Three ways to sell homemade food in Oregon
Oregon has two license exemptions for home producers and one license made for home kitchens. Most home bakers and candy makers start with the first one.
| Route | Who it fits | Yearly limit | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage Food Exemption | Shelf-stable foods made in your home kitchen | $52,700 in gross sales | None |
| Farm Direct, producer-processed | Farmers turning crops they grow into jam, syrup, pickles or juice | $50,000 of processed products | None |
| Domestic kitchen license | Foods or sales the exemptions don't cover, still in your home kitchen | Fee depends on sales | ODA bakery or processor license, inspected |
The two exemptions have separate limits. ODA confirms you can sell up to the cottage food cap and up to the Farm Direct cap in the same year.
Who qualifies for the Cottage Food Exemption
You run a food establishment in your residential dwelling, the foods you sell are packaged and not potentially hazardous, every label carries the homemade statement, your gross sales stay under the cap, and everyone who prepares the food holds a food handler certificate.
Which foods you can sell
ODA lists these foods under the exemption:
- Baked goods
- Confectionery, including freeze-dried candy
- Jams, jellies and fruit butters made only with fruit that has a natural pH below 4.60
- Syrups, popcorn, nut mixes and coffee beans
- Honey and honey products, with flavorings from commercial food
- Dried tea, spice and seasoning blends, powdered drink mixes, and repackaged dried or freeze-dried foods, all from commercial food
Anything that needs refrigeration is out: cream pies, cheesecake, custard, meringue and cream cheese fillings, focaccia with vegetables or cheese, caramel apples, chocolate covered strawberries, and baked goods with meat, fish or shellfish. Products with marijuana or cannabinoids are not allowed either.
Watch the pH rule. Cucumbers and peppers have a natural pH above 4.60, so pickles and pepper jelly don't fit the exemption. Bottled brewed tea is out too, and freeze-drying is only allowed for confectionery.
Where and how you can sell
Oregon is generous here. The law lets you sell directly to the end user in any manner, and it opens the door to shops as well.
| Way of selling | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| From your home, farmers markets, farm stands and events | Yes |
| Online orders | Yes |
| Shipping by mail | Yes, to the end user |
| Retail stores and coffee shops | Yes, packaged and labeled, displayed separately with a homemade sign |
| Restaurants, caterers, schools, day cares, hospitals, nursing homes | No |
| As an ingredient for another food processor | No |
| Other states | Ask that state, ODA can't decide for them |
A retailer must agree to store and display your food apart from other foods, with signage saying it is homemade and not made in an inspected food establishment. Keep a record of each agreement.
Kitchen rules, inspections and records
No application and no ODA registration, but your kitchen still has to be clean, healthful and sanitary under OAR 603-025-0320. Pets can live in the house, as long as none is in the kitchen while you make food for sale.
- Sales records: where each sale happened, what you sold, price, quantity and date, with a running yearly total
- Online sales: the buyer's address and contact details
- Market or event sales: the event location and organizer contact instead of every buyer
- Keep every record for three years and hand it to ODA within five business days if asked
ODA doesn't inspect exempt kitchens on a schedule. It steps in after a complaint, a foodborne illness link or a rule violation, and can then require you to get licensed. The exemption doesn't cover local rules, so check zoning with your city or county.
Farm Direct for farmers who process their own crops
Farm Direct covers acidic foods you make from crops you grow: fruit syrups, jams, jellies, processed fruits and vegetables, and juices. You must grow all principal ingredients yourself, though herbs, spices, salt, vinegar, pectin, lemon or lime juice, honey and sugar can be bought. Processing happens where the crops were grown.
Sales go directly to the end consumer, with consignment allowed between farm direct marketers in the same or adjoining counties. Acidified foods follow a tested recipe or a process authority, with pH records for every batch. Past $50,000 a year of processed products, you need an ODA license.
Process Authority →When you outgrow the exemption
Over the cap, making refrigerated foods, or selling to restaurants? Then you get a domestic kitchen license from ODA, as a bakery or a food processor. It covers the primary kitchen of the home you live in, not a garage, basement or second house, and ODA inspects it routinely.
| License | Fee in ODA's current schedule |
|---|---|
| Domestic kitchen bakery, up to $50,000 in sales | $179 |
| Domestic kitchen processor | $223 flat |
Even a licensed home kitchen can't can low-acid foods, process milk products, process meat or cater. Those move to a licensed commercial facility, where the federal label rules apply in full, usually including a Nutrition Facts panel.
Nutrition Facts Label Requirements →