Thanks to the hard work of our partner organizations, supporters (that's you!), and Assemblymember Bradford's office, the Neighborhood Food Act passed out of the Assembly!

On Thursday, May 29, the California Assembly voted 53-24 in favor of AB 2561, the Neighborhood Food Act. After several rounds of committee hearings and negotiations with the opposition, we are happy to report that the Neighborhood Food Act will continue through the legislative process and hopefully be signed into law before the end of the summer.

But we need your help!

California Department of Public Health adopted all of its proposed additions to the list of allowed foods for cottage food operations throughout California this week. The additions to the list are as follows:

Cotton candy.

Candied apples.

Confections such as salted caramel, fudge, marshmallow bars, chocolate covered marshmallow, nuts, and hard candy, or any combination thereof.

Buttercream frosting, buttercream icing, buttercream fondant, and gum paste that do not contain eggs, cream, or cream cheese.

Dried or Dehydrated vegetables.

Dried vegetarian-based soup mixes.

Vegetable and potato chips.

Ground chocolate.

You can read more about the legal requirements and restrictions that apply to cottage food operations under the California Homemade Food Act on our website here.

Our friends at UC Cooperative Extension are putting on a two-part workshop series at six Northern California locations designed especially for farmers interested in producing value-added products in their home kitchens. Participants will learn about the new California Homemade Food Act (AB1616), which allows individuals to prepare and package certain non-potentially hazardous foods in private-home kitchens referred to as “Cottage Food Operations” (CFOs). The workshop series will cover: CFO Law; food science and sanitation; business operations for CFOs; packaging, storage, and marketing of CFO products; and hands-on demonstrations and tastings of CFO products. $25 with advance registration/$40 at the door, space permitting. For more information and to register: http://ucanr.edu/cfoworkshops.

On Wednesday, April 30, the Neighborhood Food Act passed out of the Assembly Local Government Committee by a narrow margin. Assemblymember Bradford worked with the Committee to make some tough decisions to address concerns raised by opponents and some members of the Committee. Assemblymember Bradford agreed to remove the city zoning component of the bill and make some further adjustments to the tenants’ rights section, limiting the growing space to the backyard. We do not believe the bill would have passed out of the Committee without these agreements.

UPDATE on the Neighborhood Food Act and a Call to Action!

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued proposed additions to the list of allowed foods under the CA Homemade Food Act yesterday. These are proposed additions to the list, so the changes to the list will not go into effect for another 30 days and are subject to change based on public comment.

Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) believes that food industry laws should be scale-appropriate in order to allow casual barter arrangements, micro-enterprise, and small businesses to thrive. This winter, California State Assemblymember Mariko Yamada introduced a bill, AB 2505, to allow small-scale home dairy farms to sell and exchange small amounts of excess milk without needing to have a large and expensive processing facility and jump through other legal hoops.