By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-912340.mp3
YPSILANTI, MI –
A new law allows home cooks to sell what they make in their kitchens without running afoul of state licensing rules.
AUDIO:
Magnolia Minor lives in senior citizen housing across the street from Ypsilanti's farmers market, where her homemade pies and breads are a favorite. But selling her homemade food was against the law until her kitchen was upgraded, inspected and licensed.
"I been cooking since I was six years old, so I didn't know I was breaking the law," she laughs.
Governor Granholm used the farmers market to sign a bill that would allow people to make and sell breads, pies, jams, and vinegars without a license - as long as they don't make more than $15,000 a year at it.
"This is a way of removing some bureaucracy and fostering some great, great entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector," she says.
Granholm says she hopes some of these home businesses grow big enough to become licensed operations. She says her administration is also looking to get rid of other rules that stand in the way of people starting businesses out of their homes.