Assembly Bill 1616 (full text here) was authored by Assembly Member Gatto and passed the California State Assembly on August 30, 2012. Governor Brown signed it into law on September 21, 2012 and it became effective on January 1, 2013. Also known as the "Cottage Food Law," or the "California Homemade Food Act," the bill allows individuals to prepare and/or package certain non-potentially hazardous foods in private-home kitchens referred to as “cottage food operations” (CFOs). Gatto teamed up with Oakland's Sustainable Economies Law Center in writing the law.
Before this, it was illegal to sell food that was made in your house.
AB 1616 creates the category of CFO which can operate out of home kitchens. CFOs can only sell "non-potentially hazardous foods," defined as foods that are unlikely to grow icky things at room temperature. Read more here. Complete list of foods here.
See complete California guidelines here (page also includes applications).
This is the "self-certification checklist" required by Alameda County. The law requires training. Read about the AlCo trainings here. About 1/3 of the way down this page you can see other documents.
There is not a lot of info out there about Oakland, specifically. Question: do you have to have a permit for the city?
