No cottage food law, a home processor inspection instead
North Carolina never passed a cottage food act. Home food businesses fall under the Food and Drug Protection Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS). The division sees a home processor as a food manufacturing facility, so your kitchen has to meet the federal Good Manufacturing Practices and the N.C. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
The inspection is needed for anyone selling homemade food, whether to retail stores, to restaurants or directly to consumers. It also covers opening and repackaging foods or ingredients you bought elsewhere. Prepackaged goods that you don't process at all, like a gift basket of bought items, need no inspection.
Which foods you can make at home
Only low risk foods: shelf stable, with no refrigeration or freezing needed. NCDA&CS gives these examples:
- Baked goods that don't need refrigeration
- Jams, jellies and preserves
- Candies, including freeze-dried candy
- Dried mixes and spices
- Some drinks, like iced tea, coffee or lemonade
- Some sauces and dressings, after an evaluation
- Acid and acidified foods like pickles and BBQ sauce, after you contact NCDA&CS
- Honey, peanuts and dry goods
These high risk foods are not permitted in a home kitchen:
- Refrigerated or frozen products
- Low-acid canned foods, such as jarred vegetables
- Dairy products
- Seafood
- Bottled water and juice
- Bakery items with cream or cream cheese fillings, and cheesecake
Some products need lab work before approval. Acidified foods, dressings and sauces, homemade cream cheese frostings, moist breads and cakes, some pies and any questionable product may need pH or water activity testing, with a Process Authority Letter from the lab. Acidified food makers may also need to finish an Acidified Food Course.
Process Authority →What your kitchen needs
Production happens in the kitchen of your home. A kitchen in a garage, a basement or a separate building on the property doesn't qualify and counts as a commercial business.
- No pets in the home at any time, not even only at night
- Smooth, easily cleanable food contact surfaces
- No insects, rodents or other pests
- Hot and cold running water; the kitchen sink is for food prep only, so handwashing happens at a separate or bathroom sink
- Thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer
- Waste carried away by sewer or septic system
- Shielded or shatter-proof light bulbs
- No decorative items that collect dust
Standard household appliances are fine, and you may use them for family cooking too. On city water you send a recent water bill. On a private well you send a coliform and E. coli test from a certified lab, done within a year of applying. Store-bought test kits are not accepted.
How to get inspected
A Food Regulatory Specialist contacts you to set up the visit, usually within 8 to 12 weeks, and later in busy seasons. The inspector checks the kitchen, the storage areas and the outside of the house for pest entry. You receive the inspection report and a Notice of Inspection. Major violations can disqualify you.
NCDA&CS also points to the usual business steps: a Sales and Use Tax number, registering your business name, and a UPC code if stores ask for one.
Where and how you can sell
Once inspected, you sell directly to consumers and to retail stores, distributors and restaurants, with no yearly sales limit in the NCDA&CS program. What changes from place to place is whether you need a stuck-on label.
| Way of selling | Label on the package? |
|---|---|
| Pickup at your home, delivery, or orders for weddings and parties | Not required, ingredients on request |
| Farmers market, handed over from behind the counter | Not required, ingredients on request |
| Self-service table at a market or curb sale | Required |
| Retail stores, distributors and restaurants | Required |
| Shipped by USPS, FedEx or similar | Required |
The NCDA&CS Food Program oversees food sold within North Carolina. Shipping to another state brings in that state's rules and the federal ones, so check them before you take out-of-state orders.
When you outgrow the home kitchen
Moving production to a garage, a separate building or a shared kitchen, or adding refrigerated, frozen or low-acid canned foods, makes you a commercial business under the NCDA&CS routine inspection program. Selling more, especially to stores, also tends to bring in federal labeling questions such as the Nutrition Facts panel.
Nutrition Facts Label Requirements →