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How do I keep my customers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic?


A: Currently there is no evidence to support that COVID-19 is spread through food and food packaging. However, follow these general guidelines provided by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to keep everyone safe. 

Safety and Health

    • Do not make, sell or store cottage food in your home if anyone in the household is sick. Follow the good food safety practices of proper hand hygiene, preventing bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food, and regular cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and surfaces. See the COVID-19-related Cottage Food Producer Guidance for more information.
    • Continue to follow the Governor’s Executive Orders and the personal safety measures recommended by the Minnesota Department of Health. 

Selling Food

    • Cottage food producers can continue to make and sell cottage food products. Follow all of the restrictions under the law; see more on the MDA Cottage Food Producer website
    • Cottage food producers, as well as farmers’ markets are identified as Critical Sectors under Food and Agriculture and can continue to work during the Stay At Home order if worker safety and social distancing measures are taken.

Pick-up and Delivery

    • Arranging pick up at your location with distancing OR delivery directly to your customers with distancing is allowed.
    • What continues to not be allowed is food delivery through the mail or other delivery service, including FedEx, UPS, or meal delivery services like DoorDash. In addition, multi-farm or multi-business orders assembled for customer pick-up or delivery cannot include cottage food items.
    •  If you are doing porch pick-up, protect those packages from the elements. This could be something like putting the packages into a protective bin with a lid or protective exterior package that people can open to remove their individual packaged food order.

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