Texas cottage food producers in Nueces County sell directly to consumers under Health & Safety Code Chapter 437. Senate Bill 541, effective September 1, 2025, raised the annual gross-sales cap to $150,000 (indexed for inflation) and bars any local government from requiring a permit or fee.
A cottage food production operation is an individual (or now a nonprofit) making non-hazardous foods at home for direct sale to consumers. SB 541 (2025) redefined the operation, tripling the annual gross-income cap from $50,000 to $150,000 with future inflation indexing, and switched Texas to an exclusion model so any food not on the prohibited list may be sold. Crucially, a local government, including a local health department, may not require a cottage food operation to obtain a license or permit or pay a fee. Neither Nueces County nor Corpus Christi can add its own cottage-food permit.
Selling prohibited (time/temperature-control) foods or exceeding the statutory cap forfeits cottage-food status and subjects the seller to full retail-food regulation and DSHS enforcement.
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See how Nueces County's cottage food operations rules stack up against other locations.
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