West Virginia lets you sell non-potentially-hazardous homemade foods — breads, cakes, candies, jams, honey, dried produce — direct to consumers with no license, permit, or inspection. W. Va. Code §19-35-6 exempts these and preempts Kanawha County and its cities from banning them.
The WV Farmers Market and cottage food law, W. Va. Code §19-35-1 et seq., broadened by HB 2758 in 2021, governs homemade food, not any Kanawha County ordinance. Under §19-35-6, producing and selling non-potentially-hazardous foods is exempt from state licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging, and labeling laws, and the section preempts county and municipal governments from prohibiting or regulating those sales. Foods must move producer-to-consumer and be labeled with content and source information. Potentially hazardous or acidified foods still require a farmers market vendor permit from the WV Department of Agriculture under §19-35-3a. The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department may still act on a reported foodborne illness.
Selling potentially hazardous or acidified foods without the required Department of Agriculture vendor permit, or continuing after a foodborne-illness report, lets the department or the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department halt production and impose penalties.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Kanawha County, WV
Kanawha County does not regulate holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays on private property, and West Virginia has no state holiday-display law. No co...
Kanawha County, WV
Temporary garage-sale signs are generally fine on your own property. Unincorporated Kanawha County barely regulates them; cities apply their zoning sign code...
Kanawha County, WV
Political signs are allowed on private property across Kanawha County. Unincorporated areas have little sign regulation; Charleston's zoning code governs sig...
Kanawha County, WV
West Virginia has no statewide rental license, and unincorporated Kanawha County runs no rental registry. Programs are municipal: West Virginia Code §8-12-16...
Kanawha County, WV
West Virginia has no just-cause eviction law, and Kanawha County cannot add one. A landlord ends a month-to-month tenancy with a full period's notice under §...
Kanawha County, WV
Neither Kanawha County nor Charleston can impose rent control. West Virginia is a Dillon's Rule state, and the Legislature has never granted local government...
See how Kanawha County's cottage food operations rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.