Cottage Food Permit

Do you need a permit to sell cottage food?

Cottage food is a state matter, so the answer comes from your state, not from FDA. FDA doesn't issue cottage food permits, and a private home doesn't register with FDA as a food facility. What states ask for falls into three groups:

• ✓Nothing to file: you follow the rules, stay under the cap and label correctly. Florida and Michigan work this way, and so does Texas for most foods.
• ✓A registration: you tell the state who you are and what you make, often for free and without a routine inspection. New York's Home Processor Registration is an example.
• ✓A permit or license: you apply, pay a fee and often pass a kitchen inspection before your first sale. Washington's Cottage Food Permit is an example.

Cottage food permit rules in six states

The gap between states is wide. Here is what six of them ask before you sell from home:

California shows how the choice can depend on how you sell. A Class A operation registers with the county and may only sell directly to the public. A Class B operation gets a permit and may also sell through shops and restaurants.

Permit, license or registration: what's the difference?

States use these words differently, but the idea is the same everywhere:

• ✓Registration: you file your details with the state or county. Sometimes free, and in some states you get a number you can print on your label.
• ✓Permit: the agency approves you before you sell. Expect a fee, and often a review of your labels and a kitchen inspection.
• ✓License: often the word for commercial food businesses. If a state tells you that you need a food license, you have usually left the cottage food law behind.

A registration can pay off on the label. In Texas, registering with the state gets you a number you can print instead of your home address, so your address doesn't end up on every cookie bag.

Food safety training

Even states with no permit often require training. It is also the step people forget most:

• ✓Texas: an accredited food handler course, for everyone who runs a cottage food operation
• ✓California: a cottage food operator training within three months of registering or getting your permit
• ✓Washington: a food worker card for every person named on the permit application

Will someone inspect my kitchen?

In many states, no. Texas bars local health departments from inspecting your kitchen for direct sales. New York sends an inspector only after a complaint. Washington is the other end of the scale: a WSDA representative inspects your kitchen before you get the permit.

If your home runs on a private well, check the water rules. New York asks for water test results with the registration, and Washington says well water should be tested for coliform bacteria every year.

How to get a cottage food permit or registration

• ✓Find the agency that runs cottage food in your state: the health department or the agriculture department, or in California your county environmental health department
• ✓Check that every food you want to sell is allowed
• ✓Take the training your state requires and keep the certificate
• ✓Make a label for each product, with your state's home-kitchen statement word for word
• ✓Fill in the application or registration form and pay any fee
• ✓Prepare your kitchen if there is an inspection, and test your well water if you have one
• ✓Keep a copy of your permit or registration with your sales records

Some states want to see your labels before they approve you. Washington asks for an accurate label of every product you plan to sell with the application, and lets you leave a placeholder for the permit number, which you get after the inspection.

Get your labels ready before you apply

A permit approves you, and your label is what the inspector and your customers actually see. Get it right once and you reuse it for every batch. Start with the free template, or enter your recipe in our tool: it matches each ingredient to USDA data, lists the ingredients in the right order, flags the major allergens and writes the Contains line. You get a print-ready PDF, plus a calculation report you can show an inspector.

City, county and business rules

The cottage food permit is only the food part. Your city or county can still have zoning and home business rules, and some states require a general business license as well. Washington, for example, asks for a Master Business License with the cottage food application and tells applicants to check local zoning first. In Florida, local governments can't regulate how you make and sell cottage food, but home-based business rules still apply.

When you need a commercial license instead

A cottage food permit only covers what your state's cottage food law allows. You need a commercial food license, and a licensed kitchen, once you:

• ✓Make a food your state's cottage food law doesn't allow
• ✓Sell more than your state's yearly cap
• ✓Sell wholesale where your state doesn't allow it
• ✓Ship to customers in other states

The license has a different name in each state: a food manufacturer license in Texas, a food processor license in Washington, an MDARD food license in Michigan. A commercial facility that makes or packs food generally registers with FDA too. And the label grows: the full federal rules apply, and most products then need a Nutrition Facts panel, which our tool makes from the recipe you already entered.

Cottage food permit rules by state

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Label rules for your state

Each state page above covers the permit or registration, the fee, the sales cap and the training. For the exact label statement in your state, go to the state label pages.