starting a cupcake business

[fordie]

my sister is thinking of selling cupcakes part time (made in her domestic kitchen) in addition to her full time job. can anyone tell me what the legal aspects are on this, i know that you must register with the environmental health, but what does this entail, do you have to keep your ingredients separate from household food etc? she has no pets (other than goldfish) or children that would interfere with the making. What insurance do you need, is it just product liability or do you need public liability also? can anyone tell me of any good insurers that they use. One other thing is that she plans to use butter icing as a topping (just icing sugar, butter and a flavouring or colouring), as this is butter, are there any legal issues regarding the storage of the cupcakes iced with butter icig, i.e. do they have to be refridgerater once made by law, or does butter icing not come into this rule as it contains sugar? any information on these matters would be gratefully recieved. thanks!!!!

[cosmic grammie]

Over here, you cannot make food to sell in your own kitchen - it has to be separate from your house, or you have to lease a commercial kitchen somewhere. Don't know about over there.

[Gingerfeef]

She will need to register with her local environmental health officer at the council. They will be able to give her all the details she needs regarding the Food Health and Hygiene certificate etc. I'm not sure about butter icing, but my EHO asked if I'd be using fresh cream, so she may be OK. She should also contact Trading Standards who will help with food labelling. They gave me lots of information, and I use their disclaimers.

I have Public Liability insurance from Direct Line, they were the cheapest when I was looking.

Good luck!