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Delaware 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, but Delaware asks more of you than most states, and one of its rules is unlike any other in this guide. You register with the Division of Public Health, complete a food safety course and pass a home kitchen inspection.

Then your permit lists what you may make. The regulation says "a home operation shall only produce those specific food products listed on their registration permit." Adding a new product is a conversation with the Division, not a decision you make on a Saturday. Sales are direct to the consumer inside Delaware, with no retailer or other intermediary.

Registration, the course and the inspection

Delaware calls the business a Cottage Food Establishment and registers it with the Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health. The regulations were amended and the changes took effect 11 May 2026.

Registration fee
$30 per fiscal year, the year ending 31 March.
Food safety course
Required, from a state-approved provider, before registering.
Home kitchen inspection
Required as part of registration.
On site
The regulation requires at least one employee on site to have shown food safety proficiency.
Your menu
Listed on the permit.

The 31 March fiscal year is the date to put in your calendar. Like Kentucky and Minnesota, Delaware renews on a fixed date rather than on the anniversary of your registration, so registering in February buys you a very short first year.

Delaware Register of Regulations, May 2026 final

Your permit is your menu

This is the rule worth reading twice, because no other state in this guide works this way:

"A home operation shall only produce those specific food products listed on their registration permit."

Elsewhere a cottage food law gives you a category — shelf-stable food, or non-TCS food — and leaves you to decide what fits inside it. Delaware binds you to a list you filed. That has one clear advantage and one clear cost.

The advantage: you never have to guess whether a product qualifies. If it is on the permit, it is allowed; the Division already decided.

The cost: a new product line means updating your registration first. If you are the kind of baker who adds a seasonal item on a whim, build that conversation into your plan.

Where you may sell — direct only

The regulation defines a direct sale as moving products only within Delaware, straight to the consumer, without a retailer or other intermediary. Farmers markets are an approved venue.

So the shop route is closed. That puts Delaware with Alabama, New Jersey and Washington rather than with Ohio, Tennessee or Utah, where a store may stock you.

On a sales cap and on online selling, we are not printing an answer. Guides split between "no cap, removed in December 2023" and an older $25,000 figure, and between "online sales not allowed" and silence. Neither is confirmed from the regulation we read. Both are worth asking the Division of Public Health when you register — and you are registering anyway, so it costs you one question each.

We would rather leave two gaps than print a cap you might plan a year around.

What has to be on the label

The regulation prescribes the sentence, and it is specific to Delaware's own term for the business:

This food is made in a Cottage Food Establishment and is NOT subject to routine Government Food Safety Inspections

Note what it actually says — not "not inspected", but not subject to routine inspections. That is a more precise claim than most states make, and it is accurate: your kitchen is inspected once, at registration. The word "routine" is doing real work.

Guides add that labels carry your town or city and a phone number or email, and that the statement must be at least 10-point in contrasting type. We have not confirmed the type size from the regulation, so treat the size as worth checking rather than as settled.

Sales tax and local rules

Delaware has no statewide sales tax, which removes a step that most states in this guide require. Your own tax position is still a question for the Division of Revenue and your accountant.

Local rules are separate from the state registration. Your town or county may have zoning rules about operating a business from a residence — ask before you start, not after your inspection.

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 Delaware?

You need to register. Delaware calls the business a Cottage Food Establishment, registers it with the Division of Public Health for $30 per fiscal year ending 31 March, and requires a state-approved food safety course and a home kitchen inspection before you sell.

How much can I sell in a year in Delaware?

We could not confirm it. Guides split between "no cap, removed in December 2023" and an older $25,000 figure, and the regulation we read does not settle it. Rather than print a number you might plan a year around, ask the Division of Public Health when you register — you are dealing with them anyway.

Can I add a new product later?

Not without updating your registration. The regulation says a home operation shall only produce those specific food products listed on their registration permit. That is unlike any other state in this guide, where you get a category and decide for yourself what fits inside it. The upside is that you never have to guess whether a product qualifies.

Can a shop sell my products?

No. A direct sale moves products only within Delaware, straight to the consumer, without a retailer or other intermediary. Farmers markets are an approved venue. That puts Delaware with Alabama, New Jersey and Washington rather than with Ohio, Tennessee or Utah.

Can I sell online?

We are not printing an answer. Guides say online sales are not allowed under the basic cottage food path, but we could not confirm that from the regulation. Ask the Division of Public Health at registration.

What exactly does my label say?

"This food is made in a Cottage Food Establishment and is NOT subject to routine Government Food Safety Inspections". Note the word "routine" — it is accurate, because your kitchen is inspected once, at registration. Guides add your town or city and a phone number or email, and a 10-point contrasting type size we have not confirmed from the regulation.

Does my kitchen get inspected?

Yes, once, as part of registration. That is less than a licensed facility faces and more than most cottage food schemes in this guide require — most involve no inspection at all. It is also why the required label says you are not subject to routine inspections rather than that you are not inspected.

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