Who the Nebraska cottage food law covers
Nebraska doesn't license home cooks as food establishments. Its food code leaves out "a private home" where a producer makes food for sale directly to the consumer, as long as the producer follows section 81-2,280. That section is the whole Nebraska cottage food law: a page of rules on foods, training, registration, notices, labels and delivery.
The food has to be made in a private home. NDA points out that a snow cone trailer or other mobile setup doesn't qualify unless the food is made ahead in the home kitchen.
Which foods you can sell
Nebraska works with a short ban list instead of an allowed list. Anything not adulterated and not on the list is fair game, refrigerated treats included. NDA's own Q&A names cheesecake, ice cream, cheese, pudding, chocolate covered strawberries and pectin jams as allowed.
These time/temperature control for safety foods are off limits:
- Any part of an animal or animal by-product, like meat, lard, tallow or bone broth
- Fluid milk and milk products as the Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance defines them, such as milk, cream, sour cream and yogurt
- Raw eggs
- Unpasteurized juice
- Infused oils or infused honey
- Sprouts
- Low-acid canned food and hermetically sealed acidified food
- Tofu, tempeh and similar meat substitutes
- Kimchi, kombucha and similar fermented foods
The ban on milk products doesn't stop you from baking with them. Store-bought pasteurized milk, cream and cheese can go into your cakes and ice cream. Raw milk can't, and eggs must be fully cooked.
Where and how you can sell
Every sale goes directly to the consumer. How the food reaches them depends on whether it needs refrigeration.
| Way of selling | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Farmers markets, fairs, festivals, craft shows and other events | Yes |
| Pick-up at your home or delivery from it | Yes |
| Online orders, through your own website or a platform | Yes, with the notice on your website |
| Shipping by U.S. mail or a delivery service | Yes, for shelf-stable (non-TCS) food only |
| Refrigerated (TCS) food | Handed over by you, in person |
| Wholesale to restaurants, grocery stores or coffee shops | No |
Refrigerated food may spend no more than two hours in transport, kept at the temperatures the Nebraska Pure Food Act sets. NDA says a cheesecake at a farmers market has to stay at 41°F or colder.
Shipping to another state? Nebraska's law only covers what Nebraska allows. The state you ship into has its own rules, so check them before you send a box across the border.
Registration and food safety training
Before your first sale, finish one of three kinds of course: a nationally accredited food safety and handling course, a certified course from a culinary school or a local food handler permit program, or a course NDA approves. NDA lists ServSafe, StateFoodSafety, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department course and the UNL Cottage Food Law online course as examples.
Then register with NDA on its online form. You give your name, address and phone number, the course you took and when you passed it, and proof of a nitrate and bacteria test if your kitchen runs on a private well. It's a one-time registration. It can take up to 10 days before your name shows up on NDA's public list of registered cottage food producers.
The notice every customer has to see
Nebraska's best-known rule isn't on the label. You tell customers, with a clearly visible notification, that the food was prepared in a kitchen that is not subject to regulation and inspection by a regulatory authority and may contain allergens.
- At events: at the table or booth where you sell
- For pick-up or delivery: at your home
- Online: on your website, if you have one
- In every print, radio, TV or internet ad for your sales
When you outgrow the cottage food law
Want to sell to a coffee shop, stock grocery shelves or bottle barbecue sauce? Those need a licensed food establishment or food processing plant instead of your home kitchen. From then on the federal label rules apply in full: product name, net quantity, ingredients, allergens, your business address and, in most cases, a Nutrition Facts panel.
FDA Food Labeling Requirements →