MN laws regarding syrup sales?

[StewieSugar]

A friend is developing a winery, which he hopes to have going in a few years. He heard about my adventures in syrup, and he's interesting in working with me to add a bottles of syrup to his store shelves. I'm focused on keeping this a hobby, but I'm interested to see what it would take to make it a business and possibly write off some of the costs against the sales.

Anyone know where I can look for information on MN's laws and requirements regarding sale of syrup?

[SilverLeaf]

I looked into this once myself. Can't remember the specifics, but seems to me that from a tax perspective it boiled down to: you don't have to add sales tax for syrup sales, but any maple candy would have a tax on it. You can weed thru all the info here:
http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/sales/publications/fact_sheets_by_name/sales_fact_sheet_by_name.shtml

I couldn't find any other laws pertaining to syrup sales. I had thought there might be food or health laws pertaining to them, but at least to date haven't found any.

[StewieSugar]

I called the local dairy and food inspector, and he was quite helpful. If you're ever interested in selling syrup, I suggest you do the same.

In MN, it looks like there are two categories of selling this stuff.

In the first category, we can sell at Farmer's Markets without needing to get a license under several assumptions, including:

Total costs and sales are under $5,000 yearly
Syrup is 100% pure (no additives)
All sap is collected from your own property
There is a sign near your booth stating some specific language (he's sending me details)
There is a label on bottle stating name and address of producer/seller
A few other things...


He's sending me a brochure of the things that fit under this first category, and I believe anyone can get a copy by calling the local inspector.

The second category allows folks to sell outside of farmer's markets, and the requirements for cleanliness, inspections, licensing, etc. go way up. He started rattling off several specifics, and I quickly got lost, but some things include:

Proper tubing/containers for sap
Proper drilling/treating of holes in the tree
Bathroom and washroom for people
Separate bottling room (not your kitchen)
Non-porous floors, walls, and ceiling
etc....


The list continued beyond what I could write down, and it is more than I want to tackle quite yet. In effect, this category is the same for restaurants, butchers, wineries, etc.

I was hoping for some middle-ground, but it does not appear to exist in MN.

[SilverLeaf]

Whoa, Stewie, you did your homework! Thanks for sharing.

How do I find out who my local dairy & food inspector is? I'll need that brochure - The wife & I are totally planning on selling our loot at the local Farmer's Market this year.

[twigbender]

My local food inspector didn't raise that many issues. If total sales were under (I thought he said $1000) there are no restrictions. Also, you can label your product organic if you sell less than $1000 worth, but it can't say "certified organic." At any rate, the local inspector didn't think that syrup sales were worth his time to pay much attention to. Maybe it's a "who's in charge" situation.

[Haynes Forest Products]

In Wisconsin the inspector was easy to get along with and was more worried about the bottling area of my operation than the evap room. She said it was hard to screw up syrup process. Of course the next day I set my pans on fire so she doesnt know Im capable of anything. When she showed up she asked it she could bring her coffee into the kitchen and I said I dont care and she said its important that during bottling no other liquids in open containers be present during bottling of the syrup....................CRAP now theres a open liquor law in my sap shack thats it Im going to have to quit

[StewieSugar]

How do I find out who my local dairy & food inspector is?

I found our local guy here: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/about/phonelist/alpha.htm. I just searched for the town in our area, "Rochester," and sifted through until I found "inspector." The inspector I first contacted wasn't sure, so he put me in contact with someone that knew the rules better.

My local food inspector didn't raise that many issues.

I have talked with several people about this, and it seems to come down to the actual inspector you're working with. The guy I spoke with (Larry K.) said he wrote some of the regulations and the brochure I mentioned, and he was rather certain in his statements. However, I talked with some folks up north (out of this guy's region), and the inspector was much more relaxed about things.

...was more worried about the bottling area of my operation than the evap room.

Ditto. Larry said he wanted to do some "quick checks" on how I collected sap (food-safe materials) and evaporated it down (mostly concerned about bird droppings and lead-free materials), but his biggest concern was where and how I bottled the stuff.

He was very clear that a personal kitchen would never suffice - no matter cleanliness or circumstances. However, he did suggest that he might be willing to consider letting me use a local church, school, or VFW kitchen that was certified/inspected for bottling.

He sounded quite reasonable to work with, and I think I could eventually find a workable solution. However, it seemed like I first needed to get a sugarshack before he'd even consider anything.

[StewieSugar]

I got the brochure, after which I was able to find it on the web.

http://www.mda.state.mn.us/news/publications/food/business&marketing/fm_vendor_guide.pdf

http://www.kingfieldfarmersmarket.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mda-vendor-guidelines.pdf

This is specific to selling at farmers' markets and community events, which are special exemptions in MN.