Home Bakers Say ‘Cookie Bill’ Still Undercuts Small Businesses
Producers warn proposed caps and inspections would keep Wisconsin behind neighboring states.
Charis Filer (CC0)
Legislation regulating at-home bakers and makers of other shelf-stable foods is back before state lawmakers this year.
Efforts to change state law have failed for more than a decade. Advocates for the cottage food industry are skeptical this version of the bill will find better success. And some producers worry the proposed rules would stifle their small businesses’ growth.
The GOP-authored legislation would take existing regulations around the sale of homemade pickles and similar canned goods and expand them to include makers of “nonpotentially hazardous foods” that don’t need to be kept refrigerated or hot for food safety.
The bill would require makers to register with the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, have liability insurance, receive a food preparation certificate and undergo a home inspection unless they make less than $10,000 in gross sales.
The legislation also requires cottage food businesses to sell less than $40,000 in total gross sales.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, authored the bill. In a statement to WPR, he said the legislation gives cottage food producers “fair and consistent food safety standards, which will also protect local buyers and help small businesses expand their operations.”
But cottage food producers and their supporters feel the bill would leave Wisconsin significantly behind its neighbors when it comes to allowing home businesses to operate.
Jobea Murray, board president of the Wisconsin Cottage Food Association, said Minnesota allows cottage producers to sell up to $78,000 and Iowa does not have a cap for direct-to-consumer sales.
Murray, who has a home bakery business in Glendale selling cakes for kids’ birthday parties, said the relatively low revenue cap would make operating a cottage food business not worth it for many producers.
“I have a family of five, my grocery bill is at least $800 a month. Like I’m barely covering groceries if I’m making $40,000 a year in revenue from my home bakery after all of the expenses,” she said.
A previous version of the legislation, which is often nicknamed the “cookie bill,” proposed capping revenue for all homemade goods at $20,000. Other iterations in 2013, 2015, and 2017 have proposed even lower revenue caps for baked goods at $7,500 and $10,000.
Murray and other home bakers are currently able to sell their products in the state thanks to a 2017 court ruling that found the state’s previous ban on selling homemade baked goods was unconstitutional. The Lafayette County judge said the state’s licensing requirement was not related to public health and safety.
A lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Cottage Food Association attempted to make the same argument for other shelf-stable foods that are not baked, like chocolates and rice cereal treats. But the state’s Court of Appeals upheld the licensing requirements, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year declined to hear the case.
Murray said she thinks this bill will have a fate similar to its predecessors. The state Senate passed previous bills in 2013, 2015 and 2017, but the legislation has never been brought forward for a vote in the state Assembly.
But cottage food makers do want to see the state Legislature cement their ability to operate in state law, according to Murray.
“We want the legislation, and we’ve always wanted the legislation, but we don’t want others regulating who aren’t involved in our business models, who don’t know how cottage food works,” Murray said.
Murray and other cottage food advocates feel the current iteration of the legislation wants to regulate cottage food producers like a restaurant or brick-and-mortar bakery instead of its own industry.
Ellen Hamlett, activism manager for the law firm Institute for Justice, said the bill does not provide enough details on when and how the state should be inspecting home bakers. And she said the legislation could “effectively create a ban” on these businesses operating because it doesn’t provide additional funding to DATCP to ensure inspections will happen in a timely manner.
The Institute for Justice represented home bakers and the Wisconsin Cottage Food Association in the previous lawsuits.
An analysis from the organization released in 2023 found zero cases of foodborne illness across the country from foods sold under cottage food laws.
Home bakers say latest legislative push still misses mark for small businesses was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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