Feared by Bakers, New Rules for Texas' Cottage Food Law Are One Step Closer to Becoming Law

Tom

Typical bureaucratic bullshit designed to make it harder than ever for anybody to do anything.

Amy S

I think it's fair to say the State puts a much higher burden on the in-state small food producer than one who makes a product out of state and has importers sell it at flea markets, etc. When I go to Canton Trade Days, there are many companies selling mixes for dips and soups, canned salsa, pickled vegetables. Almost all produce out of state, because they don't have to meet the requirements of the State of Texas. The state cannot ban their sale due to federal laws, so they gain an advantage in the marketplace over a Texas producer.

I agree with Meaders, though, that some of this is not so onorous. And some are designed to protect those who consume. Is it perfect? Show me the law that is.

It IS a very litigious society. DON'T think a lawsuit couldn't eat up your home in legal bills. Protect yourself.

Meaders

I own a commercial bakery. I must label or provide ingredient statements, just as those required by home bakers, to my customers. I am inspected. I pass all my inspections with 90% or better. I must list my ingredients in decending order. I take issue with all the comments about this not being required of commercial bakeries. I have had Empire Baking for 18 years. This started for us 2 years ago and we comply. As to whether home bakers should do this or not, that is up to those who make the laws, but please refrain from saying commercial bakeries are not doing this. Honestly, it is not that onerous to own a laser printer or list ingredients in decending order and list allergens.

I know people with celiacs and peanut allergies that have almost died. They deserve some way to know before they purchase and eat something....

Betsy

I do not wish to imply for a moment that your bakery is not preparing healthy food of excellent quality. However, I have never been handed a baked good from a retail bakery that included a label of any kind other than the name of the store. As far as I know, none of the bakeries in my town provide this information on ANY of the products that they sell, including decorated cakes. Perhaps as a wholesaler, the requriements are different? Cottage Bakers are not allowed to sell wholesale. All of our orders are custom based on a specific customer's requests. If a client has allergies or specific medical issues that require a special product, I politely decline the order and refer them to someone who specializes in that work. Senator Nelson and Representative Kolkhorst wrote SB 81 with the stated intent of not burdening the small home baker with these regulations and requiring that our customers purchace at our homes so they could inspect our kitchens themselves. TheseDSHS regulations are in direct conflict with the letter and intent of the law. This is where our issue lies. I believe the retail bakery and the Cottage Baker are two completely different business models that can and should be able to co-exist peacefully. I do not believe DSHS is operating in the best interest of either of us OR the consumers. I wish you continued success.

Kelley Masters

Well, everyone reading this doesn't have to take our word for it. All they have to do is visit their local Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, or a local bakery or coffee shop, or the pretzel shop at the mall, and order a baked good from the glass case, and see what kind of label is on it.

Jennifbrock

I know people with celiacs, too. And they wouldn't order something unless they knew it was gluten free. With home bakers, the vast majority of them aren't even going to turn the oven on until someone places an order. And even then, the order will be what that specific customer wants. The customer will then be required to pick up the order at the house of the person who made it. As for the ingredients list, I checked out your website. I didn't see anything custom on your menu. So, no, I'm sure that any labels you produce are not a big deal for you. My guess is that if every order you took was an order for a custom cake, you might feel a little differently. You'd be creating a new label for every order, not just printing a new label.

Jennifbrock

One minor correction... they are not necessarily required to pick up the order. Only to make the purchase at the house.

A-Lady

This has absolutely nothing to do with food safety or the safety of people from "unknowns", it has EVERYTHING to do with government controlling your dollar, they are TERRIFIED that you are going to sell something and not give them 50% of YOUR dollar. They are trying to make it illegal to grow vegetables in your own back yard for even your OWN consumption. Government takeover. FIGHT BACK, don't lay down and die.

Whitney Filloon

This whole thing smells strongly of bullshit... On my way to send the DSHS a strongly worded letter, plus a picture of both my middle fingers.

Lwelch

I choose to follow the law, so I worked as a decorator at the local bakery that has been in business for over 50 years in our town instead of selling illegally from home. That place was FILTHY. Fly tape covered in dead flies hung over my station. Inches of stagnant water in the bottom of refrigerator cases where uncovered food was stored. Perishable ingredients sat out all day in 90+ degree temperatures, and open fruit filling bags hung inches off the floor where the night time vermin could eat their fill. When this law passed I quit to work from home. My kitchen is spotless. I have $1 million in liability insurance for my customers. I keep a dedicated cleanroom / workroom specifically to do cakes. I respect the business of the bakeries in my town and do the sort of work they are incapable and unwilling to do. The local health inspector was on the take and never sited that bakery or the other major bakery in town for their violations. And suddenly I am a risk to public health without a huge, rediculous label?! My clients ALL must come to my house and I am more than happy for them to see my work areas...in fact, I insist - it's the law. Let's start by making them weigh that fly tape full of dead flies in metric and hand that info to the customers with their order. Just because they are "inspected" doesn't mean they are clean. At least not in my town. I have to go back there next week to pick up my tax info for last year. Betcha those flies are STILL hanging there.

just me

Just because you are a commercial bakery DOES NOT mean YOU won't or haven't baked or sold food that wasn't hazardous to the public. I'm so tired of all these Commercial Bakery people acting like they feel sorry for the public. YOU DON'T! You feel sorry for your pocket book. Guess what, I have insurance do you? I've taken and have the Food Management Certification do you? Just because a person bakes from home does not mean we are ignorant! Seems the ignorant party are the people trying to stop this industry. I would like DSHS to testify that they don't or haven't eaten baked goods in their office, When they did, did they look for a big mega label to make sure it was safe. How much did that cookie weigh, was the ink the right type, how much food coloring did it have? Hell no! You just said cookies and down it went.They need to get off their high horses and stop accepting payment (which this smells of) from larger bakeries and just leave people alone. They need to spend their time at the hundreds of commercial restaurants that have failed their health inspections (the 1 and only 1 they get once a year) of which a few commercial bakeries are listed.

Afraid of Harrasment

"They need to spend their time at the hundreds of commercial restaurants that have failed their health inspections (the 1 and only 1 they get once a year) of which a few commercial bakeries are listed."......Not to mention the bakery gets a heads up that they are going to get inspected ;-)

Afraid of Harrasment

Pick up any item in your local box store and look at WHERE it comes from....most are imported from China. Hmmm, how many deaths have been in the news because of contaminated products from other countries? How many deaths have been reported from contaminated food products from major manufacturers? Now, tell me how many deaths have you seen reported due to food eaten from YOURS or your NEIGHBOR'S kitchen?

Here is another fact. FEDERAL Food regulations exempt small businesses (those generating less than $50k a year) from labeling rerequirements other than Name of Establishment, Contact information, and ingredients. No net weight, no nutritional info, no allergy info. If I purchase a cookie at the Mall, does it come to me with a big label attached? NO! It is handed to you in a paper sack. Chances are the person behind the counter wouldn't even KNOW how to proceed to tell you any information other than price and type of cookie. It is so sad to see our State set out to hinder small businesses from doing their part to bring our economy up out of the gutter.

Rachel Gaffney

I speak here as woman who began baking in her home in Texas, then subleased space in a bakery and eventually to the great big world of commercial production. Protecting the public is important. Listing your ingredients in order of weight is not difficult. There are resources out there for this. Computer programs, and even labs that will deliver this information to you once you simply submit your recipe to them. It is NOT expensive. I did this. What people are forgetting is how 'litigious' society is here. You are opening yourself up to losing more than home baking business. Instead of being upset, there is a serious need for home bakers to have access to the information they need and resources. They are out there. I know. I've been there.

My kitchen is clean

And how many wedding cakes have you weighed--in imperial and metric? How many labels that all but give away your recipes have you printed? Have you put a complete label on every single thing you have baked? How many times were you inspected last year and how much notice did you get? How many iof your customers see your kitchen?

Oh, and just how threatened are you by us? Is there by some chance a cottage baker in your area who does something better than you do? Stop griping and start working. We aren't going away and we aren't backing down. Deal with it.

Gaiawest

Labs, not expensive? Wow, I wish I had your apparent resources. $118.00 to get each recipe analyzed for nutritional info. How much profit is made on a batch of cookies or a loaf of bread? A couple dollars. How much is insurance? $400-600 a year. Not expensive? Right.

Afraid of Harrasment

Did you have to purchase a LASER Printer to label your products as a home baker? Do you currently list ALL ingredients with weights on your labels? Of course not, that would be releasing your recipe to the public and your competition loosing your competitive edge. It is a very good thing that these proposed labeling requirements were not in effect when you were starting out (as an illegal home baker) or you might not have been able to make enough revenue to proceed as far as you have come today.

These Home Bakers are trying and Willing to do things within the letter of the law. However it apparent that the "Lawmakers" keep making the laws more difficult to follow. The people voiced their wants and the Bill became a LAW. Now a handful of people on a committee that have been lobbied by Large Scale bakeries are ignoring the wants of the people in favor of Big Businesses that are afraid of a little competition.

Kelley Masters

So, were you labeling your food when you were an illegal home baker?

mchristijones

Rachel, as a commercial baker, do you have to do this and supply all this information to YOUR customers? Do you label each cupcake, cookie or cake that comes out of your bakery? Further, people must remember that the new "proposed" rules are not what the laws says. The law states labels should include name, address and a statement that the product made in a home kitchen not inspected. That goes a long way to protect the public, don't you think? Why should a department be able to just come in a will nilly reinterpret laws as they see fit. Right now it's this one. What will be next?