Cottage Food Laws By State

Making bread for sale. See the blog page https://www.culinarylibertarian.com/cottagefood

Cottage Food Laws, State by State

What is cottage food?

Cottage food laws allow homeowners to produce and sell a variety of foods from home.  The rules of what is and is not accepted vary from state to state-see below-but in general only safe foods are allowed.

Foods identified as potentially hazardous foods (PHF) such as buttercream icing or pastry cream or pickles or other canned goods might be excluded from sale due to a higher risk of pathogenic (bad guys) organisms that can make people sick.

What cottage food can do for a family

An alternate income stream is the most relevant reason to seek to open a cottage food business.

Cottage food laws permit the cook or baker to make and sell a small variety of foods from home to the public.  In some cases, those items may be sold at flea markets or farmers’ markets, but the restrictions and permits can include an inspection from that state’s food inspection division.

Cottage food laws can include a cap on earnings for the year as well as restrictions on which kinds of prepared foods are allowable.  Since each state may have nuanced language, check to make sure you are within the limits of the law.

More restrictions

Common restrictions include foods that cannot be sold to restaurants that will resell them, grocery stores or novelty-type shops, or over the internet.  Depending on your state, there may be allowances for you to advertise your business on social media, but you may be prohibited from tendering sales through the internet.

Here’s a link to a useful map that indicates, at a glance, some of the conditions for each state.

The States

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

WI sues for more cottage food options 

Wyoming

If you find a broken link, send me a text, dann@culinarylibertarian.com, and I’ll look into it.

Resources

Books are our best source of information after a web search.  Here are some, by no means all or even close to all, books which can start you on the road to learning about a cottage business and if it is the right choice for you.

Cottage Foods Business Books

Joel Salatin books

Call to action

If you are interested in getting change started in your state, start with the county.  Local is best.  City or county has the most direct impact on you.  Your community is more apt to listen to a resident than a constituent from miles away.

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What is food sovereignty?

At the simplest, it is eating and selling the food you grow. Food sovereignty gets complicated from there.

Here’s the first of a series of articles I’m writing about food sovereignty, markets, government forces, and profit.