There is a hundred or so year old grocery store / dinner down the street. In the back, they have an open kitchen. I love it because you can see the person cooking and talk to them. Its a real newspaper on each table sort of place. Mom and pop to the extreme. They are completely legit with health code according to the certificate posted on their door. I drop produce off there like I do for my neighbors, just to be neighborly.
So we got to talking about hot pepper jelly. The husband half of the dinner explained that they asked the health inspector if they would make it in their kitchen and sell it on their counters. Nope and with a twist. Even though it is an inspected commercial kitchen, they can not use it to produce under the cottage laws because it is not their home / farm kitchen so they can not sell under cottage exemptions.
I think I am starting to understand the way the health laws work and I apologize for being so very confused previously. Please check me on this. There isn't really such a thing as a 'commercial kitchen' or an 'approved facility' as a blanket term. Your facility has to be approved for a specific genre of food production yes? That is, you could have the cleanest nicest modern kitchen for your restaurant, but to make something shelf stable you have to be approved to make that shelf stable item.
Is this correct?
So we got to talking about hot pepper jelly. The husband half of the dinner explained that they asked the health inspector if they would make it in their kitchen and sell it on their counters. Nope and with a twist. Even though it is an inspected commercial kitchen, they can not use it to produce under the cottage laws because it is not their home / farm kitchen so they can not sell under cottage exemptions.
I think I am starting to understand the way the health laws work and I apologize for being so very confused previously. Please check me on this. There isn't really such a thing as a 'commercial kitchen' or an 'approved facility' as a blanket term. Your facility has to be approved for a specific genre of food production yes? That is, you could have the cleanest nicest modern kitchen for your restaurant, but to make something shelf stable you have to be approved to make that shelf stable item.
Is this correct?