Santa Clara County, CA Home Business: Cottage Food Operations (2026)

California's Cottage Food law (the California Homemade Food Act, Health and Safety Code Section 113758, added by AB 1616) lets people make and sell certain low-risk 'non-potentially hazardous' foods from a home kitchen. Santa Clara County's Zoning Ordinance recognizes this by exempting cottage food operations from its general ban on home food businesses: under Section 4.10.180, the prohibition on 'commercial food preparation' for both General and Expanded home occupations expressly excludes 'a cottage food operation, as defined in Section 113758 of the California Health and Safety Code.' That means a qualifying cottage food operation is an allowed home occupation, provided it still satisfies the other Section 4.10.180 standards (incidental to the residence, employee and traffic limits, no off-site nuisances). State law sets the food categories, labeling, gross-sales caps, and the two operation types: Class A (direct sales) and Class B (direct and indirect/wholesale). The County Department of Environmental Health is the local enforcement agency that registers Class A and permits Class B cottage food operations and conducts any required inspection. Because state law largely preempts local restriction of cottage food, the County cannot ban a compliant cottage food operation outright, though zoning-based home-occupation limits on traffic, employees, and signage still apply.