Talking FACS
Host: Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky
Guest: Annhall Norris, Extension Associate for Food and Nutrition
0:00 Welcome to Talking FACS; what you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.
0:21 Mindy McCulley: Welcome back to this special edition of Talking FACS. I'm your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
Today, my guest is, Annhall Norris, who is our Extension Associate for Food Safety. And she's going to be talking about the new House bill 468 that was passed this legislative session in response to the Home Bakers bill that was passed last year.
So, Annhall, can you just kind of give us a little bit of background here.
0:55 Annhall Norris: Yes. Hey, Mindy. Yes, I'm excited to be talking about this. So, last year they passed the Home Bakers bill and the legislators wanted to allow Kentuckians to be able to do more in their home kitchen for sale, from their home, either from the Internet or at a farmers market.
They came up with that Home Bakers bill, but it actually took away some of the products that people had previously been able to make. As farmers, they could operate out of their home and make some products, as long as they had grown a primary ingredient in their products.
So, this new legislation, the home bakers, allowed people to come in and not have to grow anything in their products, but it limited the products to just kind of baked goods.
So, over the course of a year or so, we have come up with House Bill 468. And that's kind of a compromise that is allowing Kentucky residents; whether you're a farmer or a homemaker; it doesn't matter and you don't have to grow anything in your products, but it allows them to use their home kitchen to make some non-potentially hazardous (and that just means shelf-stable) products for sale at the farmer's market or from their home.
2:06 Mindy McCulley: So, it could be anybody. If I decide I wanted to go out and produce this shelf-stable product, then I could do that. I don't have to have any special certification to do that?
2:16 Annhall Norris: That's correct. This year, you don't have to register or have any type of permit to sell from anybody. But beginning in January, the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the Food Safety branch is going to require anybody who's participating in this program to get registered through their office and there will be a $50 fee for that registration next year.
But this year, anybody can participate for free. So, if you and I wanted to get together and bake some cookies or some cakes, make some jams and jellies and sell them over the Internet, as long as the sales are within Kentucky, anybody can do it.
2:54 Mindy McCulley: Alright, that brings up a good point. So, if we have someone selling over the Internet, do they have to be able to ensure that their product is going within Kentucky?
3:05 Annhall Norris: Yes. The product should be for pickup or delivery. They should not be mail order. So, you should not be going out of the state.
3:12 Mindy McCulley: Okay. So, they could order it over the Internet, but then they would have to pick it up.
3:16 Annhall Norris: Yeah, be picked up or delivered.
3:17 Mindy McCulley: From the producer. Okay.
3:18 Annhall Norris: Right.
3:19 Mindy McCulley: So, what are some of the products that people can make?
3:22 Annhall Norris: Well, the products are listed in two different places. The original law lists some very broad generic terms. And then the actual regulation, that just was finalized a couple of weeks ago, further describes the products.
So, there's a big long list, but I'll read you what the definition says. It says, “Non-potentially hazardous foods; including dried herbs and spices, nuts, candy (as long as the candy doesn't have alcohol, they're allowing forms of candy), dried grains, whole fruits and vegetables, fruit jams and jellies, sweet sorghum syrup, maple syrup, fruit preserves, breads, fruit pies, cookies and cakes.
People have been calling our office and asking a lot of different things like, “Is this a candy?” or “Is this a…?” and we're just kind of handling those on a case by case basis.
But as long as it isn't refrigerated; if it does not require refrigeration. So, we're not allowing any pies that need refrigeration. But pretty much all of your baked goods fall into that category.
4:28 Mindy McCulley: Right. Okay. So, then they can just sell them anywhere.
4:33 Annhall Norris: Yes. They can sell them at a farmers market, as long as the farmers market rules don't prohibit those type of sales, they can be sold bear. They cannot be sold to grocery stores or restaurants or wholesale distributors.
So, the person making the product needs to be selling it and they shouldn't be selling it to a grocery store or any retail outlet.
4:55 Mindy McCulley: Right. So, the third-party won't be…
4:58 Annhall Norris: Right.
4:59 Mindy McCulley: Process.
4:59 Annhall Norris: That’s correct.
5:00 Mindy McCulley: And that's a really good point though that you brought up about the farmers market rules because every farmer' market has their own rules as to who can sell. So, maybe if you aren't a grower, they have a rule that says you can't sell at their farmers market.
5:12 Annhall Norris: Right. That has been a question I've gotten several times, just over the last week. That all these bakers and people are excited to be at their farmers market and then the market won't allow them because they want them to be growers. So, they want them to be growing something in the products they're bringing to that market.
And we really don't have any control over that. You know, each market makes their own rules and they kind of police that, depending on how they want their market to be run.
5:38 Mindy McCulley: Right. Yes. So, it's really important to be a good neighbor and make sure that you follow those rules.
5:46 Annhall Norris: Yes. Right.
5:50 Mindy McCulley: We talked about that there's not a fee right now, but there will be after January 1st. So, if somebody is wanting to kind of try out the water and see if this is something that they might be able to do. . .
6:01 Annhall Norris: Yes. This is the year to do it. Yes.
6:04 Mindy McCulley: And of course, they don't have to have any special certified kitchen to do this?
6:08 Annhall Norris: No, they can do it in their home kitchen. They don't have to have an approved water source. There is a different program, a little bit step above the home-based processing, called ‘Micro Processing’ and that's actually for canning something that you have grown in your garden.
There are a few more hoops you have to jump through to be a micro-processor. But as just a home-based processor, you don't have to have an approved water source, you don't have to take any classes from the Health Department and this year, you don't have to get registered. So, now's the time to try to water.
6:40 Mindy McCulley: That sounds like a great plan. So, if you would like more information about House Bill 468, why don't you visit your local extension office and get a complete list of all the products that are available for canning with this legislation.
Well, thanks so much for talking to me about this new legislation, Annhall. And we will check back with you if there are any updates.
7:03 Annhall Norris: Okay, great. Thanks, Mindy.
7:05 Mindy McCulley: Thank you so much.
7:07 Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement.
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