North Carolina lets you make and sell non-potentially-hazardous foods like baked goods, jams, and candies from your home kitchen without a food-establishment permit. You must register with the NC Department of Agriculture, which inspects the home kitchen; there is no county cottage-food permit.
North Carolina's food-establishment sanitation rules (15A NCAC 18A .2600) regulate food businesses but exempt private-home production of non-potentially-hazardous foods from the permitted-establishment requirement. Instead, home food processors register with the NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Food & Drug Protection Division, which conducts a home-kitchen inspection and requires product labeling. Allowed items include breads, cakes, cookies, candy, jams, jellies, and dry mixes; potentially hazardous (TCS) foods are prohibited. This is a statewide framework; Guilford County issues no separate cottage-food permit, though a home occupation may still apply under county zoning.
Selling potentially hazardous foods, or operating without required NCDA&CS registration and inspection, can lead to enforcement by the NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, including cease-and-desist and embargo of products.
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See how Guilford County's cottage food operations rules stack up against other locations.
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