10/21/2026
In 2015, Wyoming passed the most sweeping food freedom law in the country. Neighbors could sell almost any homemade food to neighbors. No license, no inspection, just a label saying it was homemade.
The food police ranted and raved. The local paper warned it would put people’s health, and even their lives, at risk.
Montana followed in 2021. That same year, Maine became the first state to put the right to food in its state constitution. And Idaho passed its own version this spring.
And here’s what happened:
Nothing.
The Institute for Justice pulled the records through Freedom of Information requests in the seven states with the broadest homemade food laws. Confirmed foodborne illness cases from food sold under those laws? Zero. Across all seven states they found only two suspected cases, and neither one was confirmed.
Meanwhile, look at what the heavily regulated, industrial food system served up this year.
This summer, iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, one of the biggest salad companies in America, was linked to a cyclospora outbreak across 15 states. That’s your diarrhea lettuce. It’s the same company whose onions were behind the 2024 McDonald’s E. coli outbreak. That same year, its romaine sickened 89 people, and federal agencies never warned the public.
Then this month, Kayem Foods recalled nearly 1.6 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry after it sat in a warehouse cooler that couldn’t hold temperature. How did it come to light? A retail customer complained the product showed up warm.
It’s 2026. We spend billions trying to test, chlorinate, irradiate, and recall our way to health.
And it’s just NOT WORKING.
Part of the problem is scale. When one plant makes ice cream 24/7 for half the country, listeria can settle into the walls and come out to play whenever it wants. One slip becomes a national recall.
Now look at the other end. A stay-at-home mom baking cheddar jalapeño sourdough for her neighbors has everything on the line. Her name is on that loaf. Her customers know where she lives and see her at the ballfield on Saturday. That’s accountability no inspection schedule can match.
We’re not going to solve every food safety problem in one post. But small farms and artisans are a big part of the answer, maybe most of it.
Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm makes that case far better than I can in his new book, Food Emancipation: Unshackling America’s Sustenance.
In it, he:
* Lays out the problem: the declining quality of food from industrial giants, and 50+ years of regulations that have shuttered thousands of small producers
* Takes apart the usual objections (spoiler: it’s not really about food safety)
* Shows the payoff: better prices, cleaner food, stronger communities, more resilience
* Casts a vision for what this could look like in our own towns
Grab a copy(link in comments). Read it, pass it along to a neighbor, and let’s talk about it.
And this isn’t just happening out West. Here in Ohio, House Bill 134 would let home cooks register and sell homemade foods, including many perishable ones, directly to their neighbors. It passed the Ohio House last November with sponsors from both parties, and it’s now in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. The legislative session wraps up at the end of this year, and any bill that hasn’t passed by then has to start over.
It’s not Wyoming. Home kitchens would still register and follow state food safety standards. But it’s a real step, and it’s the one in front of us right now.
If you live in Warren County, your state senator is Steve Wilson. If you think HB 134 is a good idea, call or email his office and tell him so (I dropped the link in the comments) Not in Warren County? Look up your senator at ohiosenate.gov.
Wilson’s seat is on the ballot this November. Next week I’ll dig into where both candidates for the 7th District stand on HB 134 and food freedom, so stay tuned.
And if you think I’m wrong, I want to hear that too. Drop it in the comments. This conversation matters too much to have only with people who already agree.
