Hemet has no separate cottage food ordinance; these operations are governed by California's Homemade Food Act (AB 1616, HSC 113758). State law bars cities from prohibiting a cottage food operation in a residence. In Hemet it runs through the Sec. 90-72 home occupation framework plus a Riverside County cottage food registration or permit.
No City of Hemet ordinance specifically regulating cottage food operations was located in the city's code; instead, this area is controlled by California state law, which the city must follow. Under the California Homemade Food Act (AB 1616, codified at Health & Safety Code section 113758), a 'cottage food operation' is a registered or permitted enterprise within a private home that prepares or packages approved low-risk foods, with limited gross annual sales and no more than one full-time-equivalent non-family employee. Critically for zoning, state law provides that a city, county, or city and county 'shall not prohibit a cottage food operation in any residential dwellings,' and must either classify it as a permitted residential use for zoning purposes or grant a nondiscretionary permit, subject only to reasonable local standards on spacing/concentration, traffic, parking, and noise. In practice in Hemet, a home-based food maker still operates as a home occupation (Sec. 90-72) - obtaining a home occupation permit and a Chapter 18 business license - while the food-safety registration or permit (Class A self-certification or Class B with inspection) is issued by the Riverside County environmental health authority under HSC 113758. Hemet's home occupation conditions (activity confined indoors, no exterior display, limited traffic) apply to the extent they are reasonable and consistent with the state mandate that the use be allowed.
Selling cottage foods without the required state-mandated registration/permit, or operating outside the home occupation conditions, can draw enforcement. The city cannot ban a compliant cottage food operation, but may apply reasonable home occupation conditions; county health enforces the food-safety registration.
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Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Riverside County.
See how other cities in Riverside County handle cottage food operations.
See how Hemet's cottage food operations rules stack up against other locations.
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