cottage foods, partner spotlight & events

HB251 “Homemade Food Rule” - Community Perspectives

By Sundance Visser (AFPC’s Operations & Finance Director), Meghan Stangeland (Salt & Soil Marketplace), and Brad St. Pierre (Tanana Valley Farmers Market), with input from Alaska DEC.

On August 24th, 2024, Governor Dunleavy signed three bills into law at the Alaska State Fair. AFPC tracked one of them, HB251, closely throughout the last legislative session, releasing Policy Briefs and updating On The Menu regularly. Now referred to as “The Homemade Food Rule”, HB251 revises the Alaska Food Drug and Cosmetic Act Statute to create an exemption from permitting and inspection requirements for producers of homemade food products, with no cap on sales. We’ll dive into these changes, highlight two community perspectives on the new law, and share resources. Finally, we invite you to consider how this law impacts you and to ask questions. The Alaska DEC Food Safety and Sanitation Program is updating its website to reflect the new law and welcomes community feedback during that process.

Photo: AFMA Media Library

HB251 creates a new category of homemade foods that may be sold in Alaska and provides additional retail options for these products. Producers of homemade food products being sold in Alaska are exempt from permitting and inspection requirements, and there is no sales cap (previously $25,000 annual sales in cottage food regulations). The Homemade Food Rule does not supersede the Municipality of Anchorage or any other city cottage food regulations.

Homemade foods (also called “cottage foods”) are food and drinks prepared or processed in a private home kitchen or leased commercial kitchen. Allowable homemade foods can be defined as either Non-Potentially Hazardous Foods or Potentially Hazardous Foods. Non-potentially hazardous foods do not require time or temperature control to be safe to consume – they are commonly referred to as “shelf stable.” Examples include jams, jellies, pickled vegetables, and more. Potentially hazardous foods only last a certain amount of time or must be held at a certain temperature to be safe to eat (time and temperature controlled). Examples include pesto, cheesecake, fresh juice, lumpia, burritos, and more. The DEC has more information for producers who are uncertain about the type of food they are selling. Under the Homemade Food Rule, both non-potentially and potentially hazardous foods may be sold in Alaska, with some exceptions described below.

Foods that contain milk or milk products (cake made with butter, bread stuffed with cheese) are included in the Homemade Food Rule, as long as the ingredients are inspected, Grade A dairy products. Products that contain meat and poultry are regulated at the federal level by the USDA. Foods that contain meat or meat products that are produced under USDA inspection are allowed, like meat from a grocery store. 

Certain foods cannot be sold as homemade foods:

  • Seafood or products that contain seafood
  • Milk or milk products
  • Game meat or products that contain game meat
  • Oils rendered from animal fat
  • Controlled substances or products that contain them (i.e. alcohol and cannabis)

Producers of homemade foods who plan to sell them should possess a valid Alaska business license. The products must be labeled with the producer’s name, address, phone number, business license number, and the statement, “This food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected, except for meat and meat products, and may contain allergens.”

Image: Interpretive chart by AFPC’s Sundance Visser

Both non-potentially hazardous and potentially hazardous homemade food may now be sold in Alaska without state inspection. The two categories have different sales requirements. 

Photo: AFMA Media Library

Potentially hazardous homemade foods must be sold by the producer directly to the consumer (not wholesale or to restaurants), and the producer may sell them in-person, online, via mail-order (within Alaska), or in a retail location that is owned or operated by the producer. The producer cannot sell to a third-party vendor (called “an agent of the producer” by the DEC), like a grocery store or food hub.

Non-potentially Hazardous Homemade Foods may be sold by the producer or by an agent of the producer. They may be sold in-person, online, via mail-order with Alaska, and in retail spaces like grocery stores or food hubs. 

This is a notable change to the previous cottage food rules which only allowed homemade food to be sold directly from producer to consumer. Some food hubs worked directly with the DEC to obtain their Cottage Food Variance, allowing them to sell the product as consignment, not directly to the consumer. Under the variance, hubs could sell specific non-potentially hazardous homemade foods with significant food safety, labeling, and reporting regulations. 

Under the new Homemade Food Rule, food hubs no longer need the cottage food variance. Food hubs, along with other retailers (ex. grocery stores, farmers markets) may sell, if they choose to, non-potentially hazardous homemade foods. Alaska DEC is encouraging the use of formal agreements between producers and retailers to demonstrate that the food is being sold under the Homemade Food Rule. Retailers must keep homemade food separate from inspected foods, on separate shelves or displays, with appropriate signage.

Community Perspective: Salt & Soil Marketplace (Meghan Stangeland, Distribution Manager)

House Bill 251 has stirred both enthusiasm and concern in local food production conversations.  As the distribution manager for the Salt & Soil Marketplace – a Juneau-based online food hub – I find the ramifications of the bills passing both exciting and cause for a gut check. On the most basic level, the bill positively impacts local food producers, lowering the barriers to accessing markets by removing permitting and commercial kitchen requirements, increasing the diversity of products allowable, and eliminating the sales volume cap on Homemade Food. However, these benefits must also be weighed against the potential for serious food safety concerns.

Salt & Soil Marketplace is an online marketplace that aggregates and distributes products sold on consignment, meaning we do not purchase and resell products, nor do we take responsibility for the products aside from temporary storage during weekly distribution. Therefore, the direct impacts of HB251 on our operations are relatively small. Primarily, we are no longer required to maintain our Cottage Food Variance to sell approved non-potentially hazardous Homemade Foods. The variance also required our vendors to have basic food handling and safety certifications, and while no longer required, it is a component we will most likely continue to ensure the safety of our customers. We were not previously eligible to sell potentially hazardous Homemade Foods and with the passing of HB251 that remains the case.  However, as a marketplace manager with both producer-facing and consumer-facing responsibilities, my main concern is safe local food production. 

Photo:Ramen Noodles, Photo by Colin Peacock, Salt and Soil Marketplace

Homemade Foods play a crucial role in our food system: it allows for food preservation and value-added products, which help prevent food waste and increase household food security.  As a food hub that operates year-round, Homemade Foods create product diversity in the fall and winter months when other products are out of season.  The sale of Homemade Foods is also essential to many of our farmers because value-added products preserve produce that might not otherwise have sold, often at a higher value than the product in its raw agricultural form.  However, Homemade Foods must be done safely, and producers have a responsibility to the consumer to produce a safe product.

On one hand, HB251, stimulates economic opportunity for small farmers and home-based producers who previously found the requirements burdensome, increases market access for producers, and diversifies marketplace products. On the other hand, the loosening of permitting and regulatory oversight of the sale of both non-potentially hazardous and potentially hazardous products requires consideration. Consumers’ trust in safely produced local foods is paramount. The challenge is to strike a balance between fostering local food production and ensuring food safety.

As the effects of HB251 take root in our food system, it will be essential to prioritize both consumer and producer education to ensure safe food handling practices. With the sale of potentially hazardous foods more accessible, educating producers on critical safety protocols, such as proper storage, temperature control, record keeping, and sanitation, regardless of whether or not it is required for selling their product, will be vital to ensuring safe local food. Equally important is raising consumer awareness about the potential risks associated with Homemade Foods, and empowering them to make informed choices. By fostering a culture of education and accountability, we can bolster consumer confidence in Homemade Foods while maintaining high safety standards.

Community Perspective: Tanana Valley Farmers Market (Brad St. Pierre, Executive Director)

Photo: Tanana Valley Farmers Market, Newsminer

Alaskans buying food directly from the Alaskan hand that produces it is one of the most important elements that make Alaskan farmers markets special. Farmers markets aren’t high-tech, but they are high-touch, and that personal interaction between community members adds value to our communities. Around the state, farmers markets have hosted vendors who produced foods in their home kitchens for years, under the Cottage Food rules in Alaska. The passing of HB 251 greatly increases the variety of products these Alaskans can produce in their home kitchens and sell directly to the end user at farmers markets. HB 251 increases the total value of products allowed to be sold that are produced in a home kitchen. HB 251 also gives producers who have been required to use a certified kitchen an opportunity for cost savings through the reduction of regulations and associated fees. 

By lessening regulations on small food producers and increasing the variety of products they can produce, this bill will help bolster our local food system. It will increase income for the Alaskans who own and operate local food businesses. Where and when we can, increasing local food production is essential in building a resilient food system in Alaska. Farmers markets around the state are excited to be on the front line of the innovation, diversification, and increase in production these new guidelines will bring to Alaskan producers and customers at markets around the state. I hope to meet you at a farmers market, with a shopping bag full of homemade food.

Conclusion

Supporting the production of safe local foods for our Alaskan communities is a priority for AFPC. This is a collaborative process, like this blog post, involving clear communication between producers, consumers, vendors, and regulators. Alaska DEC’s website is a great place to start including their new FAQ. Reach out with your questions to dec.fss.homemade.food@alaska.gov.

Resources:

Appendix E: An Overview of Food Freedom Acts and Cottage Food Laws (2022), Alaska Food Security and Independence Task Force Report, https://www.alaskafoodsystems.com/pages/food-future 

HB251 (2024), The Alaska State Legislature, https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/33?Root=HB%20251 

Homemade Food (2024), Alaska DEC Food Safety and Sanitation Program, https://dec.alaska.gov/eh/fss/homemade-food 

Cottage Foods Map and Chart (2024), Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, https://www.farmtoconsumer.org/cottage-foods-map/