Can I sell food made in my home kitchen?
In most states, yes, for a limited list of low-risk foods, sold directly to the person eating them. The catch that matters for anyone aiming at a shelf: whether a cottage food law covers selling to a shop is the state's call. Among the first ten states ShelfStep wrote up, each state's own page, linked below, says where it stands: New York's, Ohio's, Oregon's and California's (for its Class B) allow it on their own conditions, Pennsylvania's registration lists wholesale among the ways to sell, Texas's allows it only to a cottage food vendor, and Indiana's, Illinois's, Washington's and Michigan's do not allow it. The exemption that gets you started is often the one you outgrow first.
It is state law, not federal
There is no national cottage food law. A private residence is not an FDA-registered facility, which is why home production sits outside federal facility registration — and into a patchwork of fifty different state programs, each with its own list of permitted foods, sales limits, labeling wording and selling venues.
That means anyone telling you what you can make at home without asking which state you are in is guessing. The only reliable source is your own state's health department or agriculture department, and this page deliberately points you there rather than restating rules that differ everywhere and change often.
What is usually allowed, and what is usually not
The permitted lists differ, but the logic behind them rarely does. States allow foods that do not support the growth of harmful bacteria at room temperature, and exclude the ones that do.
- Usually allowed: baked goods without cream or custard fillings, breads, cookies, dry mixes, granola, candy, and high-acid jams and jellies made to full-sugar recipes
- Usually not allowed: anything needing refrigeration, meat and poultry, dairy, low-acid canned foods, and — importantly for sauce makers — acidified products like salsas and hot sauces
- Sometimes allowed with conditions: pickles, fermented products, and dehydrated foods, depending heavily on the state
The wholesale line is where it ends
This is the part worth internalising before you build a plan around it. Many cottage food programs are written around selling to the end consumer — from your property, at a farmers' market, sometimes by direct delivery or shipment.
Selling to a shop that resells your product is a different activity. The state pages linked below put it outside the home-kitchen rules in Indiana, Illinois, Washington and Michigan, and let New York, Ohio, Oregon and California's Class B do some of it, each on its own conditions. Where it is not allowed, the moment a buyer says yes the home kitchen stops being an option and you are looking at a commercial kitchen, a co-packer, or a shared-use facility. Where it is, the state's conditions travel with the order.
None of which is a reason not to start at home. It is a reason to know the ceiling before you hit it.
A worked example, and why it dates fast
Indiana rewrote its rules in 2026. The 2026 Indiana Code (IC 16-42-5.4, which House Enrolled Act 1424 added from 1 July 2026) sets a homestead vendor's limit at $1,500,000 in gross sales of food or meat products in a single year, with sales from the vendor's own property or a farmers' market, direct shipment or delivery to a consumer in Indiana allowed with a food handler's certificate and a sealed package, and disclosures to the consumer through signage or labeling. Under the preceding home-based vendor rules, the only home-canned food permitted was traditional high-acid jams and jellies made with full-sugar recipes.
That change happened this year. It is precisely why this page gives you one verified example and the route to your own state's current text, rather than a table of fifty states that would be wrong somewhere within months.
Labeling still applies
Cottage food products almost always carry required label wording, frequently including a statement that the food was made in a home kitchen that is not inspected. The exact sentence is prescribed by the state, and using another state's wording is a common and avoidable mistake.
Allergen declaration applies regardless. It is the highest-consequence thing on the label and no exemption covers getting it wrong.
How to find your own rule in ten minutes
Search for your state's health or agriculture department alongside the term they use — cottage food, home-based vendor, homestead vendor, home processor. Then confirm these six things:
- Which foods are on the permitted list
- Whether there is an annual sales cap, and what it is
- Where you are allowed to sell, and whether shipping is permitted
- Whether wholesale to retailers is permitted at all — it differs by state
- The exact label wording your state requires
- Whether registration, a permit or a food-safety course is required
Where you make it decides whether Indiana wants a wholesale registration — and the answer changes the moment a shop stocks you. The rules check says which applies to you today, and why.
Check the rules for a home kitchen →Common questions
Check this yourself
This is general information for U.S. food businesses, not legal advice, and rules change. Check it against the sources below and against your own state's rules before you rely on it.
- Indiana — Home-based vendor handbook (IDOH)
- Indiana House Bill 1424 (2026) — farm and homestead food sales
- Indiana Code 2026, IC 16-42-5.4 (homestead vendors), in the legislature's 2026 code download
- Purdue — Home-based vendors
- New York — Home processing (NYS Agriculture and Markets)
- Ohio — Cottage food (Ohio Department of Agriculture)
- Oregon — Cottage food exemption (ODA)
- California — Cottage food operations (CDPH)
- Pennsylvania — Limited food establishment application (PDA)
- Texas — Health and Safety Code §437.0194
- Illinois — Cottage food (IDPH)
- Washington — WAC chapter 16-149
- Michigan — Cottage food: selling and samples (MDARD)
Sell by product · Sell by state
What each state’s cottage food law says, in its own words: sell by state. Every kind of product: sell by product.