TO REQUEST ACCESSIBLE CAPTIONS VISIT GO.OSU.EDU/CCHELP CAPTIONS PROVIDED BY AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPTION. Thanks, everyone, for attending the fifth virtual Q&A for the Making Food at Home to Sell series. As I mentioned before we hopped on here, it's really exciting to see so many people who have returned time and time again with this series, and also welcome to folks who it might be their first time. This information is still pertinent to you as well. Quickly, my name is Nicole. I'm an assistant professor and food safety field specialist with Ohio State Extension. We also have a fantastic team of folks, and today we have everybody on. Even though folks are hopping off for other meetings and coming back on, and Katie, I think, is about to hop on a plane, so I don't know how long she'll be able to be with us. But I think that this might be the first time that we've had the entire team on, which is very exciting because all these folks have very different experiences and bring different expertise to the table. Katie is employed at George Washington University, however, she used to be with me at Ohio State and was a previous ODA, Ohio Department of Ag inspector. So she's really helped us to navigate the regulations, interpreting them, et cetera, all the questions that we can't seem to answer. I feel like we go to Katie or Katie reaches out to ODA, which has been really nice. We also have Emily here with us today. She's also a faculty member with Extension and is also a county educator in Coshocton County and is a food scientist like me. So it's great to have her. We also have Laura working behind the scenes. She does a fantastic job at sending out the recordings pretty quickly after we have the virtual Q&As and tease us up with all the graphics and all of the links that are discussed throughout this presentation. So if you hear us say, hey, we'll send out these resources afterwards, usually we send them all to Laura. She compiles them and she does keep her promise in sending all of those out. And as we go through content as well, we might post some links in the chat too. So be on the lookout for that. Again, this is our fifth virtual Q&A. I am just so excited that there were so many folks interested in this content and I think it's helped this team be able to better understand the gaps associated with this topic of making foods at home with the intention to sell them. And I have these posted up here because if there are any of the virtual Q&As that you've missed, all of them surround a central topic. They are recorded and we can get you access to them. And we'll be referring folks back to them throughout some parts of the presentation. A friendly reminder that this content really is specific to the state of Ohio. As I always say, if you are coming here from another state, you're always welcome. However, Ohio's cottage food regulations are likely going to be different of that even from neighboring states. And this work is done on behalf of a USDA grant that really is focusing on ensuring that cottage food and home bakery operations, that folks that are interested in these operations or already are owners, are operators, that they have the adequate support that they need, especially as it relates to food safety and being in compliance. The topic for today are considerations for holiday food production. So a little bit different than some of the other topics. However, I do think that there's going to be a few concepts that are repetitive from previous Q&As. We wanted to encourage you to start with thinking about the intention of the product that you are creating. And if it's for the holiday season, we're going to make the assumption that you are going to either be gifting a food product or products that there might be an interest in fundraising. So doing a bake sale or going back to the cottage food and home bakery operation content that you may want to sell it for profit. And we're going to dive into each of these categories individually. But really, this is the starting point. What do you plan to do with this food product? Who are you giving it to? Is the goal to gift or is it to profit? And I know that this slide is really text heavy, but again, we're going to go through each of these one by one a little bit more in detail. So when it comes to gifting, again, if you're giving a gift, hopefully nobody's paying you for that gift. It's not for profit. And with gifting, and we're talking specifically about food items here, just to be clear, there really are no regulations in place that you have to follow. Of course, we're encouraging you to follow safe practices, but there are no sort of regulations, nothing that you have to do. And some examples of items that would fall into this gifting category are your holiday gifts and any types of presents to colleagues, friends, family, etc. This fundraising category kind of in the middle of gifting and selling where it's going to be for profit, right? If you have a bake sale, the overall objective is to ask for money in some way, shape, or form from a realistic perspective. However, if you're having a bake sale, we're going to assume that the money that you are getting is not specifically going back to the seller, you, but is going back to a cause, to an organization, to an entity, etc. And for this fundraising category, you could have no prices. So just people are able to donate whatever they would like, or you can also have suggested prices. That is okay as well. With bake sales, there are not regulations like cottage food and home bakery items or operations that you would need to follow, but we are highly recommending, especially because it's for profit in some way, shape, or form, that you still try to emulate the regulations of cottage food and home bakery. I'm not talking about an inspection or anything of the sort like that. I'm talking about packaging, maybe having an ingredients list, some of the safety practices that we're implementing for foods for profit. And again, that really tried and true example is a bake sale. Now, if you are selling for profit, which is what the vast majority of these virtual Q&As have covered, you're going to have that set predetermined price, and there are regulations that you have to follow, and we'll talk a little bit more about those. We have in previous virtual Q&As, and again, the only packaged foods that you can sell that are stemming from your home kitchen or cottage foods and home bakery items. Starting with gifting, there's obviously so many different types of products that would fall under this category. We're just going over a few examples. Non-potentially hazardous goods. I know that that's a mouthful, but really all that means is that these are foods that don't need to be refrigerated, that are not likely to support the growth of microorganisms, those germs, those bad bugs that could cause someone to get sick. These might be really good options, thinking about some of the characteristics surrounding the holidays. So, if you are traveling, if you are going out of town, out of state, and someone's having to bring the food product, the gift, back somewhere, it isn't impossible, right? You can pack a cooler, so forth, keep something under refrigeration, but with all the holiday chaos, it might be kind to give a food gift that doesn't require any additional steps. And when I say not likely to support the growth of microorganisms, these types of foods, the cookies, the dry baking mixes, breads, granola, it doesn't mean that you can't get sick from these food items. I want to be clear with that. They just don't support microorganisms in the same way as something like a food that needs refrigeration. So, they're lower risk, but I don't want lower risk to accidentally translate into, I can't get someone sick from these types of foods or ingredients. Emily, anything to add here? Nothing at this point, thanks. We also know that canned goods tend to be popular during the holiday season. So, things like seasonal jams and jellies, your apple butter, I know I was eating my apple butter on toast yesterday, cranberry sauces, again, sticking with that seasonal theme, cranberry orange chutney. And Emily and I were giggling before this presentation today because ultimately, if you have not canned before, we were thinking about how maybe this is not the best time to try your luck with it. We don't want to give the gift of foodborne illness, of food poisoning. But if this is something that you have done before, if you're familiar with canning practices, we want to make sure that folks know that Ohio State Extension, as well as other entities, are there to support you in doing things like finding safe recipes. There are a million and one recipes out there on the internet, social media, all kinds of books, et cetera, that have not been tested for safety. So, just because it's out there, just because it might be popular, people might have a large following or it might be disseminated to a lot of different people, doesn't mean that it's safe. So, we like to recommend a few different entities to provide science-based tested recipes. And really, that go-to entity is the National Center for Home Food Preservation that is out of the University of Georgia. They're kind of like our go-to entity when we have questions. We'll go to them if someone wants to have a safe substitution of ingredients and we're not sure if that's okay or is there new recipes coming out. I know that they've been working on some canned seafood recipes. That's who we go to. Additionally, Ohio State has a platform called Ohio Line that has a bunch of fact sheets. So, these are one, two, three pagers that contain information surrounding a specific topic. And we have a lot of food preservation fact sheets and are actually in the process of updating a lot of those as well. We have a pretty robust food preservation team, in my opinion, although I might be a little bit biased. So, even in addition to those approved recipes, Ohio State Extension offers a ton of food preservation support, whether it's through reaching out to some of our folks directly, whether it is webinars that we have. There's a lot out there. So, just know that you can reach out to us if this is something that you're interested in doing. And just for fun, Nicole, I'll just interject real quickly. The jar that Nicole showed in that picture is a four-ounce jelly jar, which make fantastic sizes for gifts. And you may not find a recipe that gives the processing instructions for a four-ounce jar. So, just keep in mind that if you aren't able to find that, because it's usually never given, then always follow the instructions for a larger size jar. So, whatever it would give for a regular pint, which is what we typically think of doing our jams and jellies in, you'll just follow that same recipe. Don't reduce the time in any way as you're doing your processing for that. And Emily can probably back me up on this. When I'm trying to find any sort of graphics for the virtual Q&As, as well as any food preservation content, it is so utterly difficult because we're here to give, you know, the science-based information. So, I really don't want to put up a photo that isn't representing that. But trying to find something that's aesthetically pleasing and also checks all the box for safety sometimes feels impossible. But Emily, thank you for pointing that out. Some other safety considerations for this gifting category is ensuring that you're using food-grade packaging. I get so frustrated with the things that I see on social media with people using things like the tackle boxes, the snackle boxes, people putting stuff in all kinds of containers, which we can get creative, sure, but really when it comes down to it, packaging needs to be food-grade, meaning that it's intended for food. We also want to consider food allergens. Again, like we said, don't want to give the gift of foodborne illness. We also don't want anyone to have a reaction because of a gift that we've provided to them. So, I think it's always very kind to ask if anybody has any food allergies or preferences. And if you are making a product with any of the major allergens, I would certainly encourage you to note that on your product or gift. Also, date labeling. That's just a fancy way of saying that add a date of when you made that food product so someone knows how long it's been since its inception, since it's been created. Additionally, we want to consider safe sources. I've been laughing with Katie about this one because I feel like it's become a common practice to share sourdough starters with just about anyone and folks can buy it on the internet now pretty easily. So, that's just one example, but ensure that where you are buying from is legitimate, especially as it relates to those ingredients. Now, the second category of fundraising. Katie and I actually talked about this pretty in-depth during a previous virtual Q&A. I'm not sure exactly which one it was, but I am going to dig up and find out. If this is something that you're interested in doing, we can certainly, again, tie you back to that previous recording to ensure that you're getting that information. But some of the highlights of that conversation was you are responsible for whatever you bring to the table. Sort of no pun intended, right? Because bake sale, probably laying stuff out on the table. If you have products that are with other people's products, do you have a way to keep up with which products you are sharing with other people? Are you following safe guidelines? Just because we don't have to doesn't mean that we shouldn't. Okay, so again, these are not, if you have a bake sale, this is not a situation that is regulated, but again, we don't want to be making someone sick because we didn't follow safe practices. And this could be as simple as, you know, I don't think anybody's saying like, oh, you have to have some big food safety plan if you're hosting a bake sale. This could be as simple as, are the cookies individually wrapped or set of cookies individually wrapped? We want to make sure that people aren't reaching their hands in, right, and pulling out certain goods. Are you able to serve them? And if they're in packaging, then you don't have to worry about that at all, right? You can always, I always think it's a good idea to have an ingredients list. Even if you don't have that on the package, if someone asks, comes up and asks about the ingredients in a product, are you able to answer that? Okay, so in no way, shape, or form, am I trying to encourage people to aim for perfection here, right? Like, I don't think everybody's having a bake sale on, you know, a super regular basis. But we can, we can always do better, right? What are some very simple steps that I can implement that are, is going to potentially make a difference? So we encourage folks to look at those cottage food and home bakery, some of the regulations and recommendations for them, and to emulate some of those. And then selling, really the meat of what we're talking about here. The first consideration, other than intention, has to be what product category does this fall in? And then what product or products am I going to make? Is it going to be a single product? Is it going to be a variety of a single product? Am I going to make a bunch of different food products? Those are some questions that you have to ask yourself. And with the product category, it really comes down to these umbrella terms that we've talked about many, many times before of, is what I'm making fall under cottage foods? Or do I need to be a home bakery in order to sell these products? And if those terms are not familiar to you at this point in time, or you don't feel confident in knowing where your product or products are going to fall, like we mentioned at the last virtual Q&A, we have lots of resources. I always encourage folks as a first step, you try to figure it out. And if you can't figure it out, then you come to me, you come to us, this team, and we'll try to figure it out. And if we can't figure it out, then we go to ODA. That's kind of the hierarchy. So with this first step, we have the first virtual Q&A that was all the way back in July. I can't even believe it. Where we talked very in depth about what is a cottage food and what falls under that umbrella and what falls under home bakery. And then Ohio State, this is a law bulletin that Emily helped to produce, has some good information about what falls under what, and ODA also has some good information as well. So ODA, the Ohio Department of Ag, they have a website specifically for cottage foods, and they have a webpage specifically for home bakery items as well. And we share all that because I think sometimes it's helpful to see the same information in different ways. Sometimes I even like to go back to the law bulletin that Emily helped to create because I think that the way that that information is presented is a little bit friendlier sometimes than at least some of the information on the ODA website, my personal preference. And if you need to hear someone talking it out, then you can go back to the recorded webinar. And when you're considering if you want to produce food specifically for the holidays or what would need to take place if you were able, if you were going to do that now or maybe at a later date, you have to kind of think backwards, right? With a cottage food, there are going to be less steps than if you want to function as a home bakery. So just very brief overview and reminders for those of you who have heard this before with a cottage food, you do have to have a label, but it doesn't have to go through an approval process. And then you don't have to go through an inspection process. With a home bakery, you do have to have your label approved by ODA. You must have that proof of potable water or a water test, and you must schedule that inspection. And it's not that I'm saying that those things on the home bakery side are grueling. It's that those things just take time. That's just an extra layer of, I need to factor in this amount of time to ensure that I can check off all the boxes on this home bakery side, if that's what your intention is. So this is really about time and feasibility. We asked Katie at this point in time, okay, so this is really for just currently, what is the turnaround time for an inspection of a home kitchen for someone that wants to be a home bakery? And she said currently around three to four weeks after an inspection request is made. Okay, so you have to fill out a form, request that inspection, and then about three to four weeks later will be when the inspection could actually occur. So have to factor that in. But what is important to know is it's three to four weeks after you've requested the inspection, if everything else is ready to go. If you request that inspection and there are changes that need to be made to your label that ODA comes back with, says, hey, it's not ready. If you don't have your certification for potable water yet, then that three to four weeks might be longer. And additionally, a comment that Katie made that I really appreciated is if we're thinking about this holiday time, we also want to take into consideration there are many federal holidays sort of in this holiday period in the fall, winter, and also to factor in employee absences. I don't know how many people ODA employees who do the inspections, but I'm just thinking about us here at Ohio State when we're trying to get things done here at the end of the year, you know, hey, can you meet this week? No, you know, I'm going to be out the last week in November. You know, oh, I'm going to go see some family this time. So we definitely have to take that into consideration as well when planning ahead for that inspection. Or even just the communications with ODA. Some other considerations that surround this idea of time and feasibility, how soon can my products enter the market? So going back to those questions of where am I at with my label, my packaging, is my product at a place where I'm proud to put this on the market? When do my community members generally purchase holiday products? Is that something that people are doing in December? Or is that something that folks are participating in several months before for those people that like to prepare ahead of time? And is now the time to get my product on the market for holiday related events? Or should I start planning now for the 2025 season? And I'm thinking about going back to those different categories when we're talking about intention. You know, maybe you try out a product through gifting and then slowly make your way towards selling. You also want to be in tune with holiday events and places to sell your products. Obviously, that's going to depend on where you are located. Emily, I was even looking at the county fairs. Is there anybody who's, you know, is kind of later on in the year? And Coshocton is all the way into October, right? We are a couple in October. So I think knowing your community, knowing when things are going to occur annually is absolutely essential for these types of food products. Again, those holiday forward events. And in a previous Q&A, we talked in depth about whether folks could sell food products at events like craft shows. So here we have craft shows, holiday bazaars, maybe your Christmas mistletoe holiday market. Obviously, lots of different types of holidays and celebratory events during this time of the year. And this one is always a little bit tricky, but I think we finally hashed it out and feel very confident, Emily, with our responses to this now. That in general, because there's a lot of caveats here, you cannot sell cottage foods at let's just go with craft shows unless there has been a permit obtained by the entity. You say, OK, what's the entity? Whoever owns the building. I want to be clear that this doesn't mean that you, as the person who's trying to sell your food product, that you need to go out and get a permit. No, no, no, that's not your responsibility. This is about the entity that is the place where the items are being sold. So the vast majority of craft shows, you're not going to be able to sell those cottage food products at. OK, the way that you would find out if they've obtained a permit, I would assume is to reach out to one of the organizers and the county fairs are also the caveat to this regulation. You are allowed to sell cottage food products at county fairs. That's like the one exception. However, if you are a home bakery, so license, you have the license, you've been inspected and so forth, you can sell unrefrigerated home bakery items at these events. I know all that's really confusing. If you have any follow up questions, don't hesitate to ask. And really, it comes back to the purpose of the event. Craft shows the original intention is not to sell food products. It is to sell crafts. So again, really goes back to that intention, that purpose. This doesn't mean that you can't sell cottage foods and a lot of other places, farm markets, farmers markets being some of those. I mentioned to Katie today that, you know, a lot of these entities might be moving inside. So I have a picture of that here on the right. And when a farm market or farmers market moves inside, that they would function almost as two different entities, but that's not on you as the seller to obtain that permit in any way. And if you have questions about where you can sell your products, we had an entire virtual Q&A on this topic. Exactly. ODA has a few resources on their website that talk about where, but if you really want the nitty gritty, I mean, we kind of got in the weeds on that virtual Q&A. Can you sell on the internet? We tried to tackle just about anything and everything we could think of. So I would encourage you to go back to it. And then finally, we wanted to recognize that folks who sell cottage food and home bakery items might eventually be interested in getting into selling other types of products. And in this case, non-human food, at least products. And this is not something that I see within my scope of, within my field area of expertise. However, we do get a lot of these questions and I feel confident that if you want to do something like make and sell cosmetics, and this is from your home, okay, lotions, chapstick, body butters, et cetera, that we can help you find the right resources. Cosmetics that are being made in your home are regulated by ODA's division of food safety. So the same entity that inspects cottage food, well, doesn't inspect cottage foods, but is responsible for cottage foods and home bakery items. And then I also put on here some pet treats. We get a lot of questions about this as well for people in that cottage food space. Here in Ohio, if you want to do that, ODA is still involved. However, it is the division of plant health, grain feed and seed program that oversees that. And we do have some resources that we can provide you with, but that's something that again is, in my opinion, out of the scope of this conversation, but we're happy to help you find what you need. Again, if we can get any resources to you, if they're lost in your inbox, so you're not sure where to go, Laura can hook you up with those past recordings, or even the emails that got sent out that have all of the links and resources. Please don't hesitate to let us know what you need. And with that, Laura, we'll turn it over to our virtual Q&A session if folks still have any questions.