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Kansas 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 Kansas asks remarkably little — starting with the fact that it has no cottage food law at all. The state publication puts it plainly: these sales "would be covered under what is often termed 'cottage food laws' … In Kansas, these categories are included in the Kansas Food Law, even though the terms are not officially used."

Shelf-stable food sold direct to consumers needs no license, has no sales cap, and may be sold online and shipped. And Kansas is the only state on this site that requires no "not inspected" statement on the label at all.

No license — and what tips you into needing one

Non-TCS food made in a home kitchen and sold directly to the consumer needs no license, "if the kitchen provides a clean and sanitary environment for preparation of that food". Non-TCS food is shelf stable: it does not need time or temperature control to stay safe.

Two things tip you into licensing, and the second one surprises people:

Kansas has two licenses and they are not interchangeable: a Food Processing license covers wholesale and business-to-business, while a Food Establishment license "only allows for direct-to-consumer sales".

Sanitation for unlicensed producers sits in K.A.R. 4-28-33, the hygiene requirements for exempt food establishments. KDA Food Safety and Lodging

The label — and the sentence Kansas does not ask for

Every state in this guide makes you print some version of "this was made in a kitchen nobody inspected". Kansas does not, and says so:

"Uninspected food products made in Kansas do NOT need to be labeled as 'homemade' or other indication that they are not inspected." You may label them that way if you like — "homemade food products can be labeled as such" — and "all products must be honestly presented".

That is the exact opposite of South Carolina, which requires its disclaimer in all capital letters in a contrasting color, and of Iowa, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, which each prescribe a sentence. If you sell across state lines, your label has to satisfy the stricter state.

What Kansas does require on a packaged product:

  1. the common name of the product;
  2. the name and physical address of the person who made or is selling it;
  3. the ingredients in descending order by weight — and "the nine common food allergens must be named in plain language", the publication's own example being "casein (milk)";
  4. the quantity: net weight, volume or count.

The plain-language allergen rule is a 2026 clarification and it is a good one. "Casein" on its own tells a parent nothing; "casein (milk)" tells them everything.

No cap, and yes you may ship

Annual limit
None.
License for direct sales of shelf-stable food
None.
Online and shipping
Allowed. "The listed licensing exemptions would also apply to exempt foods sold online and shipped to the customer's home or delivered by the producer directly to the end consumer."
Bulk
Allowed, and "the customer can bring their own clean container to transport the foods".
Wholesale, consignment, craft malls
License required.
Sales tax
"Every vendor must obtain a Retail Sales Tax certificate."

The shipping permission is explicit rather than inferred, which is worth something — Kentucky and Iowa are both simply silent on the question, and silence is not permission.

One practical rule for market days: if you display in bulk and then package individual orders for customers on the spot, you must have handwashing facilities in your booth.

What you can make without a license

Kansas publishes an actual table, which is more useful than most states manage. Allowed without licensing:

Two of those are unusual enough to point at. Dough is in — refrigerated and frozen cookie dough and pizza dough, which most states would treat as needing temperature control. And melting chocolate for decorating or dipping "does not require testing or a license", which settles a question other states make you test for.

The 6-day rule. Baked products containing potentially hazardous dairy and egg products — cheesecake, cream-filled cupcakes or donuts, cream or meringue pies, custards, pumpkin pie, quiche — normally need a Food Establishment license. But Kansas allows them to be sold without one if sold 6 or fewer days per year. That is a real permission for a cook who does two holiday markets, and it exists nowhere else in this guide.

Foods that must be tested to decide whether a license applies: bread with cheese or vegetables baked in or on top; candy containing under 1% alcohol; meringue cookies; icing made of powdered sugar and milk; and pecan pie, where it is the water activity of the filling that decides.

Food safety training

None is required for the unlicensed direct-to-consumer route.

What is required is temperature discipline at the market itself: vendors selling perishable foods must have a thermometer with them, hot food held at 135 °F or higher, cold perishable food at 41 °F or colder, and frozen food stored and sold frozen.

Sales tax is not optional

Kansas is unusually direct about this, and it is the one piece of paperwork the state does insist on: "Every vendor must obtain a Retail Sales Tax certificate." Vendors file their tax liability individually.

So the honest summary of Kansas is: no food license, no cap, no disclaimer — and a tax certificate. Register with the Kansas Department of Revenue before your first market rather than after.

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

Does Kansas have a cottage food law?

Not by name. The state publication says these sales would be covered elsewhere by what is often termed cottage food laws, and that in Kansas these categories are included in the Kansas Food Law even though the terms are not officially used. The practical effect is the same: shelf-stable food sold direct to consumers needs no license.

How much can I sell in a year in Kansas?

There is no cap. Kansas sets no revenue limit on unlicensed direct-to-consumer sales of shelf-stable food, which puts it with Georgia, New York, Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and New Mexico among the states on this site with no ceiling.

Do I have to put "not inspected" on my label?

No, and Kansas is the only state on this site where that is true. The publication states that uninspected food products made in Kansas do NOT need to be labeled as homemade or with any other indication that they are not inspected. You may label them that way if you want to, and all products must be honestly presented.

What does my label have to say?

Four things: the common name of the product; the name and physical address of the person who made or is selling it; the ingredients in descending order by weight, with the nine common food allergens named in plain language, such as "casein (milk)"; and the quantity as net weight, volume or count.

Can I sell online and ship?

Yes, and Kansas says so explicitly rather than leaving you to infer it. The licensing exemptions apply to exempt foods sold online and shipped to the customer's home, or delivered by the producer directly to the end consumer.

Can I sell to a shop or at a craft mall?

Not without a license. Any sale to another business for resale is wholesale and needs a KDA Food Processing license — that includes a restaurant, grocery, variety store, convenience store, and a craft mall where the producer leaves the product. Consignment is not exempt either.

Can I sell cheesecake or pumpkin pie?

Yes, up to a point. Baked products with potentially hazardous dairy and egg products — cheesecake, cream-filled cupcakes or donuts, cream or meringue pies, custards, pumpkin pie, quiche — normally require a KDA Food Establishment license, but may be sold without one if sold 6 or fewer days per year. That allowance is unique to Kansas among the states in this guide, and it fits a cook who does a couple of holiday markets.

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