How to start a food business from home under cottage food laws

What is a cottage food law?

A cottage food law is a state rule that exempts small home food businesses from some of the licensing and inspection a restaurant or food factory needs. The exemption comes with conditions: which foods you can make, who you can sell to, how products are labeled, and often how much you can sell in a year.

Because these are state laws, a recipe that is legal to sell from home in one state can be off limits in the next. Check whether your city or county adds rules of its own; Texas, for example, bars local health departments from requiring a permit or fee for cottage food operations.

What foods can I sell from home?

Expect your state's list to center on foods that stay safe at room temperature, and check carefully before you sell anything that needs refrigeration or canning. Texas's law, as amended in 2025, allows any food except:

• Meat and poultry, and products made with them
• Seafood, including fish and shellfish
• Ice and ice products, such as shaved ice, ice cream and popsicles
• Low-acid canned goods
• Products containing CBD or THC
• Raw milk and raw milk products

Texas does allow time- and temperature-controlled foods (those that must be kept cold or hot for safety), but an operator who sells them must register with the state health department and follow extra labeling, storage and delivery rules.

What does a cottage food label need?

Labels are where most cottage food rules show up. Texas, for example, requires foods to be packaged and labeled with:

• The name of the operation, and its address or a state registration number in place of the address
• The common name of the product
• Any major food allergen used, such as eggs, tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk, wheat or sesame
• The statement: "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION."
• For refrigerated or frozen foods, the date made and safe-handling instructions in at least 12-point type

Pickled, fermented and acidified products need a batch number in Texas, and the state names approved recipe sources, including the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. Check your own state's exact wording before you print labels.

Do I need a license, training or registration?

It depends on the state. In Texas, a cottage food production operation is exempt from the Texas Food Establishment Rules, and local health departments may not inspect it or charge it a fee to produce or sell directly to consumers. The operator must still complete an accredited food handler training program. Registration with the state is optional for most operators, and lets you print a registration number instead of your home address; it is required for operators selling temperature-controlled foods.

Elsewhere, you may need a state registration or permit, a local permit, a kitchen inspection or a food safety course. A cottage food exemption also does not cover your other obligations: local zoning for a home business, a sales tax registration if your state taxes the food you sell, and income tax. See business licenses and permits.

Where can I sell, and how much?

Expect rules on who you can sell to and how the food reaches them, and read the online and shipping rules closely. Texas allows online orders if the operator, an employee or a household member personally delivers the food, and if the full label information is posted on the website before payment is accepted.

Your state may also cap annual sales. Texas's limit is $150,000 in annual gross income since September 1, 2025. Under the same law, Texas lets a cottage food operation sell non-temperature-controlled foods wholesale to registered cottage food vendors, who can resell them at farmers markets, farm stands, restaurants and retail stores. When you outgrow your state's limit, the next step is usually a licensed commercial or shared kitchen.