Health Department proposes pH and recipe checks to let some home-canned products remain exempt under H.401

The Vermont Department of Health told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee on Monday that the draft of bill H.401 can be amended to allow some home-canned pickles, vegetables and fruits under a proposed $30,000 cottage-food exemption so long as producers use validated recipes or obtain a process-authority review.

The change would add “home canned pickles, vegetables, or fruits that have a pH value of 4.6 or lower or a water activity value of 0.85 or less” to the bill’s definition of cottage food, the department said. The department recommended operators use validated recipes available for free from the National Center for Home Food Preservation or have recipes reviewed by a process authority to confirm safety.

That recommendation matters because the committee is weighing two aims that sometimes pull in different directions: protecting public health and supporting small, often rural, food businesses. Committee members and Rural Vermont representatives told the panel they want to expand the exemption to help small producers while avoiding new public-health risks.

Elizabeth Worsheimer, Senior Environmental Health Program…