Over the week-end I thought it would be a good start to sell my cupcakes at local farmer's market - I never realised Houston has as many as it does...still not as many as most cities, but it's pretty good. I got my health and hygiene certificate while I was in England, which is 1 of about 5 different things you need to have so I thought I would tell you about it, whether you're selling food from home already and don't have the proper paperwork, or you've been thinking about starting about a food business from home, or selling your products to restaurants or cafes, or stores or at farmer's markets. It's not as easy and just making the product and selling it off thinking 'what a great job'. If someone where to get sick and they traced it back to your food and you did not have the proper paperwork, you would be in hell!! So first off a good thing to have is a health and hygiene certificate, they're not at all hard to get and can be finished in a few days on the internet. Basically all it is is the program will review safety procedures and hygiene codes, such as which way you should arrange your fridge, or how bacteria grows and things like that, and then after each section you have a quiz; pretty simple and self-explanatory but you must remember that one certificate doesn't last the rest of your life, you do have to update them so remember to keep up with that. The next thing is based on where you live because each city, town, state, or country is going to be different in their regulations. Contact your city department that deals with giving licenses to business and ask to speak for the home-based licenses. Before you get a license someone will come and inspect your kitchen to make sure that it is up to code and safe enough to produce goods for the general public. I can tell you right now that you must have 2 sinks, close to each other because you are not allowed to wash your hands in the same sink that you do washing up or wash foods in. I can also say that if you have an open kitchen that you can't close off with a door and you've got animals running around - their bowls are on countertops, or they spend a lot of the time in the kitchen, you more than likely will not pass because it's not hygienic. If you pass, you'll get a stamp of approval and you can then apply for your license, but be warned, they do show up to check your kitchen just like they do in restaurants, and they also go to farmer's markets to check as well. It may be that you have to go and take a course on food handling to receive a permit. The easiest way to do it is to call your cities offices and find out exactly, don't bother googling because it can lead to so much confusion and as I said it's different everywhere you go.