Food Freedom advocates cite the benefits of deregulation. Food safety is not one of them.
At farmers’ markets across Texas, vendors lay out homemade yogurt, pickled eggs and jars of salsa — foods that, until recently, could not be sold without a license or inspection. But a new Texas law signed earlier this year is among a national movement allowing home cooks to sell more products — including some that require refrigeration — in cafés, markets and other venues.
The laws are part of an effort to deregulate home-based food production, a priority for the Food Freedom or Right to Food movement.
Texas’s SB 541 law expands the state’s “cottage food” program, which dictates what types of homemade foods can be sold and under what conditions. Under the new law, more products can bypass traditional licensing and inspections, shifting responsibility for food safety away from local health departments and toward producers and buyers.
Over the last decade, at least a dozen states have enacted similar laws, loosening food safety regulations for small-scale producers. Wyoming’s 2015 Food Freedom Act was among the first, followed by similar legislation in Utah, North Dakota and Alaska.
Advocacy groups, including those aligned with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, are pushing similar bills in other states. Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), fears the movement could soon influence federal law, starting with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, removing restrictions on the interstate sale of raw milk. “I don’t think we’ll see an end to this,” she said. “They’ll take one victory and look for the next.”
The shift is marketed as an opportunity to ensure “stronger local food systems, economic advancement, uplifting culturally diverse communities, and decreasing reliance on entitlement programs.”
Sorscher doesn’t see these changes through quite the same lens.
“This is an issue that’s been flying under the radar for years,” she said. “And it’s critically important because a lot of our food safety laws are state laws. These are going to be the regulations of last resort if federal law no longer protects us.”
She points to Alaska, where state law now allows nearly any kind of home-based food production, at any scale, without inspection or licensing. Most early cottage food laws permitted only low-risk, shelf-stable items like baked goods, jams, and candies. But newer laws expand that scope to include dairy, fermented products and meat dishes, provided certain labeling or direct-sale conditions are met.
“Businesses that have been getting licensed are wondering why they should do it anymore,” she said. “The laws are drafted in a way that seems like you’re giving people rights — but really it’s the right to not follow food safety laws.”
In Maine, a 2021 constitutional amendment gave residents the right to “grow, raise, harvest, produce, and consume the food of their choosing.” It was billed as a symbolic affirmation of food sovereignty, but it’s already facing legal backlash. A small home kitchen business is suing the state, which shut down their business due to improper licensing. The business is arguing that the closure infringes upon the state’s Right to Food Amendment.
Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of the industry-shaping “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health,” sees the movement as part of something larger. “I see it as part of the polarization of U.S. society,” she said in an email. “It’s driven by people who distrust government and science. It’s totally consistent with anti-science, anti-expertise, anti-government belief systems.”
“Outbreaks are rare, but that’s partly because they’re hard to detect. Health departments are underfunded, and local journalism that might report on them has been hollowed out.”
For public health experts, the concern isn’t that outbreaks are happening every day, it’s that when they do happen, they’re almost impossible to trace. “Outbreaks are rare,” Sorscher said, “but that’s partly because they’re hard to detect. Health departments are underfunded, and local journalism that might report on them has been hollowed out.”
Small-scale producers sell limited quantities, often face-to-face. That intimacy gives an illusion of safety, but it also means illnesses may go unreported or unlinked. “If only a few people get sick, and they don’t go to the doctor, no one connects the dots,” she explained.
In Florida, where the sale of raw milk for human consumption is prohibited, one health food store sidestepped the rule by labeling bottles as pet food. A pregnant mother, assured by a clerk that the milk was safe, bought it for her family. Her toddler was hospitalized with severe illness, and the pregnant woman miscarried. “It’s awful,” said Sorscher. “Those are the kinds of cases that show why oversight matters.”
The lawmakers advancing deregulation aren’t immune to the consequences either. In West Virginia, legislators celebrated the passage of a raw milk bill by toasting with the product itself — and several reportedly fell ill afterward.
“Food safety laws are there for a reason,” Nestle said. “Everyone who produces food, small as well as large, needs to make sure their products are safe to eat. Small producers can — and sometimes do — make people very sick.”
Proponents argue that deregulation helps small food entrepreneurs thrive, especially in rural areas with limited access to commercial kitchens or resources. Sorscher said many small producers see inspections and training as “burdensome” rather than protective. “They don’t want to make that investment into becoming a legitimate larger manufacturer,” she said.
However for some, it is not the regulations themselves that cause inconvenience, rather the convoluted messaging around them and the restrictions that limit business without increasing safety measures.
“The state of Indiana has its own guidelines but then each county has its own layer,” said Christina Kilgore, owner of Stina’s Sweets, a home bakery based in Indiana. “That gets tricky because I live close to a county line, so if I go into a different county for an event, it becomes a question of ‘What ingredients can I use here?,’ and I need to make changes to my menu accordingly.”
In Indiana, cottage food laws restrict home bakers from shipping across state lines, which Kilgore said is a real frustration for her and other small producers looking to grow their businesses.
“That’s something where we’re still being really safe with our products, but I can’t ship it out of state to make that extra income. But on the other hand, I understand why they’ve got these regulations in place. We’re all trying to keep our consumers safe.”
As for the initial certification process, Kilgore said her county made it quite accessible to become a registered home-cook vendor.
“Each county, again, is different,” she said. “But for me, the county I live in was great. I emailed my health department and all I had to do was send over my ServSafe certificate, business insurance, a sample of my menu and a couple of my labels to show how I label products. And they A-OKed everything.”
“In our food system, the big players always win. That’s how the system is designed.”
“Food freedom” advocates tend to frame these laws as blanket victories for local economies, but Nestle cautions that increased deregulation often ends up benefiting larger players. “In our food system, the big players always win,” she said. “That’s how the system is designed.”
Without consistent rules, smaller producers risk being undercut by competitors who skip safety requirements, while larger companies can adapt or absorb any liability costs.
As state protections weaken, federal laws, like the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), become the final safety net. But enforcement depends on capacity and political will, and Sorscher worries that could erode, too. “If politicians want to support small producers,” she said, “they should give them free or subsidized access to training and food safety infrastructure.”
That approach, she suggests, could bridge the gap between access and accountability, helping producers comply without financial hardship. Nestle agrees that a balanced path is possible but insists that safety must remain nonnegotiable. “Food safety ought to be a partnership between regulators and producers,” she said. “Everyone should be on the same side: producing safe food.”
For now, deregulation continues to spread. And as foods that pose a genuine risk to consumers’ health and safety become increasingly deregulated, others that are dubiously cast as “unhealthy” are being spotlighted by the MAHA agenda, such as seed oils and artificial food dyes, despite limited scientific evidence to support those claims.
Despite the risks, both experts acknowledge the emotional appeal of the movement. “I have sympathy for consumers,” Sorscher said. “They’re often misled. And I have sympathy for some small producers; they believe their products are safe.” But when it comes to policymakers who loosen protections without understanding the consequences, “It’s unforgivable. They’re guaranteeing that some of their constituents will get sick, and some will die.”
As Nestle puts it, freedom in the food system can’t mean freedom from responsibility. “Everyone who produces food needs to do everything possible to make sure their products do not make people sick or kill them,” she said. “That’s not regulation, that’s common sense.”
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