Cottage Food Laws

[carol lang]

New York is the only state to allow candy without allowing chocolate or chocolate dipped items. In the FAQ section, this is the reason given.

 

 

What is different in a rented commercial kitchen that addresses the above issue.

 

Thank you for any comments

[JeanneCake]

Other than the obvious implication that a health inspector can walk in to the commercial facility at any time to inspect the premises to ensure everything is done properly; I can't come up with anything.  The act of melting or tempering doesn't seem to be the issue - I'm wondering if it's the manufacturing of bonbons/inclusions that's the issue.  You know, like why you have to have fire suppression if you have an open flame - because it's possible you could saute something and the rising oils could ignite.....  so if you're allowed to make candy or chocolate products, you can then have bonbons that could possibly contain potentially hazardous foods (or whatever the proper term  is now, I can't remember it because I always think of it as potentially hazardous foods!)

[pastrygirl]

I don't know.  IIRC, WA used to have the same rule - no chocolate at home, only oven-baked items, but I believe that has changed.

 

I think to a certain extent, chocolate and confections aren't always well understood by health inspectors.  They're so focused on meat cookery, hot holding, and proper cooling while chocolate has a whole different set of needs.  Or maybe they just don't trust "home" cooks enough when there is no "kill step" or heat pasteurization?  I'd be curious to know what food borne illnesses have been tied to chocolate, and whether it was contamination or something else.  Is there more that can go wrong in a bonbon than just mold? 

 

 

[minas6907]

I sort of get it where they are coming from, but that's because I work in a facility where we go above and beyond in every regard.

 

They say "melting chocolate is a thermal process (no control step). Chocolate melts at very low temperatures." You right that there is no difference if you do it at home or if you do it in a commercial environment. That language reminds me of corporate recipes that include Critical Control Points. If those CCP's aren't met (like cooking and holding temps), then the product is deemed unsafe to consume. Like @pastrygirlsaid, confectionery isn't well understood by those that make the rules. I would say that they have a superficial understanding and don't like to be proven wrong. They definitely aren't familiar with the smaller details of confectionery products and their makeup.

 

In my mind, I think they would deem chocolate to some extent to be unsafe because the melting and working temperatures are right in the danger zone. Hypothetically, if something were to fall in there, it could pose a risk because of being at danger zone temps. I'm sure they have situations they are able to point to where illness was linked to chocolate products, and it was probably by some moron who didnt know what they were doing or being careless.

 

Another factor to consider is that alot of these rules vary from state to state and county to county, and I think alot of them are up to interpretation.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

In New Jersey sale of cottage food is illegal so people don't have rules to bother with.

[JeanneCake]

9 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I don't know.  IIRC, WA used to have the same rule - no chocolate at home, only oven-baked items, but I believe that has changed.

 

I think to a certain extent, chocolate and confections aren't always well understood by health inspectors.  They're so focused on meat cookery, hot holding, and proper cooling while chocolate has a whole different set of needs.  Or maybe they just don't trust "home" cooks enough when there is no "kill step" or heat pasteurization?  I'd be curious to know what food borne illnesses have been tied to chocolate, and whether it was contamination or something else.  Is there more that can go wrong in a bonbon than just mold? 

 

 

 

Agree!  During a routine health inspection, the agent noted "containers of dried up frosting" - we melt small amounts of colored chocolate in 16 oz deli containers in the microwave for writing on cake, drizzling - and we had the deli containers on the top pan on a covered speed rack.    I was going over the write up with her and asked her what she was talking about and she pointed to the deli containers.  I asked her why she thought it was frosting (because we put buttercream in lexans to work out of, portioning the plain into bowls to flavor accordingly) since she never asked what they were or why they were there.  She looked a little sheepish when I told her it was chocolate. (She also questioned what we were doing with spaghetti in a bakery and I know she learned something new when I told her I use it to anchor fondant figurines because it is safer than a toothpick.)   I don't think they are trained for confectionery products.

 

And, after reading the FB group about the hot cocoa bombs that people made over the holidays, yeah.  Some of what I was reading was shocking and I wondered how people were getting away with it; with the advent of social media that allows people to randomly start making and selling food products online without detection - all that hard work people did getting cottage laws enacted is going to be severely tested.