Cake pops. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Phillips)
Three months ago, Kelly Phillips got a letter from Virginia officials warning her that the small cake pop business she runs out of her home was selling its bite-sized treats illicitly.
This week, several grown men waved cake pops around in the Virginia House of Delegates as the body voted 94-2 to pass a bill that would grant more freedom to Phillips and other small purveyors of homemade goods to sell their products without getting in trouble with the government.
“I am still in shock, obviously, that cake pops are such a huge discussion,” said Phillips, who runs KP’s Kake Pops in the Richmond area, in an interview this week.
The bill — which initially dealt with homemade pickles — was modified to address the two things that got Phillips crosswise last year with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The agency is responsible for enforcing food safety rules that kick in when small businesses started in home kitchens grow into bigger commercial enterprises.