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New Mexico Cottage Food Label Requirements

New Mexico cottage food label requirements come from the Homemade Food Act, and they ask for more contact details than most states: your name, home address, telephone number and email address, the common name of the food, every ingredient in order of predominance (sub-ingredients too), and this exact statement: "This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens." No permit, no fee and no sales cap. You do need a food handler card.

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New Mexico cottage food label requirements: map of the United States with New Mexico highlighted
Homemade food label

Required on every New Mexico homemade food label

Section 25-12-3 NMSA lists four things the buyer must get. Put them on the package, on the bulk bin, on a placard at the table or on the web page where you sell.

Example New Mexico homemade food label for biscochitos with the baker's name, home address, phone number and email, the ingredients with butter's sub-ingredients in parentheses, and the home produced statement
  1. 1
    Name, home address, phone and emailNMSA § 25-12-3(C)(1)
    All four, for the person who made the food. The Act calls that person the processor.
  2. 2
    Common or usual nameNMSA § 25-12-3(C)(2)
    What the food is, in plain words: "Biscochitos", "Red chile brittle" or "Piñon toffee".
  3. 3
    Ingredients, sub-ingredients includedNMSA § 25-12-3(C)(3)
    From most to least present in the food. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) wants the sub-ingredients of anything you bought ready-made, for example "butter (cream (milk), salt)".
  4. 4
    The home produced statementNMSA § 25-12-3(C)(4)
    Word for word: "This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens."
  5. Phone and custom ordersNo label neededSell a custom cake or a phone order and the law lets you skip the label. You still tell the buyer that the food was made at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection and may contain allergens, and you keep the label details ready for anyone who asks.
New Mexico at a glance

Permit, training and where you sell

PermitNoneNo food permit from NMED for not-time-and-temperature-control foods. The law lets NMED run a voluntary permit, and Albuquerque and Bernalillo County don't require one either.NMSA § 25-12-3(E), (F)
TrainingFood handler cardFrom a food handler program NMED approves, before you start production.NMSA § 25-12-3(A)(3)
Sales capNone setThe Homemade Food Act names no yearly sales limit.
Where you sellInside New MexicoDirectly to consumers: farmers' markets, festivals, the internet, roadside stands, pick-up or delivery from home, and mail. Not to restaurants, wholesalers or buyers in other states.NMSA § 25-12-3(A)(2)
Selling online? Your web page is a label tooOnlineThe Act names the web page where you offer the food as one of the places the four label items must appear. Put the full block, statement included, on every product listing, not only on the package you mail.NMSA § 25-12-3(B)(4)
Which foods qualify?Foods that stay safe without refrigeration: cookies, breads, pies and cakes without cream fillings, candy, popcorn, dried fruit, granola, roasted coffee and high-sugar fruit jams. Salsa, hot pepper jelly, pickles, cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, jerky and juices need an NMED permitted commercial kitchen, and anything with CBD needs a hemp manufacturing permit.Homemade Jam Label →
Selling to a store, a restaurant or out of state?That takes a commercial manufactured food permit from NMED, and then the full federal label applies: net quantity, a complete ingredient list, allergens and usually a Nutrition Facts panel.Nutrition Facts Label Requirements →
Sources

Where this comes from

Questions

New Mexico label questions

Yes. The Homemade Food Act asks for the name, home address, telephone number and email address of the person who made the food. New Mexico Cottage Food Law →

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