“Cottage food" laws permit individuals to produce certain non‐potentially hazardous foods, such as jams and baked goods, in their home kitchen, rather than a licensed commercial kitchen, and to sell them in certain venues like farm stands or retail stores. Non-hazardous foods do not present the same food safety risks as other processed foods, like meat and poultry products that may be more likely to cause foodborne illness. Similar state laws, called “food freedom" laws, were also included in this dataset because they also allow for the in-home production and sale of foods that are typically required to be produced in a commercial food establishment. These laws, found in North Dakota and Wyoming, expand upon cottage food laws to include potentially hazardous products like meat and poultry.
This map presents statutes and regulations that address state cottage food laws and food freedom laws in effect as of September 1, 2017. The map identifies who is allowed to sell cottage foods, what types of cottage food sales are allowed, the requirements to establish a cottage food operation, whether cottage food operations are subject to state inspection, whether cottage food operators must disclose that the food product was made in a home-kitchen, and sales limits on cottage food operations.
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