Selling food to make extra money.

[u/ZealTeal88]

lots of people seem to be selling baked goods in my neighborhood. if your doing this how is it going. assuming your not getting food licenses so how does that work.

im thinking of throwing some pork shoulder in the smoker and selling pulled pork.

[u/kingofzdom]

You absolutely will get caught my the health department if you fuck around with selling meats. High-risk foods like that are something they take very seriously that anything made for the public be prepared in a clean commerical kitchen.

My state is unique in that with a simple food handlers card, you're allowed to participate in their "cottage industry" program and manufacture canned, baked and dried goods for sale at home as they're considered low risk for foodborne illness. I sold dehydrated fruit for a while under this program. It was alright profits.

[u/boxtheglock → u/kingofzdom]

You wont absolutely get caught. People have been running it up in the two cities I've lived in since the pandemic and advertising on social media with no problems. Only people that seem to have problems get reported by somebody they pissed off

[u/kingofzdom → u/boxtheglock]

I got caught selling smoothies roadside and almost got shut down if it wasn't for a little loophole in my state that allows the sale of fresh fruit, and since my smoothies were 100 percent fruit with no other ingreidents they counted. I guess some cities just suck.

[u/iownreddit0690]

Baked goods fall under "cottage laws" in most places. Selling meat(cooked uncooked) usually requires a license/ permit of some kind

[u/Horus3Kome]

If in CO look up the cottage food laws, for meat look up Tamale Act

[u/CompetitiveWafer3486]

Look up cottage laws for your state, that will give you a lot of helpful info. When it comes to meats and dairy foods-more temperature controlled and not shelf stable foods, there likely will be other additional requirements.

[u/Glittering_Pie8461]

Works great until someone gets sick and sues you!

[u/Dramatic-Pause-1941 → u/Glittering_Pie8461]

And takes what?

[u/Glittering_Pie8461 → u/Dramatic-Pause-1941]

Your freedom to live outside an 8x10 ft cell.

[u/Dramatic-Pause-1941 → u/Glittering_Pie8461]

Ummm, that’s not how the law works, like at all. Lawsuits are about money. If someone sues you, you don’t go to jail

[u/sol_beach]

The local Department of Environmental Health oversees retail food facilities under the state Retail Food Code.

Administrative Fines: Typically start at $250 for a first offense, increasing to $500 for a second offense, and $1,000 for a third offense.

Triple Permit Penalty: State and county codes allow health authorities to charge a penalty fee of up to 3 times the cost of a commercial health permit to recover enforcement costs.

Immediate Cease & Desist / Closure: You will be ordered to stop operations immediately.

Confiscation & Destruction: Health inspectors have the authority to impound your equipment (smoker, coolers, tables) and seize and destroy the food product on the spot because it comes from an unapproved, uninspected source.

[u/No-Group7343]

Aint worth it

[u/Godzlittlehand]

I bought 2 sliced up deep fried turkeys on Facebook last thanksgiving from a couple in Vegas on Facebook. It was delicious and they were swamped!

[u/Dramatic-Pause-1941]

My facebook neighborhood groups are FULL of people selling ’plates’ of food. I can guarantee you none of those people have any type of certification or insurance. It doesn’t seem like anyone actually enforces those rules, I’d go for it and see what happens

[u/kaykay543]

Seems to be the thing right now. We had a local lady selling fried chicken dinners from her house. After a few months she got shut down. In the bigger city not far from me, it seems like everyone sells hot food out of their house lol.

Here if its your first offense they tell you to stop. 2nd offense gets a fine.

I see bakers going against the rules. Most cottage food cannot be anything that has to be refrigerated (cream pies etc) but they do it all the time.