New Milk Regulations

*grumble* Well, I was going to get my act together for the 2010 milking season and get a food manufacturers license so we could legally sell aged raw milk cheeses. Mom has been a good trooper tasting all of my experiments and even thought the last one tasted good! I've been practicing and trying new cheeses for months and really felt I was well on my way to adding a new aspect of the farm business.

That's until I spoke to the Texas Department of State Health Services again today. Sigh.

I just wanted to make sure we had all my ducks in a row for applying for the license. I knew we had to get our well water tested and just wanted to make sure we were using an approved lab. The very helpful man asked what I would be producing. When I told him about the cheese, he immediately warned me that things were about to get "a whole lot stricter!". Huh!??!

Turns out, the state is changing lots of milk rules. I knew this was coming but for some reason figured I would be exempt from any new hassle (yeah, right!). So I was transferred to the Milk Group. Again, the person on the phone was quite helpful. Unfortunately, he helpfully explained that my dreams of Sand Holler Farmstead Cheeses might be a little far fetched. Not entirely impossible, but probably not entirely practical right now. A simple food manufacturing license is $100 a year. The new dairy product manufacturing license will be $800 for 2 years, plus an annual fee based on production, plus inspection fees every 3 months. That's just for aged cheese. If I want to sell pasteurized soft cheeses, it's another license and ANOTHER $800. If I want to sell sour cream, it's ANOTHER $800. If I decide to go into the ice cream business, ANOTHER $800. And I'm told that I'd have to follow FDA guidelines on raw cheese recipes (pasteurized are exempt...but I need a license for that), which means no fun improvising on adding things like jalapenos, garlic, etc. Bah!

Sooo....looks like I will keep 'playing' with cheese making for some time to come. I don't want to start a money losing venture just to allow more people to try the cheeses we have made. We'll always still be happy to share with anyone that comes to that farm and wants a sample to taste...though I think even that is officially illegal!

I really understand why even in the state of Texas, which does allow legal raw milk sales, many dairies still use the herd share program. Seems almost like the government is legislating themselves out of job by sending everyone underground!

Enjoy farmstead cheeses everyone...hopefully this doesn't put a dent in anyone's established business!