Prior to 2012, under the California Retail Food Code (CRFC), food sold to consumers was required to be made at an inspected commercial kitchen. When the California Homemade Food Act, known as “cottage food operations”, was enacted in 2013, certain low-risk food products that do not require refrigeration, such as bread, pie, fruit jam, and dried food, could be made in private home kitchens, and sold to consumers under limited conditions.
On September 18, 2018, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 626 (AB
626), California Retail Food Code: Microenterprise Home Kitchen
Operations. This bill established a “microenterprise home kitchen
operation” (MEHKO) as a new category of retail food facility and
required a program to be approved by local jurisdictions prior to
MEHKOs being able to operate or be permitted.
| Cottage Food Operations (CFO) | ||||||||
Prior to 2012, under the California Retail Food Code (CRFC), food sold to consumers was required to be made at an inspected commercial kitchen. When the California Homemade Food Act, known as “cottage food operations”, was enacted in 2013, certain low-risk food products that do not require refrigeration, such as bread, pie, fruit jam, and dried food, could be made in private home kitchens, and sold to consumers under limited conditions. The Department of Environmental Health (DEH) has recently implemented operational changes to our Cottage Food Program. These changes were made to help maintain low registration/permit fees and to further streamline the application review process for potential operators. New applicants are required to submit at least one product label for each food category sold and the initial fee includes the review of up to ten (10) product labels. Once a registration or permit is issued, operators can add products throughout the year without prior product label review by DEH. For those vendors who wish to ensure that all of their product labels meet the Cottage Food Labeling Requirements, DEH will review product labels beyond the initial ten (10) labels or as new product labels are added throughout the year to verify product labels meet the labeling requirements. The fee for this optional label review of any labels beyond the initial ten (10) labels will be assessed at our current hourly rate, available in ½ hour increments. Cottage food operators must ensure that all of the products they are selling are on the Cottage Food Operations (Approved Food List - Updated 07/01/20) as maintained by the California Department of Public Health, and meet the labeling requirements for all products beyond those reviewed by DEH. Additional fees will apply for investigation of valid complaints and re-inspections related to improperly labeled products or unapproved products offered for sale. All
cottage food operators will have to meet specified
requirements pursuant to the California Health & Safety
Code related to preparing foods that are on the approved food
list. A food processor
training course must be completed within three months of
approval of the cottage food operation (CFO). The CFO must
implement sanitary conditions, maintain food labels
in accordance with federal and state regulations and comply
with established gross annual sales limits. Additional information from the California Department of
Public Health may be found here.
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