How long have you wanted to market your family heirloom recipe for barbecue sauce or peach relish, but didn’t know what was required by the USDA/FDA, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, or the health inspectors, etc., to get started? Now you can attend a seminar like this one.

This one-day seminar is co-sponsored by the University of Georgia Food Science Extension Outreach Program and the UGA Center for AgriBusiness Development.

This seminar will feature speakers from the food industry as well as entrepreneurs who have started their own food businesses.

The next Starting a New Food Business in Georgia seminar will be held Friday, April 15, at the Food Science building on the UGA campus in Athens. The cost is $100, which includes lunch, workshop materials and notebook.

This seminar gives participants a good background on the federal and state regulations for operating a food business, ways to determine the feasibility of starting your food business and how much it will cost; and an opportunity to talk with other specialty food business entrepreneurs.

This seminar will also address topics concerning the food product entrepreneur including:

• Business planning and funding
• Exploring legal and regulatory issues
• Critical quality and food safety concerns
• Effective packaging of food products
• Reviewing production strategies
• Options for marketing your product

The deadline to register for this workshop is April 4. To register online with a credit card, go to the calendar link at www.EFSonline.uga.edu and look for the "Starting a New Food Business" brochure and online registration links. The brochure has important information about parking and directions. Space is limited to 40, so register early.

Want to know more? Just send an e-mail to ebmayes@uga.edu asking for the New Food Business brochure and you will get it quickly as an e-mail attachment. The brochure is in PDF format and uses the free Adobe Reader software that you can download off the internet.

Also, check out the finalists of the 2011 Flavor of Georgia food product contest, which will be announced soon — www.flavorofgeorgia.caes.uga.edu/. Who knows? Maybe your Georgia food product will win next year’s contest.

Keep up with the Georgia Food Science Extension Food Safety course schedule by going online to the EFS website at www.EFSonline.uga.edu and click on the calendar link.