handmade and farmers markets legal questions regarding ingredients and testing?

[Deleted User]

Do legal requirements apply when items are sold at such markets as opposed to on the highstreet.

boo_star

Of course they do. What are you claiming your product solves?  That is going to be the sticking point.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

As food sold loose doesn't require any labelling, only that the business can provide information about allergens, this covers a lot  of farmers market sellers. If they are selling packaged food it does require certain labels.
Cosmetics require labelling under EU rules and these can easily be found online.
There are also EU rules regarding making claims that cosmetics have health, etc benefits which again are online. 
Most farmers markets want to see liability insurance before offering you a stall and although it may vary often if they already have people selling similar stuff you may find it difficult to get a stall. 

hollydays

Have you googled the stuff you are making to see what the theory about it is? Are you buying it in from a wholesaler? There does seem to be an upsurge in organic products in recyclable packaging, in certain areas.The competition is Ebay, and ethnic beauty shops. But natural doesn't necessarily mean safe. Are there refrigeration issues with it.

George_Michael

Daveym79 said:

The item in question is completely natural and derives from the ground. 

These Death cap mushrooms are also completely natural and derive from the ground:

Natural doesn't necessarily mean something is safe. 

eddddy

In order to sell your product legally you'd need to get a Cosmetic Product Safety Report prepared.

If all it's ingredients were in the EU's Cosmetic Ingredient Database, that might be more straightforward. But it sounds like you want to include some non-standard ingredients, so extensive (expensive) testing might be required.

On top of that, if you want to make any health claims (like it improves skin conditions), you'd probably have to do extensive testing to show that it really does work.