Cottage food law: what you can make and sell from home

What a cottage food law allows

A cottage food law is a state rule that makes an exception to the licensing food businesses normally need. Under it, you can prepare certain foods in your own home kitchen and sell them, usually straight to the people who eat them, without renting a commercial kitchen. In Texas, for example, a cottage food operation is exempt from the requirements of a food service establishment and from the Texas Food Establishment Rules.

The exception is built around lower-risk foods. California allows only foods on CDPH's Approved Cottage Foods List of non-potentially hazardous foods, which it describes as foods that do not support the rapid growth of microorganisms or toxins that could make people sick when held outside time and temperature control. Texas now allows more: any food except meat, poultry, seafood, ice and frozen desserts, low-acid canned goods, CBD or THC products, and raw milk.

Each state writes its own rules, so the three examples on this page differ on allowed foods, sales limits, registration, labels and delivery. Read your own state's rules before you sell.

Cottage food laws in California, Texas and Florida

The table sets three states side by side, using each state's own agency pages and, for Florida, its cottage food statute. Other states set their own limits and food lists.

Which foods cottage food laws allow

California and Texas show the two ways states describe allowed foods. One publishes a list, and only foods on it qualify. The other allows any food except the ones it names.

California uses a list. Its approved list is grouped into categories such as baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings and fruit butters, preserves, jams and jellies that meet the federal standard. Florida's agriculture department also publishes a list of approved products, shown in the table above.

Texas uses exclusions. It allows any food except meat, poultry, seafood, ice and frozen desserts, low-acid canned goods, CBD or THC products, and raw milk. That includes some foods that need time and temperature control for safety, called TCS foods, under extra conditions: the label must include safe handling instructions and temperature requirements, and the seller must register with DSHS.

• Check every part of a product, including fillings, glazes and frostings. California's category covers baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings, so a cream-filled pastry falls outside it.
• Pickled and canned foods need a close read of your state's rules. Texas, for example, requires a unique number for each batch of pickled fruit or vegetables, fermented vegetable products or plant-based acidified canned goods on the label.
• If a food is not clearly on your state's list, ask the agency in writing and keep the answer with your records.

What a cottage food label must say

All three example states require a fixed statement on the label that tells the buyer the food was made in a home operation. The state sets the wording, so copy it exactly.

California requires the words “Made in a Home Kitchen” in 12-point type on the principal display panel, plus the registration or permit number and the county that issued it. Texas labels must carry this disclosure: “THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.” Florida labels must include this statement: “Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida’s food safety regulations.” Florida's statement must be printed in at least 10-point type in a color that contrasts with the label.

Each state also lists other details a label needs. Florida's statute, for example, requires the operation's name and address, the product name, the ingredients in order of weight, the net weight or volume, and allergen information. In Texas, optional DSHS registration lets you print an ID number on the label instead of your home address. Check your state's full list before you print labels.

How to start a food business from home under a cottage food law

These steps cover what the three example states ask for. Your state may skip some or add others, so use your state agency's page as the checklist.

1. Find your state's cottage food agency

   Cottage food rules sit with the health department in some states, such as Texas, and with the agriculture department in others, such as Florida. In California, the California Department of Public Health keeps the approved foods list but does not register or permit cottage food operations, so you apply for registration or a permit from your local environmental health department. Search your state's .gov site for its cottage food page and read it in full.

2. Check that each food is allowed

   Compare each product, including fillings, glazes and frostings, with your state's list or exclusions. In a list state such as California, one ingredient that is not covered can take the whole product outside the law.

3. Register or get a permit if your state requires one

   California requires registration or a permit from your local environmental health department, renewed every year. Texas requires registration with DSHS if you sell foods that need time and temperature control for safety (TCS). Florida requires no food permit from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for the foods its law covers.

4. Complete any required training

   California requires a cottage food operator training within three months of registering, and Texas requires an accredited food handler course. Keep the certificate with your records in case the agency asks for it.

5. Write a label that meets the state's rules

   Use the exact statement your state gives, then add the other details on its list. Print labels before your first sale, and update them whenever a recipe or ingredient changes.

6. Check local rules for a home business

   Some states limit what cities can do. In Florida, a local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit a cottage food operation or regulate how it prepares, stores or sells cottage food, but an operation must still meet the state's conditions for running a home-based business. In other states, ask your city or county whether zoning or home business rules apply, and check any homeowner association rules too.

7. Ask about sales tax

   A cottage food law does not settle tax. Florida's agriculture department says an operation must comply with all state or federal tax laws that apply to it. Your state's tax agency can tell you whether the foods you sell are taxable and whether you need a seller's permit.

8. Track your sales against the limit

   Keep a record of every sale and its date. In Florida, annual gross sales include all sales of cottage food products at any location, and an operation must give the department written documentation of its annual gross sales on request. California's limits are adjusted every year for inflation, so check the current figure each year. Above your state's limit, the cottage food exception no longer covers you.

Can you sell cottage food online or ship it?

Taking orders online is allowed in all three example states, but how the food reaches the buyer is not the same.

Texas allows online sales if the operator, an employee or a household member delivers the food to the buyer in person. Before taking payment, the seller must give the buyer all the required label information on its website. Florida allows sales on your website, by mail order and in person, and the food may be delivered in person, to a specific event venue, or by the US Postal Service or a commercial mail delivery service. In California, a direct sale, including one made by phone or online, may be fulfilled in person, by mail or by a third-party delivery service.

Selling to buyers in another state is a separate question. California's law, for example, authorizes sales throughout California. Before you ship across a state line, ask the agency in your state and in the buyer's state what applies, or plan for a licensed commercial kitchen.

When a home food business outgrows the cottage food law

You leave the cottage food exception when you pass your state's sales limit, add a food the law does not cover, or want to sell in a way it does not allow. Florida's statute, for example, exempts an operation from the state food permit only if it follows the cottage food section and keeps annual gross sales of cottage food at or under the limit.

Wholesale is a common limit. In Florida, cottage foods cannot be sold wholesale. Texas allows wholesale only to a registered cottage food vendor, and never for TCS foods. In California, Class A operations sell directly to the public, while Class B operations may also sell indirectly through restaurants and food markets.

The next step is a licensed food business, for example one run from a rented commercial kitchen. A licensed business follows the rules the cottage food law exempted you from, such as the Texas food establishment rules named above. Ask your state agency which license fits what you plan to make and where you plan to sell it.

Where Nation fits

Questions about cottage food laws