For years, a persistent rumor has circulated in the cottage food world: “Cake balls are tax exempt, but cake pops are taxable because the stick counts as a utensil.” It sounds official and it gets repeated confidently. And like many good myths, it contains just enough logic to seem believable. But it’s wrong. Where This […]

Across Texas, we are seeing a growing trend of cities shutting down small front yard and porch sales, often without any clear explanation of why these activities are a problem. These are not large-scale businesses. They are neighbors selling to neighbors. They are low impact, community driven, and often the first step for someone trying

On October 29, 2025, we sent a second letter to the Pasadena Health Department regarding their employees’ improper enforcement of sampling rules for cottage food producers. This time, we received a response. Have you had an incident with a health inspector who doesn’t understand the law? Get it in writing! Contact us at home@homemadetexas.org. Make

On October 18, 2025, at an event in Seabrook regulated by the Pasadena Health Department, a health inspector told vendor “Sara’s Spicy Pretzels” that she was not allowed to give out samples, in direct contradiction of the sampling rules of SB 541 which went into effect on September 1, 2025. As outlined in our letter

At a recent Homemade Texas seminar in Red Oak, one cottage food producer reported that a McLennan County health official had confiscated and disposed of all her jams and jellies, claiming that only jams and jellies made with recipes from the University of Georgia’s book “So Easy to Preserve” were allowed to be sold under

With the new cottage food law only a couple of weeks old, already misunderstandings about certain provisions are occurring. In Bexar County, it was reported that a health inspector made a cottage food vendor remove a cottage food product from her shelves because the labels of said product did not include a DSHS Cottage Food

Are you a Texas cottage food producer who’s been harassed by your local health department and told that you have to pay for a permit from them? The new law, SB 541, puts a clear, unambiguous stop to this!  FARFA and Homemade Texas have published a joint open letter to all the local health departments

On October 19, 2022, Homemade Texas and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance joined forces to send a letter notifying the city of Waxahachie of several illegal requirements that had been placed on Waxahachie cottage food operators, namely: This letter was ignored, and Waxahachie appeared to continue conducting business as usual. In Texas, home rule cities have

Governor Greg Abbott has signed SB 541, the biggest expansion of the Texas Cottage Food Law yet. The bill’s passage puts Texas back on the cutting edge of cottage food laws nationwide! Some of the changes include: – Allows wholesale of non-refrigerated foods through a “cottage food vendor”– The annual sales cap has tripled to

On August 19, 2024, Homemade Texas and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA) joined forces once again to send a letter notifying the Hardin County Health Department of several illegal requirements that had been placed on Hardin County cottage food operators. Read the letter. A Hardin County official replied on September 4, 2024, notifying us that