Illinois Cottage Food: No Sales Cap, Local Registration, Home Rule Limited

A cottage food operation under 410 ILCS 625/4(a) is an operation run by a person who produces or packages food or drink in a kitchen located in that person's primary domestic residence, or in another appropriately designed and equipped kitchen on a farm, for direct sale by the owner, a family member, or an employee. Nothing in the Section limits how much that operation may earn. Paragraph (b)(1) is printed as "(Blank)" and no other paragraph mentions gross receipts, annual sales or a revenue threshold, so any figure quoted elsewhere as an Illinois cottage food cap is not in the law in force.

Registration is local and annual. Under subsection (b)(1.3) the operation registers with the local health department for the unit of local government where it is located, and may then sell products outside that unit of local government. If a county has no local health department, the county must contract with an adjacent county's health department to handle registration, and that adjacent department gets the inspection powers in subsection (d). Subsection (c) requires the local health department to register any eligible operation, issue a certificate with an identifying registration number, and permits a fee of no more than $50. The department may also run a self-certification program instead. Separately, subsection (b)(6) requires the person preparing or packaging the product to be a Department-approved certified food protection manager, which is the real cost of entry in Illinois rather than the fee.

The prohibited list in subsection (b)(1.5) is where Illinois gets specific. Out are meat, poultry, fish, seafood and shellfish; dairy and eggs except as ingredients in a baked good, candy or frosting that is not a time and temperature control for safety food; pumpkin, sweet potato, cheesecake, custard and creme pies; garlic in oil unless the oil is acidified; low-acid canned foods; sprouts; cut leafy greens unless dehydrated, acidified, or blanched and frozen; cut or pureed fresh tomato or melon; dehydrated tomato or melon; frozen cut melon; wild-harvested non-cultivated mushrooms; alcoholic beverages; and kombucha. Canned tomato products require either a recipe tested by the USDA or a state cooperative extension, or an annual commercial laboratory acidification test at the operator's expense using the same tomato varietals every batch. Fermented and acidified foods need either a tested recipe or a written food safety plan filed annually at registration plus a pH test every 3 years, and if canned must be processed in a boiling water bath in a Mason-style jar or glass container with a tight-fitting lid. Uncanned fermented products must be stored, transported and sold at or below 41 degrees. A local health department may require lab verification before a baked good with cheese is sold, and may require an E. coli coliform water test where the kitchen runs on a private well.

Every product must be prepackaged and labeled under subsection (b)(7) with the operation's name and unit of local government, the registration number and the municipality or county where the registration was filed, the common name of the food, a full ingredient list in descending order by weight, the processing date, federal allergen labeling, and this sentence in prominent lettering: "This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens. If you have safety concerns, contact your local health department." The same warning, minus the last sentence, must appear at the point of sale, as a placard at a physical display and as a message on the online sales interface.

Sales channels under subsection (b)(11) are wide but must be direct to the consumer and never for resale: farmers' markets, mobile farmers markets, fairs, festivals, public events, online sales, delivery to the customer, pickup from a third-party private property with the property holder's consent, and pickup from the operator's own home or farm. Home pickup is the one place local law still bites. It is allowed only if not prohibited by a law of the unit of local government that applies equally to all cottage food operations, and in a municipality with a population of 1,000,000 or more, which in Illinois means Chicago, the operator must comply with any municipal law applying equally to all home-based businesses. Shipping is allowed only for food that is not a time and temperature control for safety food, must use a tamper-evident seal, and may not cross a state line.

The preemption in subsection (h) is a limitation under Article VII, Section 6(i) of the Illinois Constitution: a home rule unit may not regulate cottage food operations in a manner inconsistent with State regulation under the Section. That stops a municipal ban or a conflicting municipal permit scheme, but it does not displace the neutral local rules the statute itself preserves, and it does not reach zoning or business licensing that applies equally to all home-based businesses. One category is out of the system entirely: subsection (g) exempts a person who produces or packages a baked good that is not a time and temperature control for safety food for sale by a religious, charitable or nonprofit organization for fundraising.

Illinois does not inspect cottage food kitchens on a schedule. Under 410 ILCS 625/4(d) the Department of Public Health or the local health department may act on a consumer complaint, a foodborne illness outbreak, a referral from another local health department, or a belief that an imminent health hazard exists or that a product is misbranded, adulterated or out of compliance. It may then inspect the premises, set a reasonable fee for that inspection, and invoke penalties and the cessation of sales until the situation is addressed to its satisfaction.

If the problem cannot be addressed, the local health department may revoke the registration following a process the department itself sets out. Subsection (e) requires a department that receives a complaint about an operator registered elsewhere to refer it to the department where that operator is registered, so selling across county lines does not put you out of reach. 5) list, or selling without the required label and point-of-sale notice, puts the product outside the Section and back under the general food establishment rules the Act enforces.