Indianapolis, Indiana—Today, Gov. Mike Braun signed HB 1424, a bill that will allow home based vendors across the state to sell a greater variety of homemade foods. Under the new law, home-based vendors will have the ability to sell prepared foods, certain meat products, produce, natural sweeteners, baked goods, fruit spreads and candy. These changes give consumers greater freedom in choosing what food, and from whom, they can buy. The Institute for Justice (IJ), a national leader in advancing food freedom across the nation, praises the signing of the bill and stands with countless small farms and home-based food vendors and their customers who stand to benefit.
“This is a monumental step forward in advancing food freedom in Indiana, and the hard work and grassroot efforts of hundreds of home-based vendors, small farmers, and their customers made this happen,” said Sydney Travis, Activism Coordinator at the Institute for Justice (IJ). “People deserve the right to choose who they want to buy food from for themselves and their families. And food makers deserve the right to make and sell the products their customers want. This is a bill that everyone in the state will benefit from.”
Across the country, governments at every level are chipping away at the rights of food entrepreneurs through irrational and overly burdensome regulations. Since 2013, IJ has been at the forefront of the fight for the rights of food entrepreneurs and consumers against these needless restrictions. IJ’s National Food Freedom Initiative has a particular focus on eliminating restrictions that prevent people from making food for sale in their home kitchens.
But barriers remain despite evidence that they hurt those who might not have other choices in the job field. Single mothers, individuals taking care of elderly parents, and people who might have disabilities or other concerns, who might not be able to work a traditional office job, have all benefited from the homemade food industry, letting people work from home and provide for themselves and their families.
These restrictions also restrict whom people can buy from, an increasingly important topic as Americans look for ways to associate closer with individual sellers and control what goes into their food.
These laws have proven overwhelmingly popular and safe. Research conducted by IJ shows that homemade foods are also resoundingly safe. IJ contacted the seven states with the broadest homemade food laws (California, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming) to request data on the number of complaints and confirmed cases of foodborne illness that could be traced to a food product sold under states’ homemade food laws. Each of these states’ homemade food laws allow the sale of not just shelf-stable foods (like breads, cakes, and jams), but also perishable foods (like tamales, pizza, chicken sandwiches, and various cultural street foods). The results showed that not a single state has found a foodborne illness to be caused by food sold under its homemade food law. This was true even though some of the states, like Wyoming, have had its laws in place for almost a decade.
“States across the country have shown that cottage food businesses can operate safely while expanding opportunities for small entrepreneurs. Home-based food businesses empower everyday people to build small businesses and contribute to their communities,” said Meagan Forbes, Director of Legislation and Senior Legislative Counsel at IJ. “Supporting cottage food entrepreneurs means supporting neighbors, families, and the local economy.”
IJ’s National Food Freedom Initiative is a nationwide campaign that brings a variety of legal challenges and legislative efforts to laws that interfere with the ability of people to buy, sell, grow or advertise different foods. As the nation’s leading experts on home kitchen laws, IJ has helped change the law in more than 20 states.
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To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may contact Phillip Suderman, IJ’s Communications Project Manager, at [email protected] or (850) 376-4110. More information on the subject is available at: https://ij.org/issues/economic-liberty/homemade-food/