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Committee reviews H401 to raise cottage-food sales cap to $30,000 and add pickled vegetables
Summary
The Senate Agriculture Committee met May 13 to review House Bill H401, which would raise the cottage food annual sales threshold from $10,000 to $30,000 and expand the definition of cottage food products to include certain canned and pickled vegetables; the committee clarified food‑safety validation and bakery exclusions but took no formal vote.
On Tuesday, May 13, the Senate Agriculture Committee discussed House Bill H401, which would raise the annual sales cap for cottage‑food operations from $10,000 to $30,000 and expand the definition of cottage food products to include some canned and pickled vegetables. Sandra Martin Gullett, identified in the meeting as the sponsor of H401, attended the committee discussion.
Senator Ginny Lyons, a committee member, framed the issue as broadly about household and small‑scale food production: "This is really about food, whether it's grown, whether you grow it yourself and prepare it in your kitchen or whether you go down to the store and buy it or whether you go to the farmer's market," she said. Lyons described the proposal as intended to preserve public‑health standards while easing restrictions for small producers.
The draft bill would raise the cottage‑food sales threshold from $10,000 to $30,000 and add a definition covering non‑potentially hazardous baked goods, candies, granola and certain acidified or canned vegetables and pickles. Committee members said the Department of Health confirmed two points frequently raised on the floor: family recipes would not be disclosed by the department as business information, and sales of raw vegetables grown on a farm would not count toward the cottage‑food sales cap.
Committee members discussed how bakery operations are treated under current law. Language cited in the meeting—identified as section 43 58—exempts home‑operated bakeries with annual sales of $6,500 or less from the chapter that governs licensed food operations. Committee members said most bakery items would fall under the new cottage‑food definition and therefore be captured by the $30,000 threshold, though items with dairy (for example, quiche) may not qualify and could remain subject to licensing.
The committee also discussed food‑safety validation for pickled and canned products. The Department of Health and staff explained that if a producer wants to operate up to the $30,000 threshold and their recipe is not a standardized, validated recipe, they must have the recipe reviewed by a recognized process authority (for example, academic partners or food‑safety consultants) to confirm pH and water‑activity levels that prevent bacterial growth. Committee members noted similar validation requirements exist in other states.
Members acknowledged they did not have precise data on how many small producers would be brought under the new threshold; one committee member said that had not been specified. The committee also noted the proposal had been discussed in previous years with larger numeric proposals—one earlier draft mentioned $50,000—and that $30,000 represented a compromise.
No formal motion or vote on H401 was recorded during the discussion. Committee members said their intent was not to hold the bill up and that a small number of technical amendments could be offered to clarify definitions and thresholds before floor action. The committee did not adopt any formal direction to staff or issue a final recommendation during the session.
