Small Chicken Farmers Win Oversight Reprieve In Colorado
DENVER (AP) - It's about to get easier for Colorado's small-time chicken farmers to sell directly to consumers.
A bill signed into law Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper would also expand the state's so-called "Cottage Foods" law to allow home cooks who make almost anything that doesn't need refrigeration to sell directly to consumers.
The measure was amended from its original version to say that small poultry producers can sell directly to consumers, but not to grocery stores. That could come only after the Colorado Department of Agriculture convenes a panel to work out those details.
The new law says chicken farmers who produce fewer than 1,000 birds a year are exempt from a law regulating slaughter and processing. Food-safety classes would still be required.
LINK: Senate Bill 58
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the law eliminates mandatory food-safety classes. The bill was amended to retain a mandatory food-safety course.
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