Michigan Cottage Food Law Workshop is going to be presented by MSU Extension Food Safety educators, Karen Fifield and myself, Kellie Jordan. We're also joined by MSU Extension Products Center Diane Longanbach who is an innovation counselor. We want to share with you the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, main phone number and website. They are the ones who regulate the Michigan Cottage food law. Welcome everyone to the Michigan State University Extension How to start a successful Michigan Cottage food business training. So this workshop combines the business and the food safety aspects of preparing and selling cottage food safely and successfully. It's brought to you today by the Michigan State University Extension Food Safety Team and the MSU Product Center. Today we will cover the Michigan Cottage food law and safe food practices. We will go over the importance of personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitizing and marketing the final product. If you do have any recipe specific questions, we do ask that you call MDARD to be connected with your local inspector to discuss that recipe specific question to see if it falls under the Michigan Cottage food law. MDARD's main phone number is 1-800-292-3939. So now we just have a quick question. How much money do you think you can make selling cottage foods each year? Do you think it's $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 or $25,000? If you think it's $25,000, you are correct. Individuals who produce items for sale as cottage foods are limited to $25,000 in gross annual sales per household. And gross annual sales are the amount of money that you take in from the sale of your product before you take out any expenses. Expenses would include the cost of the materials to make your product, labeling, packaging, taxes, booth rental, and so forth. If you exceed the gross annual sales of $25,000, you will no longer fall under the guidelines of the Cottage food law and you would be subject to commercial food regulations. So the point of sale for cottage food operators must be direct to the customer. It cannot be sold by relatives or friends. The spirit behind the cottage food law is for customers to have a personal interaction with the cottage food operator. And this interaction offers customers the opportunity to ask questions about the product. Cottage foods cannot be shipped or mailed. They have to be picked up in person to ensure personal interaction with the cottage food operator. Websites can be used for advertising and payment and electronic payments such as PayPal and Venmo are acceptable. You can advertise your product on a website and you can even take payment for the product on the website. You just have to ensure that you have a personal interaction when you are selling that product. Wholesaling of cottage food products are also not allowed, and donations of cottage food products are not permitted. However, you can donate a gift certificate for your cottage foods and then have that person pick up the cottage food when they come and pick it up. Now we just have another question. Are those making cottage foods exempt from the Michigan Department of Agriculture Licensing and Inspection? Do you think it's yes or do you think it's no? So we have a few people answering no. The answer is actually yes. Cottage food producers are exempt from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development licensing and inspection requirements. However, any food offered to the public must be safe regardless of where it is produced. Cottage food operators are responsible for ensuring consumers that they are producing safe foods. If a complaint is made, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can come and inspect your cottage food production and storage areas and they can also come and seize your product. Cottage food law exempts cottage food operators from licensing and inspection only. They still must follow the rest of the food code though. When it comes to cottage foods, they must be prepared only in single family homes. This simply means the place where you live, whether you own your own home or you are renting, so it cannot be produced in community centers, group or communal residential settings like group homes, rented facilities, sororities, or fraternities. It simply means your own home kitchen. Under the Michigan Cottage food law, foods that do not require refrigeration and may be kept at room temperature can be sold as cottage food products. These foods have been determined to be low risk for causing a food borne illness. So now I'm going to go through some examples of foods that can be sold as cottage foods. And this is not an all encompassing list. These are just some examples. So this would include breads, baked goods, cookies, cakes, including celebration cakes, such as birthday, anniversary or wedding, quick breads and muffins, like pumpkins, zucchini bread, or blueberry muffins. You could also do cooked fruit pies, including pie crust that are made with butter, lard or shortening. You can also do things like dry herbs or dry herb mixtures, dry baking mixes, dry dip mixes, dry soup mixes, or dehydrated vegetables or fruits. It also might be fun to add these types of things as cottage foods in your business. Confections and candies made without alcohol. You could do granola, popcorns and candy. You can also do things like chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows, graham crackers, rice crispy treats. You can even do chocolate covered strawberries or pineapples, even bananas or other non time temperature control foods, even coated or uncoated nuts. Other choices include dried pasta made with or without eggs, roasted coffee beans or ground roasted coffee or vinegar or flavored vinegars. An item that was added last year and was approved was extracts. Extracts that are used for flavoring food, like a vanilla extract and other extracts that are non temperature control for safety are allowed under the Michigan Cottage food law. A very popular item right now is freeze dried items. The cottage food law does allow for the sale of homemade freeze dried products, which are not considered potentially hazardous. So if it was previously a cottage food item, then it is acceptable as a freeze dried item. And then you can seal it and sell it under the cottage food law. However, freeze drying of potentially hazardous foods, those that require time and temperature control for safety is not allowed. For example, you can't freeze dry ice cream or meat or cheesecake bites. Those would all require a food establishment license. Jams and jellies and preserves are allowed under the Michigan Cottage food law because they are defined as high acid foods and show no evidence of bacteria growth when tested canning processes are followed. However, freezer jams and jelies that must be refrigerated or frozen are not allowed to be sold under the Michigan Cottage food law. Vegetable jellies and other non fruit based low acid jams and jelies such as a hot pepper jelly are not allowed due to their increased risk of botulism. Products such as salsas or pickles or other home canned vegetables are also not allowed to be sold as cottage foods. So if you choose to make jams and jellies under the Michigan Cottage food law, always follow a research based recipe. Inspect your canning jars for cracks and chips and remember to always wash and sterilize your jars. Process your jams and jellies according to a research based recipe using a water bath or an atmospheric steam canner, this will make sure that they have a strong seal, which will prevent the growth of mold and yeast. When I talk about potentially hazardous, this refers to foods that must be refrigerated or kept hot for safety. Because of these special requirements and the high risk for food borne illness, they are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods. Again, I'm going to give some examples of foods that are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods, but this is not an all encompassing list. Here are some examples of foods, these are all foods that require time and temperature control for safety. This is going to include all beverages, including fruit and vegetable juices, along with a kabucha tea, ice and ice products. So this means apple cider, hot chocolate and other drinks are not allowed as cottage foods. However, you could do a dry drink mix, that would be allowed to be sold as a cottage food. Some other examples of foods that are defined as potentially hazardous, cakes with glaze or frosting that require refrigeration, like a buttercream frosting, cinnamon rolls with a cream cheese frosting, caramel apples are not allowed due to their risk of botulism and listeria, and confections that contain alcohol, like truffles or liqueur filled chocolates. These are all not allowed. Buttercream frosting is not allowed under the Michigan Cottage food law. However, you are allowed to purchase a commercially prepared shelf stable buttercream frosting as long as it does not have a label stating, keep refrigerated or refrigerate after opening. And there are also two lab tested shelf stable recipes. So the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reviewed and approved the recipes from Kansas Kansas University State Extension. They're simply buttercream recipe, which is available for a free download and the recipe from Texas State Extension. Their American buttercream recipe, which comes from their come and bake it original edition, cookbook, which is available for purchase. So these recipes can be used only if they are followed exactly with no change in proportion or ingredients. So you can't add anything to them or subtract anything from them. Other buttercream recipes and other recipe books or online have not been reviewed or approved. It is important for you as a cottage food operator if you are using one of those buttercream recipes that you have it with you just in case a market coordinator or an MDARD inspector asks you about the buttercream frosting you are using. And in our follow up resources, we do send you information about both of those recipes. Now when it comes to cream cheese frosting, it is not allowed as a cottage food because it is made with soft cheese and soft cheese needs temperature control for safety, so it is not allowed. Although fruit pies are allowed as a cottage food, any pies that require refrigeration like banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue, or custard pies, along with cheesecake, are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods and all of these require refrigeration and are considered potentially hazardous. So here are some other examples of foods that are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods. This would include meat and meat products such as jerky or a charcuterie board, fish and fish products, including smoked fish, along with shellfish and crustaceans. Other examples include eggs, and they have their own exemptions, which we will discuss shortly, along with milk and dairy products. These products would need to be licensed if you're going to sell them. Cooked plant based foods, for example, if you've cooked rice, beans, vegetables, or mushrooms, baked potatoes, some certain nfetic ingredients, raw sprouts, tofu and soy protein foods, along with untreated garlic and oil mixtures are also considered high risk foods and are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods. Some other examples of potentially hazardous foods are hummus, sauces and condiments, including barbecue sauce, hot sauce, ketchup or mustard, salad dressings, and marinades. A new popular item that we get asked about quite often is sourdough starters. Any form of sourdough starter, dehydrated sourdough starters or freeze dried sour dough starters are not allowed to be sold as cottage foods. However, you can bake sour dough and sell that. But when it is in the form of the starter, you are not allowed to sell it. Tinctures or extracts that are intended to be used to flavor food, that are not intended to be used to flavor food are not allowed and may require a license. These are regulated as a dietary supplement. Tinctures, herbal teas or other supplements produced that are labeled with a dosing instructions or advertised with health claims are not considered conventional foods and also may require a license and regulated as a dietary supplement. Herbal teas that are labeled and advertised to be consumed as a conventional food with no health claims are allowed under the cottage food law. But any other form of tincture is not allowed. When you are preparing your cottage foods, one step to keep your food safe is to store your food at the proper temperature. Although you are not allowed to sell food, that needs to be kept in the refrigerator as a cottage food. You do use ingredients such as eggs and milk and butter that must be kept at the proper temperature. So it's important to keep your refrigerator at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower and your freezer at zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower. To make sure your food is being properly maintained at the safe temperature, it's recommended to have an additional thermometer in your refrigerator and your freezer. When you are using fresh produce, the FDA advises rinsing it thoroughly in lukewarm water just before you are going to use it. When you are picking your packaging, only use food grade equipment and packaging that is designed and manufactured for food production. If a container was not made specifically for food, don't use it. And as a cottage food operator, you need to package your food in your home kitchen. They cannot be packaged at the market. You must be just as a reminder, you must be the person selling it directly to the customer. So why the concern about safe food practices? If food is not handled safely, there is a risk for a food borne illness, potentially causing your customers to become sick. This could also result in hospitalization or even death. High risk populations that are more likely susceptible to a foodborne illness include the very young, senior citizens, and those with chronic illnesses or weakened immune systems. There could also be legal cost and product recalls for your cottage food operation, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will come and inspect your cottage food operation if a report of a foodborne illness is made. In the causes of a food borne illness in the cottage food operation include poor personal hygiene, cross contamination and improperly cleaned and sanitized equipment and utensils. All of these unsafe practices allow microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, molds, yeast and yeast to grow. If you are not careful, these microorganisms can easily contaminate food. The spread of these microorganisms can be controlled by following proper food safety procedures. Now I'm going to turn it back over to Karen to talk a little bit more about safe food handling procedures. Hello. When running a cottage food operation, good personal hygiene applies to everyone in the family helping to prepare your cottage food product. Good personal hygiene includes tying back long hair, clean short fingernails, cleaning hands, clean aprons and hats, cover any wounds and cuts with a bandage and gloves. And all of these can help to prevent contamination of your food product that you are making for your cottage food business. So do not prepare cottage foods if you or anyone in your family have been sick within the last 24 hours with diarrhea or vomiting. And also do not prepare cottage foods if anyone in your household has any of the following symptoms, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, a sore throat with fever, or an infected wound. And certainly no food preparation, if anyone in the house has been diagnosed with norovirus, hepatitis A, shigella, E coli, and salmonilla. The main source of contamination in our kitchens is by our hands. Pathogens can be introduced into food when hands have not been properly washed and dried. You do more in your kitchen than prepare cottage foods. When you are preparing your cottage food, give it all your attention. Don't try to do two things at the same time like feeding the baby and preparing your cottage food. Focus on what you are doing. And try to avoid bad habits like touching your hair or your face, rubbing your nose, or wiping your hands on your clothes or apron. These are examples of poor personal hygiene. Once a product is baked or cooked, it is considered a ready to eat food and should not be touched with bare hands. Should use tongs, single use, food, safe gloves, or deli sheets to package your product. And always follow good food safety practices. Wash your hands before you touch clean utensils or work surfaces, after you touch your face or mouth, after sneezing or coughing, after you touch raw eggs, after you touch dirty dishes, garbage, or any other unclean surface, after you use the bathroom and after changing a diaper and after you smoke. And there are many more. But also, after using or touching your phone or any other electronic device, basically, after you touch anything before you start preparing your cottage food, you need to wash your hands. We have a short little video on hand washing that we'd like you to see just for reminders. We'll put that on here. Hand washing is the most important method for preventing the spread of sickness and disease. Let's learn the proper way to wash our hands. First, wet your hands under warm running water. Next, apply soap and lather. Be sure to clean between your fingers, the backs of your hands and your palms. Now, count for 20 seconds or sing the ABCs while scrubbing. Next, rinse your hands under warm running water. Use a paper towel to dry hands, then turn off the faucet. Remember to wash your hands before preparing food after using the bathroom, and anytime they become contaminated. Okay, one of the most important things that you can do to keep harmful germs out of the foods you prepare is to wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. So there's a difference between cleaning and sanitizing. Cleaning is the process of removing food and other types of soil from a surface. Sanitizing reduces the number of microorganisms on a surface to a safe level and to keep it food safe. There are four steps to cleaning and sanitizing. It is important to follow these steps in order when cleaning and sanitizing. First, you clean the surface, then you rinse it, follow that with a sanitizing solution, and then let it air dry. Sanitizing reduces the microorganisms once again that can cause a food borne illness. Be sure to clean and sanitize anything that your hands or food touch. Examples could be counters, tables, cutting boards, knives, and cupboard knobs. Unclean items can cross contaminate your food. Cross contamination occurs when an unclean source touches a clean one. An example would be a cutting board used for raw meat and then used for chopping nuts without being cleaned and sanitized before the nuts were chopped. An effective sanitizer is a mixture of chlorine bleach and water. To know how much bleach to use, you must use test strips. Using test trips is necessary to ensure sanitizer strength. The correct strength is 100 parts per million concentration. These strips can be purchased from a food service supply store. Strength of sanitizer decreases over time. It is important to make new solution each time you prepare your cottage food and also test the strength every couple of hours while you're using that solution. Too much or too little bleach in the water is ineffective or it could be dangerous. Fragrance added bleach is not food safe. The items should also be air dried after sanitizing, not towel dry. There are different types of sanitizers available to use besides chlorine, such as quaternary ammonia compound or iodine and others, however, whatever solution you choose, be sure it is food safe and you have the correct type of test strips for the solution you are using. So here's a chart to help you with the chlorine bleach mixtures. The key to making a proper sanitizing solution is to measure out your bleach and to check the strength of your bleach with your test strips. 50 to 100 parts per million should be used for general sanitizing of food contact surfaces. Use up to 200 parts per million for surfaces touched by fecal, vomitos, or bodily fluids. Too much can be harmful and corrosive and create a chemical contamination. If you use too little, though, it does not do the job of sanitizing. So the wrong amount won't be effective. Wipes can be a chemical contaminant on food surfaces because they were originally designed to clean bathrooms, not to wipe your hands or clean counters. We will be sending out a fact sheet on this after this program, so you can expect that. Next, we have a little video just on how it works. Sanitizing dishes after washing and rinsing is also the best way to prevent contamination. This can be done utilizing a separate tub or container to submerge those items. Here's our little video. Oops. Cleaning and sanitizing or disinfecting are important for removing both visible debris and also killing any microorganisms. Cleaning is defined as removing dirt and debris from a surface. The process involves warm soapy water followed by a rinse to physically remove these impurities. Cleaning needs to be done before sanitizing or disinfecting. Sanitizing reduces bacteria on the surface to a safe level. Sanitizing is recommended for food contact surfaces. Disinfectant solutions are stronger as they kill almost all of the cages. Disinfecting is important to use in areas like bathrooms, door handles, and surfaces that don't have contact directly with food. There are a variety of products that can be used for both sanitizing and disinfecting. Bleach is a common product that can be used for both. The difference is how much bleach is used. The active ingredient in bleach that destroys pathogens is sodium hypochloride. We can cause a chemical contamination on a surface that may come in contact with food. Many bleach products that state disinfecting on their label are not meant for a food contact surface. One example is chlorine disinfecting wipes. These are not meant to be used on food contact surfaces, and the label clearly states this. Use these on surfaces that will not come in contact with food or be sure to use a clean water rinse following its use. Do not use bleach that is scented, concentrated or a gel solution. Be cautious. It is easy to grab bleach that is too low of a concentration of sodium hypochloride, or not intended for sanitizing at all. You might find bleach that clearly states on the label that its purpose is for deodorizing or whitening laundry. Oops. Not for cleaning or sanitizing. To make a sanitizing solution from bleach, the goal is to achieve a concentration that will destroy bacteria and viruses but also not be too strong. A solution that is too weak will not be effective. A solution that is too strong can cause a reaction or illness or leave a chemical residue. It is important to follow guidelines for mixing a solution. The best way to know if you've mixed a solution to the proper concentration is to use test strips. Ideally, a bleach solution should be 50 to 100 parts per million for a food contact surface. Most bleach products are found to be 7.25 to 8.25% sodium hypochlort. And the correct formula would be one teaspoon of bleach per gallon of water. No, this is not much. The solution should not have a strong bleach odor. If you use chemicals other than bleach, use test strips specific to that chemical. For further information on how to mix varying concentrations, please refer to MSU extensions, safe sanitizing and disinfecting fact sheet found on the publications tab of our safe food and water page. Okay, it's also important for things like keeping a log of your records. You can use a notebook or your computer. A simple log would include the product being made, including the recipe, where you purchased the ingredients or if they came from your garden, the date you prepared that product and list who prepared that product. Consider assigning a batch number to each batch of your product that you make so that you can identify it if there's an issue. You can also include the production date on the jar or the package. The sample production log is included in the email that will be sent following this presentation or tomorrow. And you can just put this answer in the chat, the true or false question. Every packaged cottage food must have a label that includes the statement not made in a licensed kitchen. Is that true or false? Okay. We have a couple saying true. Well, it's kind of a trick question. The answer is false. And so we'll show you how a label is and what the statement is. The statement that needs to be or is required to be on the label of your cottage food is in every package must include this statement made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. And this statement must appear at least 11 point type or an eighth inch tall. It also can be handwritten as long as it's clearly legible. And now we'll talk about other things that are on that label as well. The product label must also include the product's name, your complete name and address of the cottage food business itself, all product ingredients in descending order or of predominance by weight. You must clearly identify if any of your ingredients or allergens are present in that product, the product's net weight or volume, and ingredient scale will be an important part when you are preparing your label. This information is included in our Michigan Cottage food law bulletin that will be sent following this presentation. And also, I wanted to mention on the statement made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has to be completely written out. It can't be with acronyms like the MDARD, so it has to be written out. The United States Department of Agriculture identifies these big nine foods that can cause 90% of food allergies, identifying any ingredients from the following food groups, milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, fish, shellfish, and tree nuts, such as almonds, pecans, or walnuts. And the newest one that's added to this list is sesame. Cottage foods are required to have individual labels on your cottage food prior to sale. Hand printed labels are acceptable if they are clearly legible. It needs to be written in durable permanent ink and once again, large enough to be equal to the font size requirements listed on the slide that we just went through. For small items, it is acceptable to have the label attached to the product, like tying a label to the product. So samples are allowed to be handed out for your cottage food, but there are some rules that you need to follow. Samples must be prepackaged in your home kitchen. For example, to have samples of bread. You can't cut it at the market, but you can cut it in your home kitchen and individually wrap or package the bread samples into sample cups with lids. Although you do not need an individual label on each sample, you must have properly labeled packages of your product on display with the samples so your customer can review the ingredient list. Your product cannot be cooked or prepared in any way that makes it potentially hazardous food, which means it would require temperature control for safety. For example, you cannot add a dry dip mix to sour cream and then serve that as a sample. Cottage foods cannot be produced or stored in an outbuilding. The law requires the cottage food products be made in your kitchen and stored in your single family domestic residence. Approved storage areas include the kitchen, the basement, spare rooms that are free of pests, standing water, dampness, or other unsanitary conditions. You may not use a garage, shed, barn, or other outbuildings as a storage facility for your cottage food business. Always store your food in clean containers 6" off the floor. Also, when transporting your cottage foods, make sure that the vehicle is clean and your food products are transported in containers that will keep dirt, dust, and bugs or any other contaminants away from your food product. Make sure that anytime you transport your food that you are using a vehicle that is clean inside and out. Potential customers may not notice the kind of car in which you are transporting your products, but they will notice whether it is clean or not. So we talked about other things in here, but we just want to mention that honey and maple syrup is not a cottage food. They do not have, they do have their own licensing exemptions. Maple syrup and honey have their own requirements that we'll talk about, and they can be sold at a farmer's market. So according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, honey and maple syrup are not, once again, considered a cottage food because the regulatory requirements and exemptions have some significant differences. They do, however, have their own set of licensing exemptions under the law. One of those exemptions are you can sell up to $15,001 or less for honey or maple syrup. So that's one of the big differences. And here's an example of the label for maple syrup and honey. They look like if you notice that at the top, the other difference between a cottage food and maple syrup and honey is made in a facility that has not been inspected by Michigan Department of Agriculture and rural Development. So those are some things that need to be considered the labeling also on those. And also cultivated and wild mushrooms have their own requirements and licensing and do not fall under cottage food law. Cultivated mushrooms are treated as a produce item and are regulated as are other raw agricultural commodities. Wild mushrooms are required to be collected or identified by a certified expert and are labeled according to the requirements under that program. Pet treats are not considered a cottage food. Cottage food law applies to human grade food only, and it's for human consumption. And we will send a link that takes you to pet foods or selling and licensing for pet food sales. Also, whole cut fruits and vegetables are not cottage foods, and there are no licensing requirements for farmers selling fresh, once again, whole unprocessed fruits and vegetables at a farmer's market in Michigan. And eggs. Farm fresh eggs also do not fall under the cottage food law in Michigan and they can be sold at roadside stands and farmers markets. Here are the requirements for selling farm fresh eggs. You have to have less than 3,000 hens. You have to sell directly to your consumers or customer, only sell eggs in containers that are labeled packaged in a facility that has not been inspected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and do not sell eggs through the Internet or by mail or consignment. A certificate will be emailed following the Michigan Cottage Food law training. If you can put your name and your email in the chat, if you'd like one of these certificates and our handouts, we would appreciate that, and we will collect all of those and send these out in the next day or two. So once again, if you put your name and your email in the chat, we can send these certificates to you that you have seen this program. The certificate is not required by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and it is not required to produce cottage foods. This certificate is to give consumers confidence that you, the cottage food operator, has attended food safety trainings. As a cottage food business, you must follow all the Michigan food codes and the Michigan Cottage food laws. Only non potentially hazardous foods are still allowed to be produced as a cottage food. So if you can put your name and your email in the chat, we'd appreciate that. And now I'm going to turn it over to our colleague Diane Diane Longanbach. Okay, thank you. If you could enable me to show my video, that would be great. And I will just continue on in the meantime. Okay. Laurie, I don't know if you can do that. Okay, so we'll go ahead and get started if you want to go to the next slide. Okay. Keep going. Welcome everyone. I know this is all part of a larger series of seminars that you're choosing from. I'm glad you chose the Cottage food law to learn more about home based businesses. So one of the things I do is I'm a business counselor with MSU Product Center. And so I am able to counsel businesses every day that want to have a packaged food product. Either they have one or they want to have one. Sometimes they want to sell online, sometimes they want to sell in stores, and Kellie's still not able to share the video. So it's been disabled by the host. So that's what I mainly do. And obviously, we have people that still are always will be at the cottage food level based on what their business goals are. Thank you. Okay. So let's go ahead and talk about this slide here. So when you think about who will buy your product, a lot of people say, Well, everyone's going to be interested in my product. Well, it's possible, but probably not. And so one of the things you need to think about is who is most likely going to consistently purchase your product, and that is your target customer. And then also think about with the product, what are they expecting from that product? What attributes are they thinking about? What packaging do they want? And then where does that target consumer shop? Are they in the farmers' markets? Where are they shopping at, and where does that mean of where you will need to sell your product? And then the price, what is about the target area that your consumers will want? Are they willing to pay the higher price for whatever your product offers? Are they looking for a bargain price? What is it that your target consumer will be willing to pay? And then how should you promote it to reach that target audience? Are they on Facebook? Are they on Instagram? What, what is going to reach them? Is it going to be emails? What is it? So that's what you need that's why you need to decide who's your target consumer. And then go on and figure these other items out of what makes sense for your business. Next slide, Okay. So thinking about your product, the ingredients itself, what makes you different and unique from every other product that's out there. That is really the trick of what you need to try and figure out for yourself. So there's different things that can set you apart. One of those is ingredients. So maybe are your ingredients healthier? Are you getting more of your ingredients locally? Do they have a different flavor profile than the other cookies beds or whatever the product is that's out there. Also, thinking about your product size, can you make yourself unique that way? Where everybody's selling a whole maybe loaf of bread, maybe you're selling a smaller loaf of bread. So thinking about size and how that matters, maybe it's individuals serving. So if someone wants to eat your product on the go, they can based on the size and the packaging that you're using. So with that, talking about packaging also, maybe you want to instead of having a a product that they tear open once and they can never seal it again to have a resealable package or a package that's easy to use when you're eating on the go. All of these are things that can set you apart from someone else. Next, Okay. Okay, so successful marketers understand that for the consumer, the package is the product. And think about that when you're walking down the grocery store aisles or at your farmer's market, how people package their product, the color of the packaging, or the color of the label. All of that brings out a different interest that you have in the product. And that is your first decision of, do I want to buy it to then try it? So the package has to speak to them, say something to them that makes them want to buy your product. So your package and your label are critical. Next, this is a page off from the Michigan Farmers Market Association's website, and it shows where the different member farmers' markets are. Now, every farmers' market is a member of the MIFMA or Michigan Farmers' Market Association. But the ones that are, you can go on and click on those different areas to learn more about each market. So in working with farmers markets to sell your product, it's important to realize that each market is different and unique and your connection to the market manager is going to be a crucial key to your success. Should you be accepted as a vendor? You should also visit the actual market itself to see if the products that are selling there, how similar they are aren't to yours and whether your product will work in that location. You can also tell who shops there a little bit more. So it should be noted that many farmers markets do not accept cottage food law businesses. So that's another reason why do connect with the farmers' market, go on their website to see if you can tell what they do allow there. So before you apply, it is recommended that you find out the cost of the booth. What that is, what supplies are required. Some places you go to, they have the table there. So they don't based on what farmers' market you go to. Check out the Michigan Farmers Market Association website. It's a great source to learn more about other farmers' markets. Okay. So you can also learn more about different areas within the state that markets might be in through these three different sources. So you have Michigan Market Maker, and that really gives you some customer demographics. So demographics per area, such as income level, age, household size to learn more about a sector within that area or a geographic area. You can also create a free profile on Michigan Market Maker to list the products that you have and gain attention that way as someone that sells a product. You can also go on Claritas, and you can see the last part is AS, not US. That's a different Claritas. So this gives you more information about multicultural behaviors, lifestyle behaviors, purchase behaviors, so much different information than you're going to get from Michigan Market Maker and regular demographics. And then you have taste the local difference, as well. You can also get a profile on there. They offer accessible marketing and business to business services on there as well that you might want to check out. So I encourage you to check out those three different resources and how they can help you to reach your target market. Next. Okay, so market managers do determine who gets to be at their market. They have different categories they want to fill, and sometimes they have only so many vendors that they want to be within that category at their market. So, for instance, you might also want to Oh, well, the jams and jellies and Bakers category is often oversaturated, and so that's another thing to consider and think about and know that you need to contact that market to make sure that you're able to get into that market. So some strategies, if they will allow you to is to team up with another vendor. You could select that you want to buy products that are complimentary to yours. So if you have jam, maybe you want to be by the bread people. So different strategies like that. Okay, let's talk more about farmers' markets. So oftentimes people think, well, if it's at a farmers' market, it must be everything is licensed by cottage. You know, it's all under the cottage food law. And I want it to kind of show a little bit of the difference here. So you can have a plant that is really needs a nursery license if it's like a flower or something. Any plant. So then cottage food law would be products that we've talked about today. And then someone that has a wholesale license or retail license through the state, that's a state license. Most likely has a salsa or a sauce, or they would have to have a license like that in order to have those products that they would sell anywhere. And then maybe somebody has cotton candy there that they're selling, and that would be a health department licensed product if it's not in a container, per se, it's just a ready to eat tray or with a little cone stick like you often see it. So not everything at the farmers market, it falls under the cottage food law. Okay, next. So when you're at the farmers' market or anywhere else as a vendor, how can you market yourself a little bit better? So the product on the left hand side, although it's dog food, that's not cottage food law, you can see how they market. They're using the space, the vertical space up and down. Um to get different sites of view for people walking by. They have a banner, they have a tablecloth that all brands and markets their product, and then you can see the product outside of the package. They're doing a great job marketing themselves. You can use some of those strategies with the vertical marketing the banner and the tablecloth. You could also use the strategy of a gimmick to draw attention and to help word of mouth when people are at farmers markets is like the doctor Seuss hat here on the right hand side. Next. So how some marketing strategies. Some people do still use the email. Maybe they're collecting emails and they're sending out newsletters of what markets you're going to be at or what specials you have. Some people may also be having a social media presence, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat or whatever you're using. And some people put that on their package. Those icons on their package, they're labeled just so people are aware of to go to those. But a lot of people just go to those anyways to see if you have a presence on one of those. Some people use, um people that are followed on social media to promote their products as well, that can be an effective strategy if you want to hire somebody to do that. And then otherwise, people are having a website presence, since it's so much easier nowadays to have a web presence that is helpful, even if obviously you aren't selling everything through you're not shipping it to them. It still can give you your presence. They could even buy it. But then you're going to have that face to face connection to give it to them. Next, so like we just said, you're still having that face to face exchange, but you can't take your money online. Great change that we've experienced over the last couple of years. Next. So let's talk a little bit more about the business side of things. If you're going on vacation, you're usually planning just a little bit or a lot, depending on who you are, and people do that with business as well. So let's talk a little bit more about what we mean. So one of the things to think about is, is this a hobby or a business? So do you have a strategy for making a profit? That's assuming if you're a business and you care about a profit. If it's a hobby, maybe you don't care about a profit or maybe you at least have to break even. So then how much time can you actually devote to this business? Again, is it a hobby or a business? Either one could create a lot of time that it will involve? Businesses will definitely create a lot of time that involves, and it will definitely be affected by how much money you want to make at that business. And then how much risk can you take, whether it's a financial risk or it's a risk of relationships, if it is too time intensive for you. Those are all things to think about. And then what are your goals, both personal and for the business as you go through this hobby or this business? It's really good to be clear on what you're actually doing and why. Okay, let's go on to the next slide. So we have some different business organizations that I was just going to try and put this in the chat for you so you could check these all out. But there's different places that you can go to that do offer assistance for businesses. So the first one is service core of retired executives. So people that have their executives that are retired, they owned a business and they provide some business counseling for free as well. So it might be a place to go to. And there's also the Michigan Small Business Development Center or Michigan SBDC, as you can see here, they offer online seminars. They also offer business counseling, but they do have some steps you have to take before you can actually get to a business counselor, they just operate a little bit differently than what MSU Product Center does. And then you have the smallfoodbiz.com, bplans, localorbit.com. All these are different business either consulting or places that you can go to for business plans. Okay, next step. And you can go ahead and go right through that slide onto the next one. So business name, you can see this Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, we refer to as LARA. So this is the corporate division where you're going to check for an entity name, your business name, if that's even available in the state of Michigan. So if you're a corporation, a limited liability company or a limited partnership, other corporate structure, other than a sole proprietor, you're going to go there, and you're going to search your business name to see if anyone else is already using that name. We also recommend for you to check. So not only here, but just for you to go online, any browser that you want to use, whether it be Google, Safari, whatever, and just put in your business name that you believe you want to use and see what else comes up of other companies, whether they're food related or not that are using that name and how that could confuse people when they're trying to find your company and the products that you want to sell. So make sure you check out those two things and follow through to make business decisions that are right for you. Okay, next slide. So the types of legal business structures you can see here, sole proprietorship, and that's not needing a state filing on the state website. It's usually when you're just wanting to operate on a smaller scale within your local county, you're really not wanting to sell broadly throughout the state. That's usually when that's used. Then we have the other ones, partnership, limited liability company, another corporate structure, et cetera, nonprofit, cooperative, many different ways to have a corporate structure. The Small Business Development Center has a nice book that they put out not annually, but pretty close to it. That provides a lot more information about this and gives you guides of how to go about these. I would recommend you go on the Michigan SBDC website to learn more about corporate structures. Next, Okay, so we had mentioned sole proprietorship. You can file that with your county clerk. So there in your county through your county government. There's the county clerk's office, that's where you'll be filing your DBA. Anything beyond that is with that licensing and regulatory affairs, LARA, on the state website. Okay. Next. So employer identification number. If you have a sole proprietorship, you can use your Social Security number if you want to to connect to your business. I always recommend to everybody, you really should get employer identification number anyways, because you want a separate bank account for this not associated with your home account. And having an EIN is required for that. Any other corporate structure beyond sole proprietorship, you need an EIN. So that's an employer identification number. That is through the Internal Revenue Service. You never have to pay for that. It's a free. You can get that on the IRS website. So make sure you go to the IRS website. You know you're on the IRS website before you apply for this EIN. Sometimes, if you just type in, you know, employer identification number, EIN, you'll get companies that want to charge you for that for doing the service of getting that number for you. You never want to do that. So that's some of the benefits and information about having an EIN number next. So it's a lot of information as far as corporate structure, getting an EIN number, et cetera. Don't get stuck in the weeds. If you want to if this is not something you want to deal with, you can talk to a business attorney or an accountant or family member acquaintance that you know that work in these areas to help you out. Okay. Okay, next slide. So insurance. So it's important to know a little bit about insurance. Sometimes markets will want you to have insurance, the general liability portion that will protect them if there's anything that happens. So let's say the wind comes up, blows everything away, fire, takes out your stuff. Any ill will or devastation. Maybe somebody wants to do something to your company and somebody else gets hurt too. So crazy things like that. Anyways, markets may require it. Otherwise, product liability insurance is really about you and your product, and if somebody eats your product and something happens, they break a tooth, they get sick, whatever, that's the product liability portion. So it's important to search out somebody that has experience. It's recommended here ten years of experience at least in providing food insurance. This cost right here, four to $600 annually is for $1,000,000 general liability policy. Stores sometimes require $2 million. So it'll all be depending on who's supplying your insurance and what kind of what level of insurance you need or want. So think about that. I'm not an attorney. I can't tell you what way to go and whether you should have it or not, just trying to provide information for you to think about. So the financials, this will be the last portion of the session really talking about price and trying to give you some a little bit more information there so you can use that for your business. So we'll be talking about determining a price, determining a cost, the break even analysis, and the adjusting the price based on all of that information that you have. So let's go ahead and dive into that. This is oftentimes not the area that's most interesting for those of you that just really flat out like to cook, and that's why you're doing it. So when we think about price, it's really important to think about what benefits are perceived by the consumer or the customer that's buying your product, how that is related to the price and then the value that customers perceive. So let's kind of go over this. So on the right, we have value. Customers buy things based on the value in their eyes, not your eyes, in their eyes. So value is determined to them by the difference between the perceived benefits that they're getting and the price that they're paying. So benefits, what are these? They're seen as everything positive about your product. So that is communicated to the customer largely through marketing. So that could be taste by sampling your product. It could be through the customer service that they get. It could be through the new flavors that they see that you have on your labeling. Could be by the price, it could be a perceived benefit. Maybe the local ingredients are, what they perceive to be a good benefit. So that's their perceived benefits. Next, we have price, and that's really a psychological separation of your hard earned money for something that you're buying. So there's a price of cash and a psychological price that you're paying. And then, so thinking about that, you can think about high value products have a lot of perceived benefits that the customers getting. So on the right hand side, there's a lot of value to it because they are perceiving a lot of benefits to it. Okay. And so then they're more likely to pay a higher price, as well as more value when, of course, the perceived benefits are higher, a little bit higher than the price. But you're not shooting for Walmart value either when you have a specialty food product. So let's move on to the next slide. So what's some pricing risks then? Why should you care? Well, if it's too low, you're not going to cover your costs for the business. That's especially important if you are a business and not a hobby. If you have your price too high, you're not going to have many customers, you're going to be taking product home. There's going to be a lot of waste product that is expired, and you're throwing those away. So just right, you're getting the sales volume that you want. You have the plenty of customers, and you're making the profit that you want. So all pretty intuitive that you probably have figured out before I even told you that. So let's go on, and we're going to be walking through an example about pricing to talk more about this and have you be able to figure that out back at home next. So let's talk about what are the different types of products. You have variable cost. So as you can probably guess, it varies, right, depending on the number of units sold. And an example of that is the ingredients vary, the packaging, and the labor. All of those vary depending on how much you, how much you sell. Of fixed costs, it could be things that are being paid for regardless if you make any product or sell any product. So they're monthly costs or yearly costs are incurred regardless of sale. Examples of these could be vendor fees. And insurance loan payments if you're making a loan on something, square reader or some other mechanism that you're using to take payments, and then maybe your website hosting, your marketing. So all that is fixed, costs and the ingredients, packaging, and the labor are all variable. Let's move on into our example. Okay, let's try and talk about pricing then. Your competition that you've noticed at the market is selling anywhere $6-11, so you take a stab in the dark. You decide, I'm pricing it at $8. How do you know that's the right price? Other than you know it's in the middle, but will it cover your costs? How do you know that? Let's walk through this a little bit more to help guide your thoughts on that. So your variable costs, like we talked about ingredients, let's say it was $3 a jar. Probably not very realistic, but hey, $3 a jar for this example. Let's say when you think of the time, the whole time that it took you to make that batch, and you divided by the number of jars, it really cost you $1 in labor to make that jar. Now you're saying, Well, I don't pay myself so I'm not going to charge that. Well, let's say everybody wants your jam and you cannot make enough now all of a sudden, you need to hire somebody. So you're paying them, or let's say you have to have a job, you're thinking that the cottage food is it because you have to have X amount of dollars a year to supplement your income. How do you know this Food business is making you more than working somewhere else. So that's why it would be important to put a price on the labor, those situations. If this is a hobby, then it probably doesn't matter to you. So jar, that costs you $1.25, labeling, let's say, that's $0.50 a jar. So the variable cost is $5.75 a jar. That's how much it's actually costing you out of your pocket. For one product. Okay. So your fixed cost a month, let's say you're paying insurance. You don't like bookkeeping. You're paying somebody else $25 to do your bookkeeping. Let's say you're paying $50 for the booth costs at a farmer's market. And then the car, whether it be gas, wear and tear, whatever, is $75 a month. So that all adds up to be $200 a month. Okay, so let's move on to the next slide. So you sold it for eight. It costs you $5.75 to just even make it anyways. So that leaves you $2.25. So you're thinking, Wow, gross, I made $2.25. Well, yes, but remember, we still have to pay for all the fixed costs yet. So it's not like you're free and clear on that. Some of this gross profit has to go towards paying your fixed costs. So let's continue on with this. So like we said, you got to pay for your fixed costs. Those were 200 a month. So how many jars then do you need to sell just to pay for the fixed costs? Well, if you have $2.25 left, you're going to divide your fixed cost by $2.25. That'll tell you you have to sell 89 jars just to even pay off the fixed costs. And then anything after that 89 jars a month, then that is how much you profited for your business that month. So keep in mind that so next slide. Okay. So this is just kind of a visual of, you know, if you think about your fixed costs, you know, it's really kind of a loss until that 89 jars because if you didn't sell 89 jars, then, you know, your fixed costs are costing you more than you made on your product. And so then after that 89 jars, you know, your fixed costs would have already been paid for and anything after that, you get to keep that $2.25 per jar for the rest of that month, at least, right? So if you think about that and how much you want to make each year, you can better determine if I want to make X amount each year, how many more jars than 89 jars do I need to make or sell each month make and sell to reach your financial goal? Okay. So let's move on. So as you think about that, well, obviously, you know, you have to price it where your target market will buy it. So it's not like you're just going to jack the price up because you want more money, but, you know, they still have to buy it, so you're dependent on that. There's a sweet spot of what you can sell your product for. So look for ways to maybe lower your costs. Maybe you're buying your ingredients more in bulk. That would be one way to do it. Maybe you're adding value for the customer by adding a different flavor, using some local ingredients. Maybe your package is using more of the gourmet colors to give the impression of gourmet and maybe you think it's gourmet because it uses local food and it uses different flavors than they're used to. You want to portray that with your package and your label. And then when you're at the market also, it's getting towards the end of the day, instead of just keeping the price the same and taking everything home and probably either giving it away, eating it, you can maybe incentivize people to buy it more by bundling. So maybe you instead of it being like a one for five or I don't know, a loaf of bread, maybe you're selling two for nine. So these are just different ways that you could sell at the end of the day at the market and ways to lower cost and add value. Okay. So again, I said, I'm from the MSU Product Center. We have about seven counselors throughout the state of Michigan. If you ever think that you want to take this step to go on to be a client of the MSU Product Center, we have a registration online on our website, and that registration is $100 payment. That provides unlimited business counseling for five years. So it's a lot, can save you a lot of time, and I can help you take your business to the next level if you're looking at trying to take it into stores or being able to get licensed through a commercial kitchen, so you can sell it online. So I will go ahead now and turn it over back to Kellie or Karen. Thanks. Thank you very much, Diane. So we also wanted to share with you that the MSU Product Center also has a selling food in Michigan quick reference guide. So you can scan that QR code or the information will also be sent out in those follow up resources. So if you ever have a question about maybe where what something is licensed under or how to get more information about it. You can use this quick reference guide and it will take you to different resources and information geared towards specific food products. It's just a great little quick reference on how to get more information about different foods being sold in Michigan. I know Karen mentioned earlier about maple syrup and honey not being a cottage food and that they have their own exemptions. We do have a selling honey and maple syrup safely in Michigan class. If you are interested in that, we will send out that information as well. And maybe you are interested in being a cottage food operator and after this class, you have learned that maybe what you want to produce doesn't fall under the Michigan Cottage food law or maybe you currently are a cottage food operator and you want to move beyond being a cottage food operator. We do have a course called Moving Beyond Cottage Food. This is just geared toward entrepreneurs and cottage food operators who are interested in making that next step in becoming a licensed food operator. It just gives you the steps that you are going to need to take before you meet with your MDARD inspector. It also gives you a bunch of resources about the product center and all of the great resources that they have to offer. Our food safety team does offer the session every month, at least once a month, and you can find those classes on our Michigan State Extension Cottage Food law website, and we can put that link in the chat for you as well, those are all free sessions. So we do have a question Karen is also on to help answer the questions. Is dry chili, such as chili crushed or flakes considered a cottage food law? Yes, dry chili flakes or crushed chili flakes would be considered a cottage food law item. Are herb vinegars allowed? Sorry, I'm trying to type and chat at the same time, it does not work. Flavored vinegars are allowed under the cottage food law. I'm going to give this one to Karen as she is the fermented person. What about naturally fermented kraut and pickles? I don't know how to take that answer. You're that statement, Kellie, but anyway, you cannot sell any fermented items under the cottage food law. There are classes that you can take, but you definitely have to be licensed to sell that product. You just do kraut. That's you. But I don't sell it. I do it for my family. What about tomatoes tomato or rhubarb jam? That's not those are actually technically rhubarb is a vegetable, but there's enough sugar in that to sell it as a cottage food, but a tomato is not allowed. So rhubarb, yes, tomato, no. You can do fruit spreads, definitely. As long as you're following Tested recipes. They have to be exact in the Yep, you're right. And they have to be done in a water bath or an atmospheric steam canner. Yep. What about chili oil? No oils are allowed at all. But it's an interesting thought. Never thought of oil. But no, you can't do anything with an oil because it would cause a anaerobic environment. You could grow bacteria very quickly. And why not dehydrated sourdough starters? Very good question. Actually, a big part of that is, well, number one, it's a fermented product. Number two, I just actually saw and learned a lot about starters that they can actually grow some bad bacteria. And if you happen to get or sell one that was sold to you that had that bacteria, you just re ignite that bacteria growing in your sourdough starter. So it's so easy to start your own starter. It's not something that really should be considered. It's too much high moisture. I can grow a lot of bacteria when it's rehydrated, and it could actually grow it while you're making it. So that's why you can't sell dried or dehydrated sourdough starter. And then who licenses herb tinctures? Tinctures have their own licensing, but it would be more like a medical type of thing. If it's considered a dietary supplement, then it would be licensed through the FDA. And so if it has a um, I can't think of a dosing on it. Any type of dosing instructions or if it's advertised as any sort of a health claim on it, then it would be licensed through the FDA. So is there an age limit for someone selling under the Cottage food law? Nope, there's not an age limit there's no license when it comes to cottage foods because they would like because my 12-year-old asked if they could sell chocolate dipped in strawberry during this strawberry season. Yeah. I mean, I would recommend they probably sit through one of our classes so that they understand, like, the food safety aspect of it. Um, but no, there's no age limit. I see a fabulous entrepreneur in our future. That's great. Mm hm. How could a sweet pepper how could a sweet hot pepper jam be made so it is legal? A license. And then you'd have to demonstrate that in front of a MDARD inspector, probably, and also a process authority. I'm not sure Diane could really fill that one in. Was that a Diane. What was the product again? Sweet hot pepper jam. So that will I think we talk to an inspector in that area. I've seen inspectors where they will ask for a water test, an owe test. And if that comes back the way that a low enough water, where there's less water in the product, so it could be safer. Some will just go with that. Some will want a process authority review. So it's more of an involved review of your formula, your process. And then this process authority provides you this letter saying your product is safe based on how it's made and what ingredients. And then the state will license you to make that product. So the state has oftentimes sometimes varies on what they're asking for with that type of product. But it would for sure have to be done in a licensed kitchen and you would you would have to be licensed. Absolutely. So I'm not seeing any other questions your home be licensed potentially? If it has a separate were you going to go ahead, Kellie, then? Well, I'll let you you can do it. I can fill in if needed. Okay, it has to have a separate kitchen than from your living quarters. So for instance, some people have a walk in basement and then they have a door that locks between the basement and their living quarters upstairs in that situation and with the kitchen being approved as commercial kitchen, having the right components in it, then in that situation, sometimes it works. I think that's what Kellie was referring to. All right. Yeah, you also have to check with your zoning for that city or county or township, wherever you live, there's a lot of different factors involved. So don't do anything to your home until you, A, talk to your MDARD inspector, then talk to your city and zoning area. Potentially, yes. Um, why can't you use a Church or community center kitchen? You most certainly can. You can get licensed. So there's incubator kitchens all around, and it's just a licensed kitchen. A spot where you rent, you could get licensed out of your church kitchen if it's a licensed kitchen, or you can get licensed out of a community center kitchen, if it's a licensed kitchen or you can rent a spot at a incubator kitchen. That is what a lot of people do who are starting out. Um, But you can't do it as cottage food, I think is what. That's what I was just going to add thanks, Diane. Correct. And I don't have the answer why. Because they want to know as a cottage food operator, as Karen pointed out, you have to put your home address on where you are making the product, and they want it so that if something happened, they can come back and say, kind be able to find you per se because that is your business. Just like when you are licensed, you have to make your product out of the license kitchen. You can't make it out of your home or you can't go to a different kitchen and make it. Like, as a cottage food operator, your business is your home kitchen. Like, that is where you are making your product out of. It's where you're packaging your product out of. So that is, in essence, like your little business space. Just like when you are licensed, that licensed kitchen where you are making your product is your business space. I believe is the reason why. One other question that I saw also was somebody asked if the Amish need to follow the same. Oh, I did see that. I don't know. They do. Yep, they do. They're not like anybody that would be part of a tribe. So then they would fall under a different their own they're their own nation, so they're not US, whereas Amish are, yes. So oftentimes people do say, Gee, I saw X, you know, this company or that company or whatever. It doesn't always mean that they're following the rules. Exactly. Oh, you always have to make exactly what the rules are, and don't assume that just because somebody else is doing it, that's right. And there are a lot of Amish who are licensed. Yes, there are. I have several Amish clients. Yeah. I've worked with a lot of I've taught Serfsafe to a lot of Yeah. Mm hmm. People in the Amish community. And then there are a lot who do not follow the rules. Just like others, yeah. Yeah. This is the thing you got to remember is they can when you're licensed, you can sell that at the end of your driveway in a roadside stand that kind of thing. So license makes a whole lot of differences in those kind of things. So don't ever assume they're not licensed. They should they could and should show you the license. It should be hanging there to tell you the truth if they're licensed facility. And their package should be labeled differently. Yeah. It should have an address of a kitchen, which might be their address, they have two kitchens and it's licensed. But point is it's going to have where it's made and packaged on their label, regardless, So for samples, samples must be prepackaged in your home kitchen. So the example that Karen gave was if you are sampling bread, the sample you can cut the bread in your home kitchen, package it up, whether it be in individual cups or bags. You just can't cut it at the market. And it can't be in a one big container where there's lots of little bread pieces. It's got to be so that it's food safe wrapped up. Or you could wrap it in plastic wrap. You also can't do samples of anything that is considered potentially hazardous. If you were selling a dry dip mix, you couldn't mix that dip with sour cream and try to serve samples of that because sour cream needs to be refrigerated, so it would need to be kept cold, you couldn't do any type of samples of that or dry soup mix and try to serve samples of your soup because that soup would need to be kept hot. And you also don't need to label the samples as long as you had a package of the bread per se that was properly labeled there so that people could see the ingredients. That information is in our cottage food bulletin. And did you answer the question? Can you sell cottage food anywhere locally? You can sell cottage food anywhere in Michigan, as long as you are not trying to sell it at an operation that is already regulated by MDRD. So you have to be the face to face still with that. So you couldn't go into a gas station and set up a little pop up stand inside there and sell your products inside that gas station because they're already regulated and licensed through MDRD. Uh huh. You also can't sell your product you can't wholly sell your product, but you can't sell your jam to a restaurant because restaurants can't buy products from unlicensed vendors. So please, if you have any questions, let us know. And a restaurant cannot buy anything from a cottage food vendor or a store could not buy anything from a cottage food vendor because as a cottage food vendor, you are not licensed and any licensed operation has to buy their product from an approved rapido supplier, which means they have to buy it from a licensed operation. Mm hmm. I'm going to have Karen go to the next slide. But if you have questions about if you have a product, if you have a specific question, you can always reach out to MDARD, call their main number. They will get you in contact with your local inspector. They are there to help you, answer any questions. They would rather have you call them than you make something that isn't allowed, reach out to them. Once again, if you were at the beginning, we do have a food safety hotline. So if you ever do have any questions, whether it be about the Cottage food law, maybe it's some other of food safety question, maybe you're going through your cupboards and you're not quite sure if something's still good, it's past its expiration date or maybe the power goes out and you're not sure if the food in your freezer or your fridge is still good. You can always give us a call Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. To 5:00 P.M. Also have ask extension where any extension question, whether it be about food safety, maybe it's a gardening question, maybe have a bug in your garden and you're not quite sure if it's a good bug or a bad bug, you can reach out to us at ask extension. You can email us and we will get back to you with an answer. The easiest way to find us there is to just Google MSU extension, ask an expert, or you can scan that QR code or go to that website. But Googling is probably the fastest. I found. If you want to stay up to date with MSU Extension Food Safety team, we invite you to follow us on Facebook. Here we do record some of our different food safety classes. We post different recalls that might be going on. We also post information about our upcoming classes and different food safety tips. Follow us on our T food safety Facebook page. And we do just want to thank you all for joining our program today from myself, Karen, Laurie, and we also are on Instagram, and it is Think food safety as well. We should promote that one, which I'm very bad about. But yeah, you can follow us on Instagram, too. Laurie, that is the other one we're on, right? I post on it, and I should know. Yeah. Thank you. I want to thank Diane for joining us too. I feel like we work really well with Product Center, thank you, Diane. Yes, Chris, follow us on Instagram, too. Thanks for asking me, Karen. I have fun. But it is think food safety on Instagram. Always feel free to reach out to us if you have any sort of questions.
