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Arizona cottage food law: selling food from home

General information, not legal advice. Rules change, and counties add their own. Check with your state and county before you start selling.

"Cottage food" is the term most states use for food made in a home kitchen and sold directly to customers. What it covers, and whether your state uses the phrase at all, differs by state.

The short answer

Yes, and Arizona lets you make more than almost any other state. Register as a cottage food preparer with the Department of Health Services, keep an accredited food handler certificate active, and there is no cap on what you can sell — the statute allows sales "to the maximum extent allowed by federal law".

Arizona even permits TCS foods — the ones that need time and temperature control for safety, which have to be kept hot or cold — and hardly any state does. The trade is reach. You may only offer cottage foods for sale and delivery in Arizona, and a TCS product has to go hand to hand — not through a third-party delivery platform, to no more than one destination, in no more than two hours including traffic.

What you can and cannot sell

Arizona works from a prohibited list, and the list is short. You may not sell:

Meat and poultry are barred except as A.R.S. § 36-931(1)(b) permits. Two more things are out: using your home kitchen as a commissary for a mobile food unit, and selling a cottage food to be used as an ingredient in food sold at a permitted retail establishment.

And then the unusual part. Temperature-controlled foods — TCS — are allowed in Arizona. That opens up what most states close: items that need refrigeration. The conditions are strict, and they are about delivery rather than about the recipe:

Two hours including traffic is a real constraint in Phoenix or Tucson, and it is the rule that decides whether a refrigerated product is a business or a hobby. A.A.C. R9-8-101.02(D)(4)

Registration: ADHS, renewed every three years

What you need
Registration as a cottage food preparer with the Arizona Department of Health Services, through the Department’s online registry. A.A.C. R9-8-101.02
How often
Renew every three years — not annually, which is unusually light. Changes to your details go to ADHS within 30 days.
Fee
The rule sets none, and we did not find one stated on an ADHS page. Rather than print a number we cannot source, ask ADHS when you register.
Food handler certificate
From an accredited program, and kept active.

Both halves have to be live at once. Without an active food handler certificate and a current registration, the exemption from the rest of Arizona’s food rules does not apply to you — which means an expired card does not just earn a warning, it removes the legal basis you are selling on. Diary it.

How much can you sell, and where

Annual limit
None. The statute sets no numeric limit; preparers may sell "to the maximum extent allowed by federal law". A.R.S. § 36-932
Where
"Shall only offer cottage FOODS for sale and delivery in Arizona." No out-of-state sales, no out-of-state delivery.
Non-TCS products
Sold and delivered directly, or through a third-party delivery platform that agrees to comply with A.R.S. § 36-932(E)(2).
TCS products
In person only. No third-party platform, one destination, two hours.
Through a shop
Allowed via a third-party vendor, if your products sit in a separate section or display case with a sign saying they are homemade and exempt from state licensing and inspection.
Online
Allowed. An online listing must carry a prominent notice with the same core label information. § 36-932(B)
Storage
Products and equipment may not be stored outside the home — not the shed, not the garage. § 36-932(D)(2)

So: no ceiling on how much, a hard border on where. An order page with pickup and your own local delivery fits Arizona well — and if you are selling anything refrigerated, it has to be your hands that carry it.

What has to be on the label — and in your online listing

Food is prepared and packaged at home, in packaging that is clean, fully encloses the product, and carries a tamper-evident seal. The label has to be legible and carry:

This product was produced in a home kitchen that may come in contact with common FOOD allergens and pet allergens and is not subject to public health inspection

To obtain additional information about cottage foods or to report a foodborne illness, go to azdhs.gov/Cottagefood

If the kitchen is in a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, the label says that too.

The same core information has to appear in your online listing, as a prominent notice — not only on the package. Arizona is one of the states where what your order page shows is part of the rule, not just good practice. § 36-932(B)

Food handler training

A food handler training course from an accredited program, and the certificate must be kept active. Arizona is specific that the exemption depends on it: an active certificate and a current registration together are what put you outside the rest of the food rules.

That makes renewal a business task, not an administrative one. Put both dates — the certificate and the three-year registration — somewhere you will actually see them.

Is your kitchen inspected?

No. The label statement says it outright: the product "is not subject to public health inspection". That is the deal Arizona offers — register, train, label honestly, and nobody comes to look at your kitchen.

It is also why the label and the online notice carry so much weight here. With no inspection in the system, the disclosure is the consumer protection, which is why the rule is specific about what it says and where it appears. A.A.C. R9-8-101.02(C)(3)–(4)

Sales tax

Arizona’s transaction privilege tax is its own subject, and it is for the Arizona Department of Revenue rather than for a guide like this one. We are not going to print a rate or a threshold we cannot link to — ask them, or ask an accountant, before your first sale.

Official sources

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Every number on this page is linked to the official page it comes from.

Questions people actually ask

Do I need a license to sell food from home in Arizona?

Not a license — a registration. You register as a cottage food preparer with the Arizona Department of Health Services through its online registry, renew every three years, and keep an accredited food handler certificate active. Both the registration and the certificate have to be current, because together they are what exempts you from the rest of the state food rules.

How much can I sell in a year in Arizona?

There is no limit. A.R.S. § 36-932 sets no numeric cap — preparers may sell to the maximum extent allowed by federal law. Of the states covered here, Georgia, New York, Illinois and Arizona set no cap at all.

Can I sell food that needs refrigeration in Arizona?

Yes, and almost no other state allows it. Temperature-controlled (TCS) foods are permitted if you deliver them in person — not through a third-party delivery platform — keep them at the right temperature, travel to no more than one destination for no longer than two hours including traffic, and sell to the public only at that destination.

Can I use DoorDash or Uber Eats for my cottage food?

For non-TCS products, yes, provided the platform agrees to comply with A.R.S. § 36-932(E)(2). For anything temperature-controlled, no: a TCS cottage food may not be delivered through a third-party delivery platform at all. It has to be your own delivery.

Can I ship outside Arizona?

No. The rule says you shall only offer cottage foods for sale and delivery in Arizona. That covers both halves — you cannot sell out of state and you cannot deliver out of state.

What has to go on my online listing?

A prominent notice carrying the same core information as the label: your name and registration number, the ingredients, the date prepared, and the two required statements about the home kitchen and about reporting a foodborne illness. In Arizona what your order page shows is part of the rule, not just good practice.

Can a local shop sell my products?

Yes, through a third-party vendor, as long as your products are in a separate section or display case with a sign stating they are homemade and exempt from state licensing and inspection. What you cannot do is sell a cottage food to be used as an ingredient in food sold at a permitted retail establishment.

Other states

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