Cranford Mom, Bakers Rise Up And Sue NJ For Right To Sell Cookies

ELIZABETH, NJ — A group of home bakers, including a Cranford mom, took to the steps of the Union County Courthouse Thursday morning to rally against a law prohibiting home-baked goods from being sold to the public.

At the rally, the New Jersey Home Bakers Association also announced the filing of their lawsuit against the state to "protect our constitutional right to earn a living."

New Jersey is the only state in the country that doesn't allow home bakers to sell their goods out of their homes, except when sold to support charities. Garden state bakers must rent a commercial kitchen in order to sell their products.

Cranford mother of two, Martha Rabello, is a pastry chef and always wanted to have her own business. It took her about three years to find a commercial kitchen to work out of since most were about an hour away and the hourly costs to operate are high.

She sold chocolate-coffee flavored cookies for about a year but once her second child was born, she could no longer afford to run the business.

"With the cost of child care and the hourly cost of the commercial kitchen together I was no longer making any money and had to close my business," Rabello said.

"I had to close my shop and it's not fair," Rabello continued. "It is safe to bake at home and people deserve a chance to start a business and make an income. There are 49 states that have this law and it doesn't make sense that New Jersey doesn’t."

The law Rabello is referring to is the Cottage Foods Law that allows small-scale home producers bake, cook, can, pickle, dry or candy certain low-risk foods for sale in their own home. Right now the state requires home bakers to process foods in licensed kitchens, which costs money.

The association has been fighting the state to change the ban on the sale of home baked goods since 2009. The group claims bills ending the ban have passed the Assembly three times, but have been held up in the Senate Health, Human and Senior Citizens Services Committee because the committee chairman, Senator Joe Vitale, has refused to bring the bills for a vote.

"Home baking is the way to get started right away without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on professional equipment and commercial kitchen space," said Heather Russinko, who started a petition in favor of the Cottage Food Law. "Help me and home bakers across the Garden State claim our slice of the American Dream and provide a better life for our families."

To learn more about the New Jersey Home Bakers Association or to join visit www.njhomebakers.org or Facebook or Twitter.

(Image via New Jersey Home Bakers Association with permission: Home bakers on the steps of the Union County Courthouse Thursday morning.)

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