Our market is within the jurisdiction of the South Padre Island town health department, and all vendors of food are required to obtain a permit from them. That requirement for a permit includes food allowed under the Texas Cottage Food laws. Food prepared for sale under the Cottage Food act can only be sold from a home and other specific locations. Those foods may be sold at a ‘farmers market’ by
the maker. Unfortunately the words ‘farmers market’ means a market “principally” used by “farmers and other producers “. Our market is not “principally “ a farmers market unless a majority of vendors are farmers or other producers.
“Farmers and other producers “ is specifically defined : A farmer is a person who has ownership of, or financial and/or productive responsibility for producing, an agricultural product intended for use as a food or raw material. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, aqua-culture or some other form of livestock. A farm is usually owned by that person or under direct control of that person. Despite our desire to grow our market size and diversity, the laws restrict us to new vendors who are producers not processors until more than half our vendors are producers. Our farmers have aged out since we began the market at South Padre Island and it has been many years since we could accept a new non-farmer vendor under these rules. The rule was not brought to our attention until the pandemic era, yet it is so. So if you didn’t grow it, sorry, you cannot be a vendor until we meet this requirement. https://www.dshs.texas.gov/foodestablishments/farmersmarkets/faq.aspx
