Florida's cottage food law lets you make and sell certain non-hazardous foods from your Lee County home with no state license and no local permit, as long as annual gross sales stay at or below $250,000. Lee County cannot separately license a compliant cottage food operation.
FS 500.80 exempts a cottage food operation from the state permitting requirements of s. 500.12 if it complies with the section and has annual gross sales of cottage food products not exceeding $250,000. The law counts all sales at any location toward that cap. Operators may sell in person, at events, and by mail or internet, with delivery direct to the consumer. Products must be non-time/temperature-control foods (baked goods, jams, honey, dry mixes) and must carry the required cottage-food label. Because this is a statewide preemptive law, Lee County does not issue a separate cottage-food license.
Exceeding $250,000 in annual sales, mislabeling, or selling prohibited perishable foods forfeits the exemption and subjects the operation to full FS Chapter 500 food-permitting enforcement.
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