Texas cottage food law: what you can sell from home

Texas cottage food law at a glance

Texas cottage food law lets an individual or a nonprofit make food at home and sell it without a commercial kitchen or a health permit. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) runs the program from its cottage food page at dshs.texas.gov. The law is Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 437, and the DSHS rule is 25 TAC §229.661. Law checked on 3 Oct 2026.

A cottage food operation is exempt from the requirements of a food service establishment and from the Texas Food Establishment Rules. The table sums up the rules after SB 541.

What SB 541 changed for home food sellers in Texas

SB 541 rewrote the Texas cottage food rules and took effect on September 1, 2025. Per DSHS, the bill expands the allowed foods, sets conditions for selling cottage foods wholesale and changes the labeling requirements. These are the changes a home seller notices:

• The sales cap rose from $50,000 to $150,000 in annual gross income, adjusted each year for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
• Nonprofits are now covered: nonprofit organizations can also run a cottage food operation, if the nonprofit is a 501(c)(3) organization.
• Allowed foods are now set by a short excluded list, shown in the next section.
• Foods that need time and temperature control for safety (TCS) are allowed, but their sellers must register with DSHS and follow extra label rules.
• Wholesale is now possible, with limits: only to a registered cottage food vendor, and never for TCS foods.
• Mail order is gone: the bill deleted “or by mail order” from the section that allows online sales.

Also, DSHS will adopt rules to put the new requirements in place, so check the DSHS page before you start selling.

Which foods Texas cottage law allows

Texas cottage law now works as an exclusion list. Any food is allowed except these:

• meat, meat products, poultry and poultry products
• seafood, fish and shellfish, and products made from them
• ice and ice products, including shaved ice, ice cream, frozen custard, popsicles and gelato
• low-acid canned goods
• products that contain cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• raw milk and raw milk products

Everything else is allowed, including TCS foods that need refrigeration, covered in the next section. Bread, cookies, candy, jams and granola are not on the excluded list, so they are allowed.

Pickles, fermented vegetables and other acidified foods are allowed with extra steps. The label must carry a unique number for each batch of pickled fruit or vegetables, fermented vegetable products or plant-based acidified canned goods. For these foods DSHS lists approved recipe sources, such as the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. To use a recipe source that is not on the list, send DSHS the Request for Official Determination Form.

Two smaller rules help with selling. First, samples may be given at any location. Second, cottage foods may be donated, except TCS foods, and the bill allows donations for sale or service at an event, such as a religious or charitable organization's bake sale.

TCS foods and DSHS registration, step by step

A TCS food is a food that needs time and temperature control to limit the growth of pathogens or the production of toxins. The bill's examples include baked goods that need refrigeration, such as cream or custard pies or cakes. Also, a food made with TCS ingredients is not a TCS food if the finished product does not need time or temperature control.

1. Check whether your food is TCS

   If a food has to be kept cold or hot to stay safe, treat it as TCS. If none of your foods are TCS, you do not have to register, but you may register with DSHS and print the registration number on the label instead of your home address.

2. Complete a food handler course

   Every cottage food operator in Texas needs a basic food safety education or training program for food handlers, accredited under Health and Safety Code Chapter 438(D). DSHS accepts a Food Manager Certification from an accredited program in place of a Food Handler Certification.

3. Set up a separate DSHS login

   Registration happens on the DSHS Online Licensing Registry. Per the DSHS guide, a DSHS online account used for another license cannot be used, so the cottage food registration needs a separate email address.

4. Fill in the application

   Choose Retail Food Program, then New Cottage Food Registration. For the main address, use your home address; a P.O. box is not accepted as the main address. Then add product information for each product you sell and submit. DSHS publishes a Cottage Food Registration Guidance Document that shows each screen.

5. Find your registration number

   The registration is approved automatically by the online system, without review by DSHS staff. Your number appears in the License/Registration Table on your main menu; the PDF summary report does not show the registration number. Also, if approval does not arrive within a few minutes, the application was missing information and is not approved.

6. Hold the food at safe temperatures

   TCS foods must be stored and delivered so the food stays at 41°F or below for cold items, or 135°F or above for hot items.

7. Add the TCS label lines

   Show the date the food was made, on the food label. Then add this statement in at least 12-point font, on the label or on an invoice or receipt given with the food: “SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep this food refrigerated or frozen until the food is prepared for consumption.” Two more limits apply: TCS foods are not eligible for wholesale, and TCS foods are not eligible for donation.

Texas cottage food label requirements

Cottage foods sold in Texas must be packaged and labeled. Food must be packaged in a way that prevents contamination, except foods too large or bulky for conventional packaging. For a food sold without a package, the label information goes on an invoice or receipt.

The label must be legible and include:

• the name of the cottage food operation
• the operation's address, or the DSHS identification number in its place
• the common or usual name of the product
• any major food allergen in the food, such as eggs, tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk, wheat or sesame
• The disclosure “THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.”
• a unique number for each batch of pickled fruit or vegetables, fermented vegetable products or plant-based acidified canned goods

TCS foods also need the date made and the safe handling statement from the steps above. Food sold through a cottage food vendor must show the date the food was made on its label.

Selling cottage food online in Texas

Texas cottage food law allows online sales when all of these conditions are met:

1. Purchase: the buyer buys the food online from the operator.
2. Delivery: the operator, an employee or a household member delivers the food to the buyer in person.
3. Label before payment: before taking payment, the operator posts all the required label information on its website.
4. Address after payment: after payment, the label must carry the operator's address or DSHS identification number.

SB 541 deleted “or by mail order” from the section that allows online sales, and delivery must be in person, so plan for local delivery by you, an employee or your household rather than shipping orders by carrier.

In practice, that means posting the full label text for each product on your website, where the buyer can read it before paying.

Selling through stores and cottage food vendors

A cottage food vendor is a person in Texas who has a contract with a cottage food operation and sells directly to consumers in Texas on its behalf. This is the route SB 541 opened for selling through other businesses: you may sell at wholesale only to a registered cottage food vendor, and never for TCS foods.

A vendor can sell your food at a farmers' market, a farm stand, a food service establishment or any retail store. Before you sell to one at wholesale, check that it is registered: cottage food vendors that buy from cottage food operations at wholesale must register with DSHS. The vendor must also display a sign in a prominent place near the food that shows the private-residence disclosure, and each label must show the date the food was made.

What Texas cities and counties can and cannot do

Under the DSHS summary, local public health entities may not regulate the production of food at a cottage food operation, local health departments may not require a license or permit, and they may not charge a fee to produce or sell directly to a consumer or cottage food vendor. Also, health departments have no authority to inspect a cottage food operation. Texas goes further: a local government may not employ someone who knowingly requires, or tries to require, a cottage food operation to apply for a permit.

Health officials keep some powers. DSHS or the local health authority can still act on an immediate and serious threat to health through emergency orders and recall orders, and health departments must keep records of all complaints against a cottage food operation.

Other local rules can still apply to a home business, such as city zoning, home-occupation or homeowners' association rules. Check with your city and county before you start; this page is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Where Nation fits

Questions about cottage food law in Texas