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Arkansas 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, with no license and no inspection. The Arkansas Food Freedom Act — Act 1040 of 2021 — replaced the state's old cottage food law, which had allowed only a few specific products from a kitchen certified and inspected by the Department of Health. The Act covers homemade food and drink that does not need time or temperature control to stay safe.

Arkansas is also open about how you sell: from your home, online, delivered in person or through the mail, and through a third-party vendor such as a shop or grocery store. What it will not allow is anything with meat, poultry or seafood in it, or anything that has to live in the fridge.

What you can make — and the soup problem

The test is whether the food is non-TCS: food that does not need time or temperature control for safety, because harmful bacteria do not grow easily on it. People in the food industry call these shelf-stable products. Baked goods, candies, jams and jellies all qualify.

So do pickles, some salsas and sauces, and acidified or fermented beverages — but only "depending on their acidity levels", meaning a pH of 4.6 or below. More on how you prove that below.

What is prohibited is set by Ark. Code § 20-57-504: meat, poultry, seafood, and time/temperature control for safety food products. TCS covers more than people expect — raw or heat-treated animal food, heat-treated plant foods, raw seed sprouts, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes or mixtures of tomatoes, and garlic-in-oil mixtures.

The extension fact sheet gives the consequence plainly: you cannot sell chicken noodle or vegetable soup. That is the rule that catches people, because a soup feels homely rather than hazardous.

One nice distinction worth knowing: harvested leafy greens may be sold. It is "cut leafy greens" that are out, meaning leaves that have been cut, shredded, sliced, chopped or torn. UA Division of Agriculture, FSPPC318, May 2026

If you make pickles, you have to prove the acid

An acidified vegetable product only qualifies as non-TCS if its pH is 4.6 or less, and Arkansas gives you three ways to establish that. You must do one of them:

And if you sell acidified vegetables you must label each batch and keep records for every group made at the same time: the batch number and date prepared, the recipe used, the source of the recipe, and the pH testing results.

That record-keeping is the real cost of selling pickles in Arkansas. It is not onerous, but it is a habit you have to start on day one rather than reconstruct later.

Where you may sell — including by mail and across state lines

Annual limit
None stated. The sources we read set no cap on sales under the Act.
License, permit, inspection
None.
Where you may make it
The producer's private residence — which "can include a farm or ranch where the producer lives".
Direct and online
Yes. From your home and through online platforms.
Delivery and mail
Yes — "Producers can deliver the product to the person directly or through the mail."
Shops
Yes, through a third-party vendor such as a retail shop or grocery store. A seller operating in a retail space that also sells food from a licensed kitchen must keep your homemade items separate from those.
Restaurants
No, not for the restaurant to use. You may sell to retail stores to resell, and "This could be a grocery store or a restaurant with a retail sales area".
Other states
Allowed, if you comply with federal law. "Once food products cross state lines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has oversight."

That out-of-state permission is unusual and worth reading carefully. Most states on this site stop at their own border — Ohio, Maryland, Minnesota and New Mexico all do. Arkansas does not forbid it, but it hands you the federal rulebook along with the permission, and it is your job to satisfy it.

What has to be on the label

Every product carries the date it was made, the common name of the food or drink, the ingredients, your name, address and phone number, and this statement:

This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.

You can keep your home address off the package. Instead of your name, address and phone, you may obtain an identification number from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. The fact sheet explains why it exists: "The identification number allows the product to be traced back to the producer if there is an issue."

How you attach all that depends on how you sell:

No inspection — and no liability protection either

There is no license, no permit and no kitchen inspection under the Act. What there is instead is an informed end consumer: the last person to buy the product, who does not resell it, and "who has been informed that the product is not regulated, inspected, certified or made in a facility that is state licensed, permitted, inspected or regulated". The label is how you inform them.

One sentence from the fact sheet deserves its own line, because nobody enjoys reading it: "The Arkansas Food Freedom Act does not provide the manufacturer with liability protection, so anyone who is injured by consuming the product can still sue the person who made the food item."

Complaints about a food product go to the Arkansas Department of Health, and your local health department unit is the place to ask about a specific item.

Local rules are a separate question

The fact sheet is blunt about a distinction people miss: "Being exempt from health department permits is not the same thing as being exempt from local business permits. Check with your local city or county clerk on any permitting or licensing requirements."

Its own example is Little Rock, which exempts farmers market vendors from needing a business license, requires one for vendors selling products grown by other farmers away from a market, and requires people selling cakes from home to have a business license — which in turn may trigger city zoning requirements.

Farmers markets may also set their own rules about how vendors communicate whether their items were made in inspected or uninspected kitchens.

Sales tax

No license is not no tax. Whether what you sell is taxable, and whether you need to register to collect, belongs to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, and we are not going to print a rate that could change.

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 Arkansas?

No. The Arkansas Food Freedom Act, Act 1040 of 2021, exempts producers of homemade non-TCS food and drink from state licensing, certification, inspection and packaging requirements, provided the required consumer disclosures are made. It replaced the older cottage food law, which had required a kitchen certified and inspected by the Department of Health.

How much can I sell in a year in Arkansas?

The sources we read state no annual cap on sales under the Food Freedom Act. We are reporting an absence rather than a permission — if you are approaching a scale where it matters, ask your local health department unit or the Department of Health before you assume.

Can I sell soup?

No. Ark. Code § 20-57-504 prohibits time/temperature control for safety food products, and the extension fact sheet gives chicken noodle and vegetable soup as its own example. TCS also sweeps in cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes and garlic-in-oil mixtures, so a product can be caught by one ingredient. Harvested leafy greens are fine — it is cut leafy greens that are out.

Can I ship my products or sell them online?

Yes to both. You may sell from your home and through online platforms, and deliver to the customer directly or through the mail. You may also sell out of state if you comply with all applicable federal laws — once products cross state lines the FDA has oversight, and it is up to you to make sure the sale does not violate federal law or the other state's law.

Can a shop or a restaurant sell my food?

A retail shop or grocery store may, as a third-party vendor. If that seller also sells food made in a licensed food service establishment, your homemade items have to be kept separate from those. A restaurant may not take your food to use, but you may sell to a restaurant that has a retail sales area, for it to resell.

What do I have to do if I make pickles?

Establish the acidity, and keep records. The product must have a pH of 4.6 or less, proved one of three ways: a recipe from a source approved by the Arkansas Department of Health, a recipe tested by a certified laboratory, or testing the pH of each batch yourself. You must also label each batch and record the batch number and date prepared, the recipe used, the source of the recipe and the pH results.

Does my home address have to be on the label?

Not necessarily. You may list your name, address and phone number, or instead obtain an identification number from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and use that. It exists so the product can be traced back to you if there is a problem. The label also carries the date made, the common name, the ingredients, and the statement that the product was produced in a private residence exempt from state licensing and inspection and may contain allergens.

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