"Right to Food"

[Eva Libre]

The State of Maine just took cottage food laws to the next level.

In addition to being allowed to sell non-perishable jellies, candies and baked goods prepared at home, the citizens of Maine now have a constitutional right to buy, barter or trade foods like raw milk straight from the cow and meat slaughtered in their neighbor’s backyard.

“ All individuals have a natural, inherent, and unalienable right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce, and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health, and well-being, as long as an individual does not commit trespassing, theft, poaching, or other abuses of private property rights, public lands, or natural resources in the harvesting, production, or acquisition of food,” the amendment to Maine’s constitution declares.

Maine has had some of the the most liberated cottage food laws in the country since 2017, allowing the sale of all foods prepared in licensed home kitchens, with no limit on the type of food or amount you can sell.

Other states’ allow various foods to be prepared and sold from home kitchens, but with restrictions such as “no meat, seafood or dairy” or “direct consumer sales only.” And many states put a cap on the dollar amount you can make per year – $3000 in Virginia, for example.

In Maine, you’re allowed sell your homemade goods in the grocery store and are free to make as much money as you possibly can.

In recent years, small time farmers have been threatened with by huge agricultural companies for saving and sharing seeds.

Maine’s “Right to Food” constitutional amendment ensures seed savers, gardeners and farmers can keep sharing and selling whatever food they want.

[desmond dillon]

it is so good to read this about Maine .. of course it needs to be like this everywhere.