What is a Cottage Food Bakery?

Cotttage food can sound like a cute name for a small business, but do you know what it really means? It is not bread being made in a cute woodland cottage (necessarily) but the designation the Washington State Department of Agriculture uses to certify home kitchens that make food for sale. Businesses like Folk Bread, operating under this law, are a small but important part of our food system, so let’s talk about it!

If you’ve ordered from Folk Bread before, you may have noticed the bottom line of my ingredients labels reads “Made in a home kitchen that has not been subject to a standard inspection criteria.” This doesn’t mean this was made in an uninspected kitchen, it is just a different process than a commercial kitchen or brick and mortar bakery undergoes - and there is a good reason for that!

I’m obsessed with these new label designs!

The most important thing to know about businesses working under a cottage food license is that we are very limited in the foods we can make. Only foods considered “not potentially hazardous” can be made in a home kitchen. Many baked goods are acceptable, as long as they don’t need to be refrigerated, as well as jams, candies and dry goods. As long as we’re only making the foods our license allows, it would be very hard for these foods to have food born illness or cause harm.

Beyond that criteria, the WSDA actually does come out to inspect my kitchen. They check my ingredients, labeling systems, and sanitation. They notice if home foods and business foods are being stored separately. They check my food handlers license and make sure I have a way to track and contact customers in case there was a recall on a product I used or for any other reason. And since I do work in my own house, they check that I have a way of keeping kids and pets out of the kitchen. No worries - there’s a special gate just for keeping Bug from tasting the dough.

An inspector comes to my home once a year, most recently checking everything out last week! While inspections and licensing certainly aren’t anyone’s favorite part of running a business, Washington’s cottage food laws enable very small producers like me to be in business while making sure we’re keeping our customers safe!