RISON - For anyone who has ever been interested in selling their own food products in retail stores, or even locally at markets and events, a resource to make it happen is right here in Rison.
David Hill, a program associate with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension in the Food Systems and Food Safety Division, joins the latest episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast to discuss the Share Grounds Kitchen Program and Food Freedom Act.
Share Grounds uses kitchen facilities located at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds to help clients develop ideas into feasible business models. Because the kitchens are commercial-grade facilities, inspected and certified by the Arkansas Department of Health, and are unused for all but one or two months out of each year, they are ideally suited to the task of addressing realistic hurdles in food processing and safety.
Initially in 2019, three Share Grounds kitchens existed in Arkansas at the county fairgrounds in Rison, McCrory and Marshall. Now, only the kitchen in Rison remains active.
According to Hill, the kitchen serves as a way for entrepreneurs to take their recipes and mass produce them with guidance on up-scaling, packaging with ingredient and nutritional labels. The end goal is to market those products and sell to retail stores.
But with changes to the Food Freedom Act (formerly the Cottage Food Act), Hill said things are now easier to be produced in home kitchens and sold in stores.
"So much of everything that I've done so far is starting to gear toward that homesteader, that home processor, and move a little bit away from the commercial," he said. "However, there are still people out there that want to be a commercial processor. But we are seeing a whole lot more questions and inquiries, all from that person who's wanting to do it from home." The Arkansas Food Freedom Act expands home-based food production of 'non-time/temperature control for safety' (Non-TCS) food items. Non-TCS food are food or drink products that do not require refrigeration to prevent the growth of microorganisms and are produced in the private residence of the producer. These items are non-potentially hazardous food that do not require an Arkansas Department of Health permit and can only be sold directly to the consumer. Examples of these foods include bakery products, candy, fruit butters, jams, jellies, chocolate-covered fruit and berries that are not cut, honey products, and Non-TCS products with a pH below 4.6 such as some pickles, salsas and sauces.
Hill elaborates on some of these products during the podcast and shares how the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture and the Arkansas Health Department, can help you modify recipes to have enough acidity for production. He said sometimes they just need more vinegar, sugar or a bit of both.
For anyone looking to sell a product made at home, Hill recommends Google searching "Arkansas Homemade Food Production Guidelines." "It tells you everything you can do. It tells you what you can't do. It tells you why you can do things. It tells you why you can't do things," he said. "It's a very good starting point to allow a person to know what types of products they can make at home and sell to the public." The guide even directs people on how to put those products in grocery stores, on kiosks or special shelving for homemade products.
Hill said stores are required to label and display products made in home kitchens separately from other commercially-produced goods.
If a home-based business succeeds and wants to go to the next level, Hill said this is where the ShareGrounds kitchen at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds can be of assistance.
"The fairgrounds kitchen allows you to expand your business or grow your business in ways that you're just not able to do when you're coming out of your home," he said. "To make that leap, they can start the process of getting their permits, writing their food safety plans together, recall programs, allergen programs," he said.
Hill said the Rison kitchen has seen success with Rhonda and Ken Rudder of Richland Creek Farm and Market out of El Dorado, which produces mayhaw and other jellies.
More recently, Chris Chambliss used the kitchen to produce mixes for farinata, a savory Italian-style pancake.
Throughout the podcast, Hill shares other tips on how the services provided can help people set up their home kitchens, test recipes or make use of the commercial kitchen.
Hill can also be contacted directly by calling (501) 951-2464 or emailing dhill@uada.edu or sharegrounds@uada.edu The full episode is streaming now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ClevelandCountyHerald.com