Guides
Cottage food rules for meal prep business operations
Cottage food rules shape meal prep business operations, but most exemptions exclude refrigerated meals. This overview highlights five state examples.
What to take away
- For meal prep business operations, cottage food lists cover shelf-stable, low-risk foods, so a refrigerated meal prep box sits outside the exemption in most states.
- Caps are written as gross annual sales, and the five states tabled below run from $25,000 to $50,000.
- Direct sales to the consumer are the default channel. A gym, grocer or cafe that resells your meals moves you into a permitted kitchen.
- Registration sits with a state agriculture office, except in California, where the county environmental health department issues the permit.
- Labels carry the product name, ingredients by weight, net quantity, producer name and address, and a home kitchen statement.
The refrigerated box under cottage rules
Usually no. Cottage laws permit baked goods, jams, dry mixes and candy, all of which hold at room temperature.
Cooked chicken, rice bowls and soups need time and temperature control. Most statutes leave that category out, and it is the whole product for a subscription operator.
States build on the FDA Food Code, which sets cooling and holding standards a home kitchen cannot document (Food Code 2022 | FDA).
The test is narrow. Is your product on the permitted list, is your channel allowed, and have you filed what your state requires? The permits and rules behind a legal meal prep kitchen pick up where the exemption stops.
What five state statutes say
| State | Statute | Gross annual sales cap | Channel allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 114365 to 114365.6 | $50,000 | Class A direct; Class B adds retail or restaurant sales |
| Texas | Tex. Health & Safety Code ch. 437 | $50,000 | Home, farmers market, farm stand, delivery to the consumer |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 500.80 | $50,000 | Direct to consumer |
| New York | N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 20-C | $50,000 | Direct to consumer |
| Washington | RCW 69.22 | $25,000 | Direct to consumer |
Caps measure gross sales, so a $50,000 ceiling arrives well before $50,000 of profit. Confirm the figure on the statute as amended, because one legislative session can move it.
California permit classes and the sales cap
The Homemade Food Act created the cottage route in 2012 with a $35,000 cap. The current figure is $50,000, in force since 2020. Class A sells to consumers, while Class B adds indirect sales through a retail shop or restaurant.
[figure 2]
California Class A vs Class B
Class A
- Sales channel
- Direct to consumer
- Permit issuer
- County environmental health
- Refrigerated meal prep
- Not allowed
- Label disclaimer
- Required
- Annual sales cap
- Applies
Class B
- Sales channel
- Adds retail and restaurant
- Permit issuer
- County environmental health
- Refrigerated meal prep
- Not allowed
- Label disclaimer
- Required
- Annual sales cap
- Applies
Both classes handle non-potentially hazardous foods only: baked goods, jams, jellies, preserves and dry mixes.
Permits come from the county environmental health department where you cook. Operators also complete a food processor course and keep records. The state Department of Public Health publishes the cap and the permitted food list.
The label carries the product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight or count, the business name and address, and a statement that the food was made in a home kitchen not inspected by the health department.
Texas Chapter 437 and direct sales
Texas lets a home operator sell listed foods straight to consumers without a health permit. Sales happen at home, at a farmers market, at a farm stand or by delivery to the buyer.
The list covers baked goods, candy, coated and uncoated nuts, fruit butters, jams, jellies, dried fruit and dry mixes. Popcorn and pickles appear on the list too.
HB 970, the 2013 bill that created the exemption, set the cap at $50,000. A basic food safety course is required, and the certificate stays on file. The label names the operation and its physical address.
No reseller can be the buyer. Once a gym, cafe or grocer buys your meals to sell on, local health department permitting applies. That shift is covered in Texas cottage food law at scale.
Registration and labeling duties
Where registration exists, it sits with a state agriculture office. New York runs the 20-C home processor exemption through the Department of Agriculture and Markets. Washington issues cottage food permits through the State Department of Agriculture. Florida places its rules with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
California is the exception. The county environmental health department issues the permit, and no statewide registry exists.
[figure 5]
Cottage label and registry duties
- Register with state department of agriculture
- Name the food on the label
- List ingredients by weight
- Give net quantity
- Identify the producer
- Add home kitchen disclaimer
A cottage label carries five items in most states:
- Product name
- Ingredients in descending order by weight
- Net quantity
- Producer name and address
- A home kitchen statement where the state requires one
Once you sell from a permitted facility, federal labeling applies, including nutrition labeling where the FDA requires it (Nutrition, Food Labeling, and Critical Foods | FDA).
How to find your cap and permitted food list
- Search "[your state] cottage food law" and open the statute, not a summary.
- Read the definition of a cottage food operation and the permitted food list.
- Find the gross annual sales cap and note the year that section was last amended.
- Identify the issuing officecounty environmental health, state agriculture, or both.
- Download the registration form and the label requirements page.
- Write the answers down before you print a label.
Two markets with tighter local limits are compared side by side in Seattle and Denver cottage food rules.
When the home kitchen stops working
Four triggers end the exemption.
- Menuyour list moves to cooked, chilled entrees.
- Channela business buys from you to resell or serve.
- Volumegross sales pass the state cap.
- Capacitya home refrigerator, oven and sink cannot carry a weekly run.
Caps are gross sales ceilings, not profit ceilings. At $25 a box, a $50,000 cap arrives at 2,000 boxes.
A permitted facility brings the FSMA preventive controls rule into play, which requires a written food safety plan with time and temperature controls (FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Food). Sequence the filings with a compliance checklist for new owners before the cap forces the move.
