What just happened and am I in trouble or something?

[MelissaG]

I haven't been at market for weeks now because of my broken ankle. I just received this from the market coordinator today. And I know you all know whats been going on with Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild and their lobbyists and with Congress regarding small business makers at home. This email was sent directly to me. And of course I have my occupational license, state sales tax, sales tax, insurance, etc. The tour is questionable since that is not required by the FDA as I understand it because my business is too small (I made $3100 last year for gods sakes), and there's no way the standards in my house are going to be up to the same standards as a corporate location. What is a cosmetic questionnaire? The packaging and labeling is already up to that as far as I'm aware.

"With our guideline revisions, as a craftsman vendor with our market, we will need the following from you:

1. Business registration (needed for occupational license)
2. State Sales Tax Registration Certificate
3. Occupational License
4. Sales Tax Certificate
5. Certificate of General Liability Insurance (COI) in the limits of $1M/$2M/$2M (occurrence/general aggregate/products & completed operations aggregate)
6. Tour of production space on application review and as needed
7. Visible pricing displayed for all products during market operation
8. For cosmetic products - cosmetic questionnaire, packaging/labeling best practices

The request for liability insurance comes from the insurance company and our limits for the HFAM space and operations. Michelle was advised by our insurance agent to require individual vendor general liability insurance that matched our limits. Here is an example of another vendor's insurance in which the total annual cost is $579, although please note that this includes food liability (which you won't need).

I will be checking back before the end of May to get an update on your progress. Please note that you are expected to be up to compliance by December 2024."

Let me know if you have any further questions or if you need guidance through this process.

Thank you,

 

[CLMP]

Sorry I Can't give you any advice because making soap is just a hobby for me right now but I'm interested in what advice others will give to you about this.

 

[paradisi]

I remember some farmer's markets instituting those tours 20 -some years ago as a way to be sure applicant farms were in their opinion large enough to raise all the produce they were selling.

What a tour would do vis a vis a soap outfit, other than snoopery, I don't know. Any official regulatory inspection will have been done by that agency. Same with labels & packaging.

 

[Vicki C]

Can you get a copy of their guidelines? I think that will help get at what they are asking for.

 

[MelissaG]

Can you get a copy of their guidelines? I think that will help get at what they are asking for.

I emailed her last night and havent received an email back yet

 

[AliOop]

It may be their way of confirming whether you need to comply with MOCRA. Based on what you have shared, you don't need to do that. Perhaps you can take the online screening for that, and print out a screenshot of the results, showing that it doesn't apply to you?