University of Alaska Fairbanks

10/06/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/06/2025 19:28

Free workshop lays out Alaska's new homemade food rules

Free workshop lays out Alaska's new homemade food rules

Photo courtesy of UAF Cooperative Extension Service
Alaska's homemade food rules govern how products, such as these jars of jelly, can be manufactured and sold.

Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Oct. 6, 2025

In 2024, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation made significant changes to its cottage food industry rules, which are now called the homemade food exemption.

Sarah Lewis, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service health, home and family development agent, will explain the changes in a free in-person and online workshop.

Knowledge of the new rules will help residents ensure they are in compliance if they have a homemade food business, would like to start one or sell homemade foods through a market. Lewis will explain the risks and opportunities associated with selling potentially harmful foods and foods that are safe without specific cooking times and temperatures from a home-based business. There will be time for questions following the presentation.

The workshop is scheduled from noon-1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16.

It will be held in person in Room 208 of Kerttula Hall at the Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center, 1509 S. Georgeson Drive, Palmer or via Zoom.

Register for both in-person and Zoom options using the online form or visit https://bit.ly/HomeFoodSales.

For questions, contact the front desk at the Matanuska Extension Center at 907-745-3360.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Alda Norris at [email protected]or 907-474-7120. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to individuals with limited English proficiency upon request to [email protected].

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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University of Alaska Fairbanks published this content on October 06, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 07, 2025 at 01:28 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]