Arizona Cottage Food Law: Food Safety Training Requirements

Cottage — or homemade — food businesses have increased in popularity as more people want to know where their food comes from and who makes it.

Each state has its own regulations for cottage foods, including regulations related to food safety training.

This article discusses the Arizona cottage food law, and whether you need food safety training to sell homemade food.

Arizona cottage food program

Arizona’s cottage food program allows you to make homemade foods that don’t require time or temperature controls, and sell them directly to people.

Here is a list of approved cottage foods:

fruit jams, jellies, and pies
dry mixes and pasta
roasted nuts
breads and sweet breads
brownies and fudge
donuts, scones, cookies, and muffins
candies and cakes with hard icings or frostings
popcorn and granola
roasted coffee beans
tortillas

To make and sell these foods, you must follow certain labeling guidelines.

With proper labeling, you can sell your cottage food to retail food establishments within Arizona.

Summary

Under the Arizona cottage food program, you can make and sell foods that don’t require time or temperature controls, such as certain baked goods, sweets, honey, fruit jams, and roasted coffee beans, among others.

Do you need food safety training to sell homemade food in Arizona?

Before you can make and sell cottage food in Arizona, you must register for the state’s cottage food program.

But before you can register, you must first successfully complete an ANSI-National Accreditation Board (ANAB)-accredited food handler training course, such as FoodSafePal’s (1).

Earn Your Arizona Food Handler Card for Selling Homemade Goods

ANSI-National Accreditation Board (ANAB)-Accredited

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This is the same training required for food employees at food establishments in certain Arizona counties.

You can complete FoodSafePal’s ANAB-accredited online food handler program in under two hours.

The course covers important food safety principles, such as:

After the course, you must demonstrate your knowledge of these topics by passing a 40-question multiple-choice test, and answer at least 28 (70%) correctly.

If you don’t pass the first time, you can retake it.

After you pass, you’re issued a food handler certificate and card that you will need for registering your cottage food business.

Your food handler certificate and card will be good for three years from the date you earn it.

You must keep your certificate active by retaking the course every three years to remain complaint with Arizona’s cottage food program.

Depending on which county you live in, you may need to bring your food handler certificate to your local health department and pay a conversion fee to be issued a county-specific food handler card.

These counties include:

Coconino
Greenlee
La Paz
Santa Cruz
Yavapai
Yuma

Summary

Before you can produce and sell cottage foods, Arizona requires that you complete an ANAB-accredited food handler course, such as FoodSafePal’s.

The bottom line

Under the Arizona cottage food program, you can sell homemade foods that don’t require time or temperature controls directly to people or to businesses within the state.

However, before you can register for the Arizona cottage food program, you must complete an ANAB-accredited food handler course, such as FoodSafePal’s.