Prosecutor Backs Girl’s Cupcake Enterprise

A southwestern Illinois prosecutor is lobbying for a girl whose home-based cupcake business was shut down because she didn't have a commercial kitchen.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons says he wants to amend a state law on sixth-grader Chloe Stirling's behalf. The two-year-old law allows people to make certain food items in a home kitchen to sell to the public if the food was to be sold at a farmers' market.

The girl had been selling her cupcakes to raise money to buy a car someday. But the county's health department shut down her operation last month after concluding her kitchen wasn't a commercial one requiring a permit and inspection.

The county's public health administrator insists existing laws are "excellent."