Unexpected Foods That Are Illegal In New York State

Food laws are quietly shaping your shopping cart and your dinner plate in New York.

Strict Food Laws In New York State

The Empire State has quietly built one of the strictest food rulebooks in the country.

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It's not always the weird and exotic food. Sometimes, it’s the simple, homemade goods that hit a legal roadblock.

Red Dye No. 3, a bright red coloring found in candies, desserts, and some drinks, was recently banned nationwide.

Other banned additives in New York include Potassium Bromate, a flour bleaching agent, and Propylparaben, a preservative.

Lawmakers targeted these chemicals because studies link them to cancer or reproductive harm.

Dairy

You can't find raw milk at stores across New York. It's only allowed to be sold by a licensed dairy farm.

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You also won't be able to legally purchase raw cream or raw butter a supermarkets.

Only hard cheeses aged 60 days or more sneak past the rules. It’s farm-to-table in theory, not in your local grocery aisle.

Home Bakers Can't Sell these items

If you're a home baker and want to sell some of your goods, just know that frosted birthday cakes, cream cheese pastries, custard pies, cheesecakes, salsas, and any product with raw nuts are off-limits unless you’re operating in a licensed commercial kitchen.

It’s not about shutting down small businesses, t’s about avoiding Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli disasters before they happen.

You can sell many "non-hazardous" foods like baked goods, jams, and granola out of your home kitchen, only if you follow some very specific no-go ingredient rules.

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