Can you sell food made at home in the US? What the cottage food laws actually say

There is no federal permit for selling food made at home: FDA does not register a private residence. Your state cottage food law is what decides.

Can you sell food made at home in the US?

There is no federal permit for selling food made at home, and no federal agency issues one. FDA says it two ways: under 21 CFR §1.227, “The private residence of an individual is not a facility,” and so a home “is not required to register with FDA”; and FDA’s own Food Code — the document that states copy — “is neither federal law nor federal regulation and is not preemptive.”

Your state decides. The rule that governs home-made food for sale is a state law, usually called a cottage food law, and that law is not a general permit: it is an exception to a rule that otherwise prohibits the entire activity.

And forming an LLC does not answer this question. Registering an entity with a Secretary of State decides who answers for the business’s debts — that is what our guide to forming a business in the US covers — but it says nothing about whether the food may lawfully leave your kitchen. Two different filings, two different authorities: the entity with the state, the food with the health authority.

This page explains the categorical framework and quotes what the law actually says in four verified states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. It does not characterize the rest, because their laws were not read. This is general information, not legal advice.

The baseline rule prohibits the home kitchen — that is why a special law is needed

This is the part almost nobody explains, and it reframes everything else.

FDA’s Food Code is the model text states and counties adopt to regulate food at retail. That model, at §6-202.111, says: “A private home, a room used as living or sleeping quarters, or an area directly opening into a room used as living or sleeping quarters may not be used for conducting FOOD ESTABLISHMENT operations.” Section 3-201.11(B) reinforces it from the other side: “FOOD prepared in a private home may not be used or offered for human consumption in a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT.”

The phrase “cottage food” appears nowhere in FDA’s Food Code. It is not a federal permit written in fine print: it is a hole each state cuts, on its own, in a model rule that without that hole prohibits the whole operation.

The Food Code itself explains that it is adopted state by state, through three different mechanisms: “(A) Enacted into statute as an act of the state legislative body; (B) Promulgated as a regulation, if the state legislative body has delegated rule-making authority to a governmental administrative agency; or (C) Adopted as an ordinance, if the local legislative body has been delegated rule-making authority or regulatory powers.” That is why the answer changes so much from state to state, and sometimes from county to county.

The same document also carries its own, very narrow carve-out: it excludes from “food establishment” “A kitchen in a private home if only FOOD that is not TIME/TEMPERATURE CONTROL FOR SAFETY FOOD, is prepared for sale or service at a function such as a religious or charitable organization’s bake sale if allowed by LAW and if the CONSUMER is informed by a clearly visible placard at the sales or service location that the FOOD is prepared in a kitchen that is not subject to regulation and inspection by the REGULATORY AUTHORITY.”

That single sentence contains the three elements that recur in all four state laws verified below:

Non-TCS food only.
Only if state law allows it.
With notice to the consumer that the kitchen is not inspected.

TCS: the line almost every one of these laws draws

The Food Code defines the term this way: “‘Time/temperature control for safety food’ means a FOOD that requires time/temperature control for safety (TCS) to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation.” The text notes it was formerly called potentially hazardous food (PHF) — which is why older state statutes say “potentially hazardous” and newer ones say “TCS” for the same idea.

The definition includes “An animal FOOD that is raw or heat-treated; a plant FOOD that is heat-treated or consists of raw seed sprouts, cut melons, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes… or garlic-in-oil mixtures” that have not been modified to prevent pathogen growth. It excludes, among others, an air-cooled hard-boiled egg with the shell intact, food in an unopened hermetically sealed container commercially processed to achieve commercial sterility, and food whose pH or water activity places it in the Code’s own non-TCS tables.

In practice that is the filter: what has to be refrigerated to stay safe is what usually falls outside a home-food law. (2022 Food Code text read August 11, 2026.)

The four verified states

State	What the law calls it	Permit or registration?	Sales cap (figure written in the law)	Required label notice
California	Cottage Food Operation (Class A and Class B)	Class A: registration plus a self-certification checklist. Class B: permit plus initial inspection	Class A $75,000 · Class B $150,000, adjusted annually for inflation based on the California Consumer Price Index	California label requirements were not read in this review
Texas	Cottage Food Production Operation (CFPO)	None: the statute bars local government from requiring a license, permit or fee. Online registration only for TCS foods	$150,000 annual gross income, which the department adjusts annually for inflation using CPI-U	“THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.”
Florida	Cottage Food Operation	Exempt from the s. 500.12 permitting requirements if it complies with the section and the cap	$250,000 in annual gross sales	“Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida’s food safety regulations,” in at least 10-point type
New York	Home Processor Exemption (does not use “cottage food”)	Registration, no fee, no expiration date	The sources read do not state a sales cap	A phrase such as “Made in a Home Kitchen,” in 1/16 inch type or larger

⚠️ The figures in this table are the ones written in the law, not current-year figures. California and Texas both direct that they be adjusted annually for inflation, and in this review (August 11, 2026) no agency-published adjusted figure could be read in a usable format. Treat them as the statutory number and confirm the current one with the state agency.

California — the statute names the foods, and it names two classes

Health and Safety Code §113758 defines the operation as an enterprise with no more than one full-time equivalent employee — not counting family or household members — within the registered or permitted area of the private home where the operator resides, and sets two classes: “A ‘Class A’ cottage food operation shall not have more than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) in verifiable gross annual sales. A ‘Class B’ cottage food operation shall not have more than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) in verifiable gross annual sales. The gross annual sales… shall be annually adjusted for inflation based on the California Consumer Price Index.”

The difference between classes is process and inspection. Section 114365 says a Class A operation “shall not be open for business unless it is registered with the local enforcement agency and has submitted a completed, self-certification checklist,” and that “a ‘Class A’ cottage food operation shall not be subject to initial or routine inspections.” A Class B operation, by contrast, “shall not be open for business unless it obtains a permit from the local enforcement agency,” and the agency “shall issue a permit number after an initial inspection.”

Two operational details from §114365(b) that save trips: a registration or permit “is nontransferable,” “shall be renewed annually,” and one county’s paperwork covers the whole state: “A registration or permit from one county shall be sufficient for a cottage food operation to operate throughout the state.”

CDPH also distinguishes the neighboring category and names the fallback when a business fits neither: “Cottage Food Operations (CFOs) are a low-risk operation based on a limited number of nonhazardous food products that can be stored. Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs) are allowed to produce potentially hazardous foods but must be serve the same day it is prepared without storage. Operations beyond the scope of a CFO or MEHKO are welcome to apply for a retail food permit from the local environmental health authority or a processed food registration from CDPH.” [sic — “must be serve” is CDPH’s typo.] The same document says one residence cannot hold both a CFO and a MEHKO, and that the limits cannot be aggregated across operations in the same residence.

Entity formation and California’s own filing costs are covered separately, in forming a business in California.

Texas — the statute forbids the health department from asking you for a permit

This is the most counterintuitive finding of the four states. Texas Health and Safety Code §437.0192 says a local government authority, including a local health department, may not “(1) regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation; or (2) require a cottage food production operation to obtain any type of license or permit or pay any fee” to produce or sell directly to a consumer. And it goes further: that authority also may not “employ or continue to employ a person who knowingly requires or attempts to require a cottage food production operation to obtain a license or permit in violation of Subsection (a)(2).” DSHS confirms it on its own page: “Health departments do not have regulatory authority to conduct inspections of a cottage food production operation or require any payment of fee…”

The §437.001(2-b) definition excludes by name: “(i) meat, meat products, poultry, or poultry products; (ii) seafood… (iii) ice or ice products, including shaved ice, ice cream, frozen custard, popsicles, and gelato; (iv) low-acid canned goods; (v) products containing cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol; or (vi) raw milk and raw milk products,” and sets “an annual gross income of $150,000 or less… as the department annually adjusts for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).”

What Texas does require:

Training. DSHS: “An individual who operates a cottage food production operation must successfully complete a basic food safety education or training program for food handlers accredited under Health and Safety Code, Chapter 438(D).”
Registration only for TCS foods. “Cottage food production operations (CFPO) that sell time and temperature control for safety (TCS) foods must register on the DSHS Online Licensing Registry.”
A label with mandatory text. Section 437.0193(b) requires the operation’s name and address plus the disclosure: “THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.” For TCS foods, in at least 12-point font: “SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep this food refrigerated or frozen until the food is prepared for consumption.”
An alternative to printing your home address. DSHS explains that “Instead of providing a physical home address on the label, operators may register on the DSHS Online Licensing Registry and place their registration number on the label.”

Entity formation costs and filings in Texas are covered separately, in forming a business in Texas.

Provenance note: the Texas statutes site now serves its text through JavaScript and returns no statutory text to a plain fetch. The Chapter 437 text quoted above was read from the Internet Archive capture of that same URL dated December 14, 2025, which already incorporates the S.B. 541 amendments effective September 1, 2025. The $150,000 figure and the nonprofit expansion are independently corroborated by the live DSHS page.

Florida — exempt from permitting, regulation reserved to the state, and no tax exemption

Florida Statutes §500.80(1)(a): the operation “must comply with the applicable requirements of this chapter but is exempt from the permitting requirements of s. 500.12 if the cottage food operation complies with this section and has annual gross sales of cottage food products that do not exceed $250,000.” The same paragraph makes clear the cap counts all cottage food sales “at any location, regardless of the types of products sold or the number of persons involved in the operation.”

Three more rules that define the business in Florida:

Internet and mail order yes, wholesale no. “A cottage food operation may sell, offer for sale, and accept payment for cottage food products over the Internet or by mail order… A cottage food operation may not sell, offer for sale, or deliver cottage food products at wholesale.”
Regulation is reserved to the state, not the cities. “The regulation of cottage food operations is preempted to the state. A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit a cottage food operation…” — though the operation must still meet the home-based business conditions of s. 559.955, which was not read in this review.
Inspection exists, but only on complaint. “Only upon receipt of a complaint, the department’s authorized officer or employee may enter and inspect the premises of a cottage food operation…”

And the Florida statute itself makes clear that being exempt from the health permit is not being exempt from tax: the exact text is quoted below, in the tax section.

The Florida label must carry the operation’s name and address, the product name, ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight, net weight or volume, allergen information as specified by federal labeling requirements, and the sentence “Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida’s food safety regulations” printed in at least 10-point type in a color that contrasts clearly with the background.

New York — the state does not use the words “cottage food”

This is why the page teaches a search strategy rather than a term. Someone in New York searching “cottage food New York” finds nothing official, because the state calls the category something else: the Home Processor Exemption. The Department of Agriculture and Markets describes it this way: “If you plan to make foods such as certain baked goods, jellies, or snack mixes, you may qualify for a Home Processor Exemption. This will allow you to prepare food in your home kitchen for wholesale or retail sale at agricultural farm venues. You will be exempt from Article 20-C licensing.”

The legal hook is not a cottage food statute either — it is a delegation. Agriculture and Markets Law §251-z-4 authorizes the commissioner to provide by regulation for exemption from licensing of small food processing establishments where doing so “would avoid unnecessary regulation and assist in the administration of this article without impairing its purposes.” The Department names the implementing rule: “The Home Processing licensing exemption is allowed under Agriculture & Markets Regulation- 1 CRR-NY 276.4.”

The concrete terms, in the Department’s words:

No fee, no expiration, but tied to the address. “Currently there is no fee associated with a New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Home Processor Registration.” … “The Home Processor Registration does not currently have an expiration date. If you move, you will need to reapply for the exemption, as it is location specific.”
Refrigerated products out, in-state only. “Any finished food product that requires refrigeration is prohibited from being produced as a Home Processor.” … “All items must be sold within New York State and must be pre-packaged in the home and properly labeled.” … “Yes. Internet sales are allowed within New York State only. Shipping products out of state is not permitted.” Packaging the product at a craft fair or farmers’ market is not permitted either — packaging happens in the home.
Label. Common or usual name of the product, ingredient list in order of predominance by weight, net quantity of contents, processor name and full address, and all allergens clearly identified, plus a phrase such as “Made in a Home Kitchen” in 1/16 inch type or larger.

Churros, tortillas and tamales: California names them in the statute

Section 114365.5 directs the state department to publish “a list of nonpotentially hazardous foods and their ethnic variations that are approved for sale by a cottage food operation,” and the statute itself enumerates categories. Two of them name Latin American food directly:

“Baked goods without cream, custard, or meat fillings, such as breads, biscuits, churros, cookies, pastries, and tortillas.”
“Fruit pies, fruit empanadas, and fruit tamales.”
“Herb blends and dried mole paste.”

Read the exact words, because this is where the common mistake lives. The list says fruit empanadas and fruit tamales, and baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings. A meat tamal is not on that list, and §114365.5 closes with: “A cottage food product shall not be potentially hazardous food, as defined in Section 113871.” That the statute names the churro and the tortilla does not mean it names everything cooked in a home kitchen.

How to find your own state’s rule

The other 46 states and the District of Columbia were not reviewed for this page, so nothing is asserted about them here. What can be said is where the answer lives, and that comes from the same federal sources:

Do not look for a federal agency. FDA points explicitly downward: “Local Health Department: Contact your local health department to determine if you will be required to meet state and local laws. These offices issue licenses or permits for food prepared and sold to consumers.”
Check two agencies, not one. Depending on the state, the category lives in the health department — CDPH in California, DSHS in Texas — or in the agriculture department, as with New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets. Start at the state’s official site, not a blog.
Do not search only for “cottage food.” New York shows why: its category is called the Home Processor Exemption. Also try “home processor,” “home-based food,” and “home food business” together with the state name.
Expect the level of the rule to change. The Food Code itself explains it is adopted by state statute, by agency regulation, or by local ordinance — so in some places the last word belongs to the county or the city.

Taxes and identifiers: what you will actually be asked for

Being exempt from a health permit is not an exemption from tax, and Florida says so inside the same statute: “This section does not exempt a cottage food operation from any state or federal tax law, rule, regulation, or certificate that applies to all cottage food operations.”

ITIN. The IRS: “If you’re a resident alien, nonresident alien or their spouse or dependent, you can apply for an ITIN regardless of immigration status.” And what an ITIN does not do, in the IRS’s own words: it does not qualify you for Social Security benefits or the Earned Income Tax Credit, does not “Provide or change immigration status,” does not “Authorize you to work legally in the U.S.,” and does not “Serve as identification outside the federal tax system.” The full process is at ITIN.
Business EIN. The IRS asks for “the name and taxpayer ID number (Social Security number or individual tax ID number) of your responsible party,” and that responsible party “must be a person, not an entity.” How that works with an ITIN: EIN for your business with an ITIN.
Texas sales tax permit. The Comptroller publishes the alternate route on its own page: “You cannot use this online application if you are a sole owner, partner, officer or director and do not have a social security number. You will need to apply using form AP-201, Texas Application (PDF). Email the application to sales.applications@cpa.texas.gov or fax the application to 512-936-0010.” In other words: the missing SSN blocks the online form, not the permit. The same page states applicants “must be at least 18 years of age.”
California seller’s permit. CDTFA Publication 73 (January 2026 edition) lists information you “may need” before starting, and includes among acceptable identification: “Driver’s license or state identification number. Other forms of acceptable identifications may include but are not limited to U.S. passport, U.S. military ID, consular identification card, or visa (E-2).” The consular identification card is named by the agency itself.
What gets filed at the end of the year. Income from a home food business is reported as self-employment income; Schedule C, self-employment tax and estimated payments are covered in self-employment taxes with an ITIN.

Immigration status: a measurement of silence, not a permission

We searched the terms citizen, immigration status, lawful presence, lawfully present, social security number, alien and residency across four complete texts: the entire Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 437, the full text of Fla. Stat. §500.80, the complete New York Department of Agriculture and Markets Home Processing page including its FAQ, and the entire California Retail Food Code Chapter 11.5 on Cottage Food Operations (§§114365–114365.6) plus §113758.

Result: zero matches in all four. None of the four verified states mentions immigration status, citizenship, or a Social Security number in the law that governs home-made food (measured August 11, 2026).

That does not mean the law says yes. It means the law does not address the subject. That distinction is the most important thing on this page: reading permission into the silence of a legal text is exactly how expensive errors spread in this area.

There is also a federal statute that touches the question without resolving it here. 8 U.S.C. §1621(a) provides that a person who is not a qualified alien, a nonimmigrant, or a person paroled into the United States for less than one year “is not eligible for any State or local public benefit,” and §1621(c)(1)(A) defines that term to include “any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government.” Section 1621(d) adds that a state may open that eligibility, but “only through the enactment of a State law after August 22, 1996, which affirmatively provides for such eligibility.”

No source located in this review says whether a cottage food registration or permit is a “commercial license” within that definition. Neither California, Texas, Florida nor New York cites §1621 in its cottage food provisions, and §1621 does not name food-safety registrations. That framework is settled and documented for professional and occupational licenses — nursing, cosmetology, the trades — and we cover it state by state in professional licenses regardless of immigration status. Home food is a different question, and the sources do not answer it.

What the sources do NOT say

They do not say whether a cottage food registration counts as a “commercial license” under 8 U.S.C. §1621. It is unresolved, and it is written here as unresolved.
None of the state laws read enumerates what identification a registrant must present. California requires registration with the local enforcement agency and a self-certification checklist, but does not list identity documents. Counties set those, and county-level requirements were not researched.
CDTFA Publication 73 does not say what happens if an applicant has no SSN. It lists an SSN as one item of information you “may need” and offers other acceptable identifications, but it does not say whether the field is mandatory or how a person without one proceeds. Texas publishes an explicit alternate route; California does not, in the source read, and that gap must not be filled by analogy.
Florida and New York identifier requirements for tax registration were not researched. They are not stated here.
California’s label requirements were not read in this review. California’s law does set which foods are approved and how the operation registers, but the exact label contents were not verified, which is why the table leaves that cell blank rather than guessing.
No state cottage food law read here resolves whether a landlord, HOA, or local zoning code permits the business. Florida points to a separate home-based business statute that was not read; New York says only to consult local zoning officials before starting.
Current-year inflation-adjusted figures could not be located for California or Texas. The statutes direct the adjustment; the CDPH page returns its body content through JavaScript and could not be read, and DSHS states $150,000 without naming an adjusted figure. That is why the table above says “figure written in the law” and not “current figure.”
The other 46 states and the District of Columbia were not reviewed. This page does not characterize them.
Food trucks are a different regulatory category and were not researched. FDA describes them as retail food establishments regulated by state and local government — enough to say a food truck is not a cottage food operation, and nothing more.

Last verified: 2026-08-11. General information, not legal advice. Determining whether a cottage food registration or permit counts as a commercial license under 8 U.S.C. §1621 for a particular person is the work of a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ/BIA-accredited representative; county health and zoning requirements are confirmed with the local agency.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a federal permit for selling food made at home?

No. Under 21 CFR §1.227, ‘The private residence of an individual is not a facility’, and FDA says the same thing in plain language to home food businesses: ‘a private residence is not a facility and as a result, is not required to register with FDA’. FDA’s own Food Code — the document that states copy — ‘is neither federal law nor federal regulation and is not preemptive’. FDA points the question downward: ‘Local Health Department: Contact your local health department… These offices issue licenses or permits for food prepared and sold to consumers.’ (Sources read August 11, 2026.)

What is a cottage food law?

It is a state law that opens an exception to a rule that otherwise prohibits the activity. FDA’s model Food Code, §6-202.111, says: ‘A private home, a room used as living or sleeping quarters, or an area directly opening into a room used as living or sleeping quarters may not be used for conducting FOOD ESTABLISHMENT operations.’ State cottage food laws are the carve-out from that baseline, and the term cottage food appears nowhere in the Food Code. Every state writes it differently, and some do not use the phrase at all.

Which foods are in and which are out?

The dividing line in almost every one of these laws is the same: food that does not require time/temperature control for safety (TCS). The Food Code defines TCS as ‘a FOOD that requires time/temperature control for safety (TCS) to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation’. Texas writes it as a list of exclusions — meat and poultry, seafood and fish, ice and frozen desserts, low-acid canned goods, CBD or THC products, and raw milk. New York compresses it into one sentence: ‘Any finished food product that requires refrigeration is prohibited from being produced as a Home Processor.’

Can tamales, tortillas, churros or empanadas be sold under these laws?

It depends on the state and on the filling. California names them in the statute: the list in §114365.5 includes ‘breads, biscuits, churros, cookies, pastries, and tortillas’ and ‘Fruit pies, fruit empanadas, and fruit tamales’, and the law orders a list of nonhazardous foods ‘and their ethnic variations’. Read the exact words: fruit empanadas and fruit tamales, and baked goods ‘without cream, custard, or meat fillings’. A meat tamal is not on that list.

Is a permit required, or just a registration?

It varies enormously by state. In Texas the statute forbids the local health department from requiring one: it may not ‘require a cottage food production operation to obtain any type of license or permit or pay any fee’. In Florida the operation is ’exempt from the permitting requirements of s. 500.12’ if it complies with the section and stays under the sales cap. In California a Class A operation registers and gets no routine inspections, while a Class B operation needs a permit and an initial inspection. In New York it is a registration with no fee and no expiration date.

Do these laws ask about immigration status?

In the four states verified — California, Texas, Florida and New York — the governing text for home-made food does not mention immigration status, citizenship, or a Social Security number. That is a measurement, not a permission: it means the law does not address the subject, not that it says yes. Separately, a federal statute, 8 U.S.C. §1621, classifies ‘professional license, or commercial license’ as a restricted public benefit, and no source located resolves whether a cottage food registration falls inside that category.

Does a sales tax permit require an SSN?

In Texas the Comptroller publishes the paper alternative: ‘You cannot use this online application if you are a sole owner, partner, officer or director and do not have a social security number. You will need to apply using form AP-201, Texas Application (PDF).’ The missing SSN blocks the online form, not the permit. In California, CDTFA Publication 73 lists among acceptable identification ‘U.S. passport, U.S. military ID, consular identification card, or visa (E-2)’, but it does not say what happens when there is no SSN. Florida and New York were not verified in this review.

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General information, not legal advice. MigrantUSA is an independent publisher and is not a law firm; using this site does not create an attorney-client relationship, and this content is not a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney about your specific situation. US federal, state, and local government procedures, fees, and forms change. Always verify current details directly with the relevant agency before acting. For immigration, tax, or other legal matters specific to your situation, consult a licensed attorney or BIA-accredited representative.