BLAND, Va. — Virginians who try to sell homemade food from their kitchens are feeling the heat from state and local inspectors.“I have to turn down my neighbors when they ask if they can buy pesto I make from my own basil plants,” says Bernadette Barber, a farmer in Lancaster, Va.And this isn’t just a rural phenomenon.In Arlington, government inspectors shut down a home-based soup maker, even though no customer complaints had been registered. Others have encountered similar fates, stripping them of needed income.Legislation served up for the 2015 General Assembly would turn the tables.HB 1290, sponsored by Delegate Rob...
