Course

Food Business Central

Jan 1, 2025 - May 31, 2025

$25 Enroll

Full course description

Course Dates: January 1st, 2025 – May 31st, 2025. Enroll By: May 1st, 2025.Food Business Central equips food entrepreneurs with knowledge and strategy to launch a successful farm-raised or home-based food business in Ohio. This self-paced course is designed for anyone wanting to start a packaged food business. This includes small or beginning farmers looking for value-added opportunities for crops grown or livestock raised on their farms. It also includes those who want to utilize local agricultural products to make and sell value-added foods. Navigating food regulations and applying best practices for food safety can be challenges for food business owners. This course is designed to serve as a centralized hub to connect participants to information and resources regarding all types of food products they might want to make and sell.

Course Goals

After completing this course, students will be able to:

  • Match appropriate legal compliance for food types depending on location of production and sale. 
  • Identify best practices for food safety. 
  • Compare and contrast business entities and liability insurance.  
  • Create “My Food Business Action Plan” to assist with next steps in launching a successful food business. 

Course Format 

This course is available fully online with no scheduled class sessions or fixed due dates. You can start coursework at any time and work through it independently at your own pace between January 1st and May 31st, 2025.

Course Organization

This self-paced course contains 10 modules with short videos and readings to be completed. Each module should take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete. You are not required to complete every module in this course, but you must complete all five of the Core Modules (Modules 1 - 5), at least 1 food category-specific module, and the final "My Food Business Action Plan" assignment to be eligible for a course certificate. 

The Core Modules include:

  • M1: My Food Business Idea
  • M2: Start Off Organized (Legal Start-Up and Insurance)
  • M3: Start Off Safe (Food Safety Basics)
  • M4: Start Off Compliant (Understanding Food Law)
  • M5: Start Off Strategic (Food Business Marketing)

The Food Category Specific Modules include:

  • M6: Baked Goods and Cottage Foods
  • M7: Canned Foods
  • M8: Selling Meat
  • M9: Poultry and Eggs
  • M10: Other Foods

Technology Requirements 

  • For best performance, a computer or tablet that supports the most recent web browser versions can play mp4 files. It is recommended to use a computer five years old or newer with at least 1GB of RAM and high-speed internet connection. Some features may not be compatible with mobile devices.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader. Can be downloaded here for free.
  • The recommended web browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the course, contact Emily Marrison at  marrison.12@osu.edu.


Thank you to the funders of this project. This material is based upon work supported by USDA-NIFA under Award Number 2021-70027-34694. 


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