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Representative Hunter Smith presents sweeping overhaul of home- and small-farm food rules; committee holds bill for amendment
Summary
House Bill 14-24 would expand what home-based vendors and small farms can sell, raise the gross-sales threshold for exemption and remove several local/inspection requirements while adding labeling for uninspected food. Supporters said it will grow local economies; critics raised food-safety concerns. The committee held the bill to allow clarifying amendments, including protections for farmers markets and training options.
Representative Hunter Smith told the Senate Commerce and Technology Committee that House Bill 14-24 would “offer a responsible deregulation of Indiana's home and small farm food production landscape” by clarifying which homemade foods may be sold, permitting sales from outbuildings and raising the current gross-sales threshold that determines who is regulated.
Smith and witnesses said the measure aims to help family farms and home-based vendors expand income and improve local food access. “This measure better enables Indiana's farmers to develop small businesses, grow food, sell food, and preserve farmland,” Smith said, adding the bill includes labeling requirements that notify buyers when a product comes from an uninspected producer.
Supporters — including parents, veterans, small-business owners and advocacy…
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