Confection Controversy: NJ Moms Sue For Right To Sell Home-Baked Goods
ELIZABETH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- New Jersey home bakers are suing for their right to sell their treats.
In New Jersey, baked goods have to be prepared in a licensed, inspected commercial kitchen. Whipping up some cookies for a school fundraiser is OK, but selling those baked goods yourself could get you fined, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
"New Jersey is the only state that does this," said attorney Erica Smith, with the Institute for Justice. "Forty-nine other states currently allow the sale of home baked goods and they have been doing that for years and nobody has ever gotten sick. So for the state to make a safety argument, they are going to have a very big hurdle to overcome."
The lawsuit is being brought by three moms trying to make a little extra cash.
"Our plaintiff, Heather Russinko, she is a single mom in Sussex County raising a 14-year-old son and she lives paycheck to paycheck and her specialty is cake pops," Smith said. "She was selling these cake pops successfully to people at her son's school. She was making a lot of money."
New Jersey is the last state in the country that bans the sale of all homemade goods, including cookies, cakes and muffins.
Early this year, a judge overturned Wisconsin's home baking ban.
The state's health department did not comment.
