HB5657 Summary

• Establishes a Farmers' Market Task Force with at least 24 members appointed within 60 days to develop statewide administrative regulations and uniform food safety guidelines for farmers' markets.

• Prohibits local health departments and government units from creating sanitation rules for farmers' markets more stringent than state Department of Public Health regulations, while preserving local licensing and permitting authority.

• Allows food product sampling at farmers' markets without separate permits, provided vendors comply with state and local requirements for the products being sampled and complete a food sampling training and certification program.

• Requires vendors selling specialty crops and raw agricultural commodities at farmers' markets to display the physical farm address at point of sale; products without this information are considered misbranded.

• Expands cottage food operations to include non-potentially hazardous foods produced in residential or commercial-style kitchens, with sales capped at $25,000 annually, and allows State-certified local health departments to regulate operations with fees up to $25 upon written notice to the state.