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Health Department urges caution on H.401, recommends narrower cottage-food exemptions
Summary
The Department of Health told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee that while it supports the goals of H.401, it recommends limiting home-kitchen exemptions to non–potentially-hazardous foods, adding registration and training, and aligning Vermont with other states to protect public health.
The Department of Health told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee it supports the goals of H.401 but warned that the bill, as written, could increase public-health risk by broadening licensing exemptions for foods produced in home kitchens.
Interim Commissioner Julia Rell and Liz Wursing, director of the Food and Lodging Program, testified that food-safety science distinguishes potentially hazardous foods from non–potentially-hazardous foods and that improperly canned, preserved or fermented products can cause serious illnesses including salmonella, listeriosis and botulism. Rell said Vermont’s annual counts show more than 100 salmonella infections and an average of three listeriosis cases per year, and she emphasized the department’s goal of preventing food-safety issues before they occur.
The Department recommended revising H.401 to create a separate “cottage food” category limited to non–potentially-hazardous products (for example, baked goods, candy, jams, dry herbs, granola and similar items), retain lower gross-receipts exemptions for higher-risk products, and require training, registration or a simple attestation and labeling for cottage food operators. The department submitted model language and guidance from other states (including Connecticut and Minnesota examples) and offered to provide a bill markup that defines “cottage food operation,” “cottage food operator” and “cottage food product.”
A joint fiscal officer summarized the fiscal note and said the estimated impact to the Food and Lodging fee fund would be minimal; the fund had roughly $1.5 million in FY2004 and the fee types affected by the bill generate about $26,000 annually within the broader fund. The fiscal officer said changes could be marginal and that the department does not currently collect gross-receipt data for small producers to pinpoint revenue effects.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about which products would remain at the existing $10,000 exemption versus the proposed $30,000 threshold, and the Department reiterated its suggestion to preserve the lower threshold for higher-risk products while increasing the exemption for low-risk cottage foods.
The committee accepted the Department’s offer to provide written testimony and a draft of the proposed statutory language for further consideration.
