Guides
How US Farmers Market Vendors Handle Cottage Food Labeling by State
A state-by-state walkthrough of cottage food label rules for US farmers market vendors, plus how Canada's bilingual labelling regime compares.
What to take away
- Cottage food labelling is state law. No federal exemption covers a home kitchen.
- Most states require five itemsproduct name, producer name and address, ingredients, net weight, and a home kitchen statement.
- Allergen rules follow the nine federal major allergens, but states differ on whether you print a full ingredient list or only the allergen names.
- A few states, including California and Texas, require an exact disclaimer sentence you cannot paraphrase.
- Canadian labels add bilingual text, net quantity, priority allergens, and often a Nutrition Facts table.
Where the cottage food label rules come from
Cottage food statutes are written in state capitals, not Washington. The FDA regulates packaged food sold across state lines, and a home kitchen selling direct to a shopper at a weekly market generally sits outside that framework.
Enforcement lands with a state agriculture department, a state health department, or a county health office depending on the state. The Iowa and Vermont programs look nothing alike on paper.
Start with your own state's official site. The IRS keeps a directory of state government websites that leads to each agriculture department and its cottage food page. (IRS state directory)
What most state labels must carry
Most cottage food states ask for the same core block of text. A basic label usually includes:
- The name of the product
- Your business name and address
- Ingredients in descending order by weight
- Net weight or net quantity
- A statement that the food was made in a home kitchen
Some states add a registration number, a permit class letter, or the county where the food was made. Others require the label to sit on the package, not on a card at the table.
A state-by-state look at required wording
| State | What the label must carry beyond the basics |
|---|---|
| California | "Made in a Home Kitchen" plus the county and permit class |
| Texas | A statement that the food is made in a home kitchen and not inspected by the state health department |
| Florida | A statement that the product is made in a cottage food operation outside state food safety rules |
| Michigan | Product name, ingredients, net weight, business address, and allergen declaration |
| Ohio | A statement that the product is home produced |
| Wyoming | Fewer label mandates and a wider list of allowed foods |
Two patterns stand out. States with older cottage food laws, such as California and Texas, name the exact sentence. States with newer laws describe the content and leave the wording to the vendor.
State label wording requirements
Older laws
- Example states
- California, Texas
- Wording
- Exact sentence named
- Vendor choice
- None
- Label placement
- On package
Newer laws
- Example states
- Wyoming, others
- Wording
- Content described
- Vendor choice
- Vendor writes it
- Label placement
- Varies
Example: two disclaimer lines
A California Class A vendor selling a loaf of banana bread must print "Made in a Home Kitchen" with the county of production. A Texas cottage food operation must print the line about no inspection by the Department of State Health Services.
Neither sentence can be shortened or reworded. Print the statute's language exactly.
Allergen labeling for homemade food
Federal law names nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Sesame joined the list in 2023 through the FASTER Act.
Most cottage food states require a declaration when an allergen appears in the product. Some require a full ingredient list instead, which reveals the allergen anyway.
Cross-contact is the harder question. A home kitchen that also handles peanut butter may need a cross-contact note in some states, while others say nothing.
The wider principles behind ingredient and allergen disclosure appear in this background on food labelling.
Where Canadian labels diverge
Canada treats prepackaged food differently. Health Canada's food labelling portal lists the federal requirements, and bilingual text is one of them. (Health Canada labelling portal)
A vendor at a Canadian market selling prepackaged jam may need English and French text, a net quantity declaration, a Nutrition Facts table, and priority allergen statements. A US cottage food label needs none of that.
A vendor weighing both countries can compare the two systems in our guide to Canadian labelling rules.
Provincial rules also differ from anything in the United States. A vendor who wants to see how provinces support small producers should read what US vendors can learn from Canadian farmers market regulations.
Winter markets and sourcing change the label
Vendors who keep selling in January lean on shelf-stable cottage goods such as jams, breads, and granola. Our winter market strategies piece covers storage crops and indoor venues.
Sourcing lands on the label too. A vendor choosing between a nearby orchard and a wholesale case should read our piece on sourcing from local farms versus wholesalers.
