Minnesota Cottage Food Industry: Insights from Extension Food Safety Education

The cottage food industry has become a significant part of the food supply in Minnesota, most likely as a result of the growing consumer demand for locally produced, minimally processed and value-added foods. Using post-training evaluations, we characterized the cottage food producers in Minnesota and assessed the impact of our food safety course. The results showed that the producers are mostly white women (71%), producing and sell-ing a variety of products. The learners gained knowledge to safely produce and handle homemade food products for direct sale to consumers. Majority (80%) of the learners were satisfied with the course.