You started making cheese and you love it. Your family loves it, your friends love it, your assorted holiday gift list loves it. It’s just a big love fest and your “cave” runneth over. Everyone says, “Why don’t you sell it?” And, you begin to think about this. Why not?
- You have an abundance of milk from your own animals or access to raw milk from a nearby farm.
- Your beloved farm animals are not currently paying their own whey.
- You love making cheese so much that if you don’t start selling it, you will not have room in your house to store it all.
You just want to sell it to a few of your friends or, from your farm stand, or at the local farmer’s market. This would help defray the costs of your hobby farm or your back-to-basics lifestyle. After all, you’re contributing to the environment in every whey-by using your land to grow food, by raising your farm animals and using them for milk and meat, by buying locally, etcetera, etcetera. You’re doing everything you can, but you still have to pay your property taxes, insurance, mortgage and on and on. It would really help if you could just make a little money from your cheese to pay for all that feed you buy in the winter.
Why not, indeed?
The Hard Reality
It’s not legal. Unlike baked goods or canned fruits and vegetables, dairy products are deemed “potentially hazardous.” (Basically, the same laws that apply to the sale of milk apply to cheese.) Unfortunately, the exceptions that are being made for raw milk in many states are not being made for cheese. So, you might be able to sell your raw milk from your farm stand in some states, but you can’t sell your cheese.
It’s all part of a red-hot legal battle that’s being fought all over the country for “food freedom.”
- On the one hand, many of us believe that we should have the right to decide what we eat. If we want to buy raw milk cheese that has been aged for less than 60 days, for example, we should have that right.
- On the other hand, many of us believe that our government should protect us from potentially unsafe food.
This clash of convictions is constantly being played out at hearings about legislation at local, state and federal levels. The result is that our country is a mish-mash of different rules and regulations. The question for you to ask is, of course, “What rules do I have to follow?” It is best to find out in advance about the rules than it is to find out the hard whey that you are breaking the law – because these laws are being enforced.
The Complexity
B. in Oregon wrote to us:
My husband and I have a small farm in western Oregon that includes a vineyard, chickens, bees, sheep, a large garden, and recently a few adorable Nigerian dwarf dairy goats. We already sell our wine grapes (Riesling, pinot noir and chardonnay) as well as honey from our 4 hives to a local winery. I’ve been making some terrific chevre and the winery would love to purchase some for their tasting room, but I’ve heard it is illegal to sell homemade cheese without special permits (unlike eggs, honey, fruit and canned goods). I don’t have any interest in developing a large commercial enterprise, but I’d love to know if it is possible to sell small amounts of homemade chevre to local wineries, and perhaps to have available for sale to the patrons of their tasting rooms.
We checked with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and learned that B. can’t sell under the Domestic License (the way small batch bakers and canners can) because dairy products are considered potentially hazardous. She would have to get a “Manufactured Food” license. Oregon has one dairy product exception – raw milk can be sold from the farm when there are no more than 3 calves or 9 goats.
We have heard that in some states you can sell your homemade cheese (without a license) at your farm or at farmer’s markets (we don’t know for sure if this is true, but, if you are from such a state, please let us know). This is definitely true for raw milk, but is it true for cheese? If it is true, you can bet it was the result of a long, hard struggle. On one side, you have small farmers with a few goats or a cow who need to bring in some income in order to survive. On the other side, you have both large and small commercial cheese makers who spent a lot of money to qualify for licenses to sell their cheese. (This is a simplification, of course, because there are all kinds of other interested parties involved.)
We asked for info and heard from many frustrated cheese makers. Here are a few:
S. in New Hampshire:
I don’t know what the laws are in other states, but here in NH there are all kinds of regulations that prevent selling homemade cheese – the first being that you have to have a commercial kitchen in a separate building complete with commercial refrigerator, 3 bay stainless sink and other expensive and elaborate equipment such as a commercial pasteurizer which has an initial cost of about $50,000. The startup cost is prohibitive for a hobby farmer. You’d have to want to establish a full time business with long term commitment to justify the cost of setting up a cheese making operation.
R. in California:
Selling my home made cheese would be wonderful. But government regulations prevent me from accomplishing it financially. A petition to allow cottage industry artisans to avoid most legal requirements might be a good start. I can’t afford to buy or build a creamery.
K. in West Virginia:
Unfortunately, here in WV, you have to be a certified grade A dairy using pasteurized milk to sell ANY edible milk products. We can’t sell goat milk or cheese here. Every year a bill comes up in the legislature but somehow, it gets blocked. Last year it came close. Both legislatures approved and the governor vetoed it.
The issue is particularly “raw” for small, artisan cheese makers who went ahead and purchased the equipment, built their make rooms to spec and are now following the designated procedures in order to sell in the marketplace. Many of them make raw milk cheeses which, by law, have to be aged 60 days or more. The public is already wary of raw milk products, so these artisan cheese makers worry about the long lasting effects of a home cheese maker selling unsafe cheese, infecting their customers with listeria or some other pathogen and causing a hysterical reaction to raw milk products. That could set the industry back 20 years.
The Real World
We have heard from a great many of our customers that they are selling and trading their cheeses illegally one whey or another. Are you? Our next article about this subject will explore the “black market” in homemade cheese. We have already heard from a LOT of cheese criminals (who will remain anonymous) and we would love to hear from you. Share your experiences in the comments below or by writing to info@cheesemaking.com.
T Ikola says
Sooo, this is the silliest thing. I took my ND goats to my grandson’s pre-school for show and tell and to teach the kids about farm animals. I asked if I could bring milk for them to sample. Teacher says wonderful idea. I then get a call from staff – no, cannot bring raw milk in for the kids. OK, so I say it’s alright for you to feed them “food” full of preservatives but can’t bring in wonderful, healthy raw milk. Our world is upside down in it’s thinking! I did, however, bring milk in and had the teachers try it. They were all surprised that they liked it! People have preconceived ideas of how goat’s milk tastes, and they always think its going to be bad.
Thank you for the above article. I too have many people ask to buy my Chevre so have been looking to see if I can. I’m in Oregon and have found the answer to be “no” – so sad…
Jeri Case says
Thanks for sharing your story with us. It is, indeed, a strange world. Keep in touch.
Ha! Thank you very much.
I have tears rolling down my cheeks from laughing so hard about your ‘cheese criminals’ comment….
Restrictions are pretty full on in Australia, too…..
You can sell all raw milk products except ice cream off the farm without license or limitation in Kansas. This includes fluid milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir, etc. Ice cream is different as it is beyond a cultured product. Cheese has no aging requirements beyond what you should do anyway. So a soft, short life is saleable in this manner. They do require it be labeled “ungraded raw milk.”
Wow! That’s great! When you say “off the farm” does that mean “at the farm only?”
i barter my cheese for mushrooms at my local farmers market. Next year I’m thinking of seeing if any other vendors would be interested in doing the same.
What state are you in? Can you do that legally?
I too live in Maine and have started a secret Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) group that purchases my cheese and yogurt. I sell mostly to folks I know because I have concerns about being prosecuted. I encourage buyers to visit my farm and observe my goats and milk handling practices. I make cheese for enjoyment and to offset the cost of having the animals I love.
I recently purchased a “tiny house” that has been moved to my property. The Dept. of Agri. rep is coming next week to help me with plans to create a small facility so I may qualify for a license and sell at farmer’s markets next summer. I am not confident that I will be able to afford the cost of water waste disposal, but we’ll see. It’s taken me 3 years to get this far. I hope one day to be selling in the open. In the meantime I deal in parking lots and alleys.
The “Black Market” is thriving! Good luck with your plans.
Isn’t it crazy?! Parking lots and back alleys for FOOD, for goodness sake! Its so absurd that it’s funny! And yet they allow genetically modified, and poison-sprayed foods to be sold freely. Ya gotta wonder, dontcha?
I should also say that we raise purebred, registered Nubians. We utilize the milk for our own use and raising young stock mostly, but it is not the primary reason for having our small herd of goats.
As I understand it, the laws in Oregon are not the most lenient in the country. Hopefully there will be changes. I completely understand your frustration.
Any state that makes it illegal to collect rainwater is a state I’d leave in a heartbeat. Talk about restrictive! That’s just insane. I don’t understand why Oregon voters don’t rise up. I mention this only because I don’t see Oregon making raw milk and cheese sales legally any time soon.
It’s not exactly accurate to say that it’s illegal to collect rainwater in Oregon–actually you can, but you have to follow approved guidelines for setting up your system and storing the water. No doubt your system will need a permit, too–the State needs to get its due, after all! See http://www.bcd.oregon.gov/pdf/3660.pdf. It seems there are now 12 states in the country that regulate the use of rainwater. Personally, I think the government doesn’t have any business doing that, but they think otherwise. As to why people don’t rise up and do something about it? I bet most people are totally ignorant–I was! Probably the state won’t do anything about it unless somebody “rats” on you. I doubt it has enough personnel to cruise around looking for law-breakers.
I agree that Oregon’s laws regarding the sale of raw milk and dairy products are unlikely to change soon. The attitude of the authorities seems to be “we won’t bother you, unless somebody complains,” so you’d better stay beneath their radar. If somebody says “their milk made my kid sick,” you’re in for it, and the Food Nazis will show up in force and shut you down.
At the same time, people all over the US are fighting for the right to produce their own food and sell it. The local food movement is very big in Northeastern Oregon where we live. There are several beef ranchers who have gone to raising totally grass-fed beef and sell it directly to local stores and buyers. There is an active Farmer’s Market with 3 locations during the summer. At least a couple farmers produce vegetables and fruit sold commercially through local supermarkets and restaurants. We could too if we got a distributor’s license. Several restaurants told us they’d love to sell our cheese, but they couldn’t unless it was USDA-approved. As far as I can tell, it would be prohibitively expensive for me to do that, considering the size of my goat flock and pocketbook.
That’s how they win. That’s also why the US will never produce better cheese commercially than France, where cottage industry is encouraged–the US just produces MORE cheese, and more dairy farms continue to go out of business every year.
We live in Oregon, and I had thought we could also sell cheese, as well as raw milk (we have always had less than 9 goats EVER in milk) from our farm. As I interpret the law, I can sell raw milk only, no dairy products, from my own property, including a farm stand, as long as I own the property it is on. The law states I cannot advertise, but due to a court case the State lost a couple years ago, the authorities will no longer prosecute you for advertising. I have been making cheese with my milk for two years now (since it’s VERY DIFFICULT to sell the milk where I live), thinking I could also sell that, especially if the hard cheeses were aged a minimum of 60 days. Am I supposed to “give away” my cheeses and accept “donations?” I reviewed the statutes just now and see I’m not supposed to sell cheese from cows. What about goat cheese? I can apparently sell cheese if I pay for a distributor’s license (I read there is one person in the entire State currently licensed). That would probably be a burden, due to the restrictions on my dairy flock. I have no desire (nor can I afford) to become a Grade A dairy! What is everybody else doing? I know lots of folks make and sell cheese here. I also understand that the milk monopoly want s to force all of us out of business, but this is ridiculous! I want to comply with the law, but I would also like to sell my milk and cheese, hopefully recovering some of the money I spend to feed my goats!
Yes perfect picture! What I do not understand is why hard cheeses cannot fall under cottage food industry laws. Even this FDA site identifies hard cheeses as safe to eat, note that only soft cheeses indicate that pasteurization is necessary.
http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm079516.htm
That’s a good point. There seems to be a lot of irrational fear around dairy.
I do sell my milk and cheese to a few, barter with a few more, and give away more still. I enjoy my goats, purebred Saanens, and I raise them because I want to improve the breed. Milk and kids are a byproduct. I also enjoy making cheese in the winter (too much going on in the summer), and would love to be able to sell it during the holidays.
I’ve been active in the food freedom movement in Maine, which, as you no doubt know, has taken an active and leading role in claiming food sovereignty. Last year a bill got through the legislature and then was vetoed by the governor, because it allowed sales at farmers’ markets.
This year, another bill was presented, which would allow on-farm sales only. During the hearings held in Augusta this year, Big Agra came out in force (again). In one instance, they cited an incident in Massachusetts of dairy contamination. On questioning by one of the legislators, the representative (Hood? Garelick Farms? can’t remember…) admitted that the milk had been from a commercial dairy and was pasteurized. Not surprising, of course, they were more than willing to cast a shadow on raw milk home dairies instead.
Up until a few years ago, on-farm sales of milk and cheese were permitted in Maine. The law did not change, but the overseeing agency did, and their goal is to “bring Maine into compliance with USDA regulations”. (Makes no sense to me, since our sales are intrastate and the USDA has no authority over intrastate anything.) They then proceeded to reinterpret the law, putting many home dairies out of business. Small farmers have been working since that time to restore what we lost.
We will continue to fight this fight. Thankfully raw milk sales by licensed dairies are legal in Maine, but our goal is to make it legal (AGAIN!) to sell face to face on our farms. We’re adults, and don’t need the state to protect us. Government is there to protect our rights, it is our responsibility to protect our health.
Thanks for the info and for fighting the battle.
Love that pic by Joel Salatin 🙂