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

A cottage food operation lets a person prepare and package certain non-potentially-hazardous 'approved' foods in a private home kitchen for sale. In unincorporated Lake County, the County's Environmental Health Division (Community Development / Public Health) handles cottage food registration and provides the required forms - including an Approved Food List, the California Homemade Food Act materials, a Registration-Permitting form, an operator overview, and a self-certification checklist. The substantive rules are set by California state law: the California Homemade Food Act, enacted by AB 1616 (2012) and codified in the California Retail Food Code (Health and Safety Code Section 113758 and related sections). State law establishes two tiers: a Class A cottage food operation (registers and self-certifies; may sell directly and online) and a Class B operation (obtains a permit and a home-kitchen inspection; may also sell wholesale through stores and restaurants). State law also caps gross annual sales - $75,000 for Class A and $150,000 for Class B (adjusted annually for inflation per the California Consumer Price Index) - and requires the operator to complete a food-processor training course within three months of registration. Because the Homemade Food Act is a statewide framework that limits how much local agencies can restrict cottage food, the County's role is primarily to register/permit and verify compliance rather than to impose separate local product rules. Operators should confirm current Class A/B fees and the approved food list with Lake County Environmental Health.