Who can sell under the Michigan cottage food law
The law is for a person cooking in the kitchen of their primary domestic residence in Michigan. Own or rent, it doesn't matter: a house, an apartment, a condo or a rental home all count. Group or communal settings like group homes, sororities and fraternities do not.
- Your second home, cottage, summer place or motor home doesn't qualify unless it is your primary residence
- A rented commercial kitchen doesn't qualify either: making food there takes a food establishment license
- Nonprofits can't run a cottage food business, because they have no domestic residence
- Producers from other states can't sell in Michigan under this law: the home kitchen has to be in Michigan
Which foods are allowed
Only non-potentially hazardous foods qualify: foods that stay safe at room temperature without time or temperature control. MDARD keeps a searchable list. These are on it:
- Breads, cookies, muffins
- Celebration cakes and cupcakes
- Shelf-stable fruit pies
- Candy, fudge, cotton candy
- Freeze-dried candy
- Fruit jams and jellies
- Granola and dry mixes
- Dried pasta
- Popcorn
- Roasted coffee
- Nut butters
- Flavored vinegars
- Dehydrated fruit and vegetables
- Vanilla and other food extracts
Some allowed foods come with conditions. Bread with cheese only takes shredded hard cheese mixed into the dough before baking. Jams and jellies must be real fruit jams or jellies in glass jars that keep at room temperature. Freeze-drying is allowed for safe foods like candy or raw fruit, if a commercial freeze dryer runs to completion.
Buttercream needs care: MDARD has approved only two recipes, K-State Extension's Simple Buttercream and the American Buttercream from Come and Bake It: Original Edition, followed exactly with no changes. Other buttercream recipes are not approved.
Foods you can't sell as cottage food
Anything that has to be kept cold or hot to stay safe is out. So are foods with a higher risk of botulism. MDARD names these:
- Canned fruits and vegetables, salsas, pickles, relish and sauerkraut
- Fruit and vegetable butters, like apple or pumpkin butter
- Low-sugar or no-sugar jams, and pepper or other vegetable jellies
- Sauces and condiments like barbecue sauce, hot sauce, ketchup and mustard; salad dressings; hummus
- Cream, custard and meringue pies, cheesecake, and cream cheese frosting
- Meat, jerky, fish and smoked fish; milk, cheese and yogurt
- Beverages of any kind, including juice, kombucha and apple cider
- Caramel apples and candies made with alcohol
- Garlic in oil, fresh pasta, cut melons and cut tomatoes
- CBD or cannabis products, dietary supplements, and pet food or treats
Not sure about a recipe? Send the question to MDARD before you sell it. Selling a food that isn't allowed can end with MDARD ordering you to stop making it.
Where and how you can sell
Every sale goes straight from you to the person who eats the food. Advertise wherever you like, on a website, social media, in the newspaper or at a craft show. Collect payment in person or through a pay app.
| Way of selling | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Farmers markets, farm stands, roadside stands | Yes |
| Phone, internet and mail order | Yes, if the buyer can interact with you before the sale |
| Third-party food delivery platform | Yes, same condition |
| Customers outside Michigan | No, sales and deliveries stay in Michigan |
| Restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops | No |
| Wholesalers, brokers, distributors | No |
| Consignment | No |
| Farm stop or market holding pre-sold orders | No |
| Donations to auctions, fundraisers or soup kitchens | No |
| Free samples at your booth | Yes, for foods that stay safe at room temperature |
A farm stop or small market can't act as a pickup point for your pre-sold orders. MDARD says holding the food there is not delivering it to the consumer.
Some farmers markets ask every vendor for a food license anyway. That's their call, so check the market rules before you book a table.
The sales cap and your records
The cap counts gross sales, not profit. It belongs to each operator, not each house. If two people in one household each run a separate cottage food business, each one gets the full limit. Family members who don't run a business add nothing.
Your kitchen, storage and water
No inspector checks your kitchen before you start, and your stove or fridge doesn't need NSF approval. You are still responsible for making safe food.
- Store ingredients and finished products inside your home: the kitchen, a spare room or a dry basement
- No garage, shed, barn or other outbuilding as storage
- Use safe water from a municipal system or a properly built well; MDARD advises testing well water at least once a year
- Ask your local health department whether your septic system can handle the extra wastewater
- Check local zoning and any DBA rules with your township, city or county
MDARD steps in when there is a complaint or a foodborne illness linked to your food. Then an inspector may enter your production and storage areas, copy records, take photos, seize suspect food and order label corrections.
Honey and maple syrup are separate
Honey and maple syrup are not cottage foods in Michigan. They have their own licensing exemptions with different rules, so read the MDARD maple syrup and honey page before you sell them. Maple candy, on the other hand, is on the cottage food list.
Maple Syrup Label Requirements →When you outgrow the Michigan cottage food law
Want to wholesale, sell to stores, ship out of state, sell more than the cap allows or make foods that need refrigeration? Then you become a licensed food processor with MDARD. Store shelves bring the full federal label: ingredients, net quantity in both units, allergens and, for most products, a Nutrition Facts panel.
Nutrition Facts Label Requirements →