Cottage Food Operations

Alabama runs one of the plainer cottage food laws in the country. Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1(b) states that a cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment and is…

Alaska sets no dollar limit on homemade food sales. AS 17.20.332(a) exempts homemade food produced, sold and consumed in compliance with the section from state labeling, licensing…

Arizona lets you cook for sale in your own kitchen once you register with the Department of Health Services and hold a current food handler certificate from an accredited program…

Since Act 1040 of 2021 Arkansas has run one of the least restrictive homemade food laws in the country. The Food Freedom Act, A.C.A. § 20-57-501 et seq., exempts homemade food and…

Government Code section 51035 forbids any California city, county, or city and county from prohibiting a cottage food operation in a residential dwelling. The local agency must pick…

Colorado lets you bake, jar and dehydrate for sale out of your own kitchen with no license, no plan review and no routine inspection. C.R.S. § 25-4-1614, the Colorado Cottage Foods…

A Connecticut cottage food operation is licensed annually by the Department of Consumer Protection, not by the town, for an annual fee the commissioner sets at no more than one hundred…

Delaware runs cottage food as a registration scheme in regulation, not in statute. The phrase cottage food appears nowhere in the Delaware Code; the rules live at 16 DE Admin. Code…

The District of Columbia has no cottage food revenue cap. Subparagraph (C) of D.C. Code § 7-742.01(a)(2), which once limited a cottage food business to $25,000 a year, now reads simply…

Florida's Cottage Food Operations Act preempts local regulation, allowing home production of non-potentially hazardous foods up to a statewide gross sales limit.

Since July 1, 2025 a Georgia cottage food operator needs no state license and pays no state fee. House Bill 398 added Article 19 to Chapter 2 of Title 26, and under O.C.G.A. § 26-2-472…

Hawaii has no cottage food statute. The exemption lives in the Department of Health's Food Safety Code, Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-50, which was amended and compiled on…

Idaho replaced its cottage-food chapter outright in 2026. Senate Bill 1283, chapter 91 of the 2026 session laws, added a new chapter 2 to title 37 called the Idaho Direct-to-Consumer…

Illinois runs its cottage food program out of 410 ILCS 625/4, and the current text sets no ceiling at all on what a cottage food operation may sell. Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) is…

Indiana's cottage food scheme is Ind. Code § 16-42-5.3, the home based vendor chapter added by P.L.49-2022. Section 16-42-5.3-3 exempts a home based vendor's production and sale of…

Iowa Code Chapter 137D exempts cottage food, non-time/temperature-controlled foods made at home, from licensing and inspection. Refrigerated or TCS foods instead require a home food…

Kansas has no cottage food permit and no annual sales ceiling. K.S.A. 65-689(d)(4) simply exempts a person who produces food for distribution directly to the end consumer from the food…

Kentucky permits home-based food sales under the Home-Based Processor and Microprocessor program administered by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, with statewide rules that…

Louisiana does not issue a cottage food permit. La. R.S. 40:4.9(A)(1)(a) instead switches off the state Sanitary Code and any other law or regulation requiring particular equipment…

Maine licenses 'home food processors' under 22 MRS § 2167, administered by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Home food processors may produce…

Maryland lets you sell homemade food from a residential kitchen without any licence or inspection, provided the business stays under $50,000 a year in cottage food sales and the…

Massachusetts has no cottage food statute and no state cottage food licence. A home kitchen selling food is treated as a food establishment, and the permit comes from the local board…

Michigan's Cottage Food Law lets you sell qualifying non-hazardous homemade foods without a license or inspection as long as gross sales stay under $50,000 a year. A $75,000 cap…

Minnesota Statutes section 28A.152 establishes the statewide cottage food exemption, allowing home producers to sell certain non-potentially-hazardous foods directly to consumers after…

Mississippi's cottage food law is a single section, Miss. Code Ann. § 75-29-951, and it works as an exemption rather than a licence. A cottage food operation needs no food permit under…

Missouri RSMo 196.298 expressly preempts local health departments from regulating cottage food production. Home producers may sell baked goods, jams, jellies, and dried herbs directly…

A Montana cottage food operation registers with the local health authority in the county where the home sits, pays a $40 fee set by ARM 37.110.511(7), and is then exempt from retail…

Nebraska's Cottage Food Act lets home producers sell many foods directly to consumers without a license. LB262 (2024) expanded it to include some refrigerated foods. Producers must…

Nevada moved its cottage food rule out of NRS chapter 446 in 2025. The section in force today is NRS 580.600, which keeps a home cottage food operation outside the definition of a food…

New Hampshire puts no dollar ceiling on homestead food sales. RSA 143-A:12 as it now stands contains no revenue figure of any kind, and a full text search of the Revised Statutes…

New Jersey allows for-profit home food production only through a Cottage Food Operator Permit issued by the Department of Health's Public Health and Food Protection Program under…

New Mexico's Homemade Food Act (NMSA 25-12-1 to 25-12-5) lets home producers sell low-risk, shelf-stable foods directly to consumers without a permit or state registration. Products…

New York lets you sell home-baked and other shelf-stable foods without a food processing license through the Department of Agriculture and Markets Home Processing exemption, which…

North Carolina has no cottage food law in the usual sense: there is no statutory sales cap, no annual gross-receipts ceiling, and no permit fee. Instead the state treats a home kitchen…

North Dakota bars every state agency and political subdivision from requiring a license, permit, certification, inspection, packaging or labeling for cottage food products, and it sets…

Ohio is one of the few states that asks a cottage food baker for no licence, no registration, no permit and no inspection. R.C. 3717.22(B)(6) exempts a cottage food production…

Oklahoma's Homemade Food Freedom Act lets you sell homemade food with no license and no kitchen inspection, provided the business stays under seventy-five thousand dollars in gross…

Oregon lets a home kitchen sell food without any State Department of Agriculture license under ORS 616.723, provided five conditions are met at once: the establishment is in a…

Pennsylvania never enacted a cottage food law, so there is no sales ceiling to stay under and no exemption to claim. Instead 3 Pa.C.S. § 5734(a) makes it the duty of every person…

Rhode Island's Cottage Food law, R.I. Gen. Laws Section 21-27-6.2, lets residents register with the Department of Health for $65 a year to sell nonperishable baked goods made in a home…

South Carolina calls its cottage food law the Home-based Food Production Law, and it is one of the least paperwork-heavy in the country. S.C. Code Section 44-1-143 lets an individual…

South Dakota's cottage food law is codified at SDCL §§ 34-18-35 through 34-18-38. Producers may sell nonperishable home processed foods (breads, candies, condiments, dry goods…

Tennessee runs one of the loosest cottage food regimes in the country. The Tennessee Food Freedom Act, T.C.A. § 53-1-118, exempts homemade food items from state licensing, permitting…

Texas does not license cottage food at all. Health and Safety Code Section 437.0191(a) declares that a cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment, and…

Utah runs two separate home food routes and the cottage food one is the registered route. Utah Code 4-5-501(4) requires the operator to register with the Department of Agriculture and…

A Vermont cottage food operation needs no licence from the Department of Health while gross receipts from cottage food products stay at $30,000 or less a year, under the schedule at 18…

Virginia lets a resident make and sell a specific list of shelf-stable foods out of a private home with no Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services permit, no…

Washington runs a cottage food permit through the state Department of Agriculture, not through the local health district. Under RCW 69.22.030 the permit is issued for two years and…

West Virginia Code §19-35 establishes statewide cottage food rules allowing home producers to sell non-potentially hazardous foods directly to consumers without commercial kitchen…

Wisconsin has only one cottage food exemption written into its statutes, and it is narrow. Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2. lets you sell home-canned pickles and other processed fruits or…

Wyoming requires a food licence from the Department of Agriculture or a local health department before anyone processes, stores, distributes or prepares food for sale, and W.S…