How to label homemade food for sale: a cottage food labeling guide

Your label is a legal document, not just a sticker

When you sell food you made at home, the label is one of the few things a regulator can check at a glance, and it's where a lot of otherwise careful vendors slip up. A missing allergen line or net weight can mean a warning, or worse if someone gets sick. The good news is that a compliant label is simple once you know the parts, and you only have to set it up once.

This guide pairs with "Cottage food laws 101," which covers what you're allowed to sell. This one covers how to label it.

What most labels must include

Cottage food labeling rules vary by state, but the common required elements are remarkably consistent. Most states want your product name, your business name and address, a full ingredient list, allergen information, the net weight or quantity, and a statement that the food was made in a home kitchen. Many also want the ingredients listed in a specific order.

Treat that as your checklist, then confirm the exact wording your state requires, since the details and order are set locally. Build one clean template with all of these and reuse it across your products.

The home-kitchen disclosure statement

The piece that's unique to cottage food is the disclosure, a short line telling buyers the food was made in a home kitchen that isn't subject to routine state inspection. It exists so customers know what they're buying, and most states require very specific wording for it.

Do not paraphrase this one. Copy the exact sentence your state publishes, because a close-but-wrong version can still count as non-compliant. Your state Department of Agriculture or Health page will give you the language to use.

Listing ingredients and allergens correctly

List every ingredient, and in most states list them in descending order by weight, the ingredient there's most of comes first. If an ingredient is itself a mix, like chocolate chips, many rules want its sub-ingredients spelled out in parentheses. Don't round off or simplify the list to look cleaner.

Allergens are the part to never get wrong. The major food allergens, things like milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and sesame, must be clearly declared when present. A clear "Contains" statement is the standard way to do it. When in doubt, over-disclose, since this is a safety line, not a style choice.

Net weight and how to state it

Most labels need the net quantity of what's inside, the weight or count of the food itself, not including the packaging. Weight is usually given in both US and metric units. If you sell by count, like a half dozen cookies, state the count clearly.

If you ever sell food by weight at the booth, note that's a separate world with its own scale and weights-and-measures rules, covered in "Do you need a license to sell at a farmers market?" Packaged net weight on the label and selling-by-the-pound at the table are two different requirements.

Where the exact rules come from

The authority for all of this is your state, and sometimes your county, not a blog or a Facebook group. Search for "[your state] cottage food labeling" and look for the official Department of Agriculture or Department of Health page. That's the source of truth, and if anything is ambiguous, call them, since inspectors would rather answer a labeling question than write you up over it.

Rules also change, so re-check before each season rather than trusting a label you printed two years ago.

Make it readable and on-brand

A compliant label can still look good. Keep the required text legible, group it cleanly on one panel, and give your product name and business name room to carry your brand. A consistent label design week to week helps regulars recognize you on sight, which ties into "Naming and branding your farmers market business."

Print on labels that survive a cooler and a humid morning without smearing or peeling. A label that falls off in someone's bag isn't doing either of its jobs.

This is educational information, not legal advice. Always confirm with your state and local authorities before selling.