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Maryland 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 as of 1 October 2026 you can earn twice what you could before. Chapter 320 of 2026 raised the cottage food revenue cap from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. If you have read $50,000 somewhere recently, including on the health department's own guidance document, that figure is now out of date.

Maryland is also unusually open about how you deliver. You may sell from your home, at a farmer's market or a public event, by personal delivery or mail delivery inside Maryland — and to a retail food store, grocery store or food cooperative, which is a route most states on this site close off. The state line is the limit: interstate sales are prohibited.

The cap is $100,000 — and where the old number still lives

Chapter 320 of the 2026 session amends Health–General § 21-301(b-1)(3) so that a cottage food business is one with annual revenues "in an amount not exceeding [$50,000] $100,000" — the brackets are the statute's own way of showing what it struck out. It was approved by the Governor on 28 April 2026, and it says "this Act shall take effect October 1, 2026". That date has passed, so $100,000 is the live figure. Chapter 320, HB 535

Two older numbers are still in circulation, and one of them is on an official page. The Maryland Department of Health's own cottage food guidance, dated 11/2025, prints $50,000. Documents older than that print $25,000. Neither is wrong about anything else — the guidance is still the best description of labels and the retail route — but on the cap, the statute is newer, and the statute wins.

Annual limit
$100,000 in annual revenues, since 1 October 2026.
License or permit
None.
Outside Maryland
Prohibited. Interstate sales are not within the exemption.

Where you may sell — including by mail

Maryland splits selling into two routes, and the second one has extra steps.

Direct to the consumer. From your residence, at a farmer's market, at a public event, by personal delivery, or by mail delivery — all inside Maryland. Mail delivery being on that list matters: Minnesota forbids shipping human food, Oregon and Michigan both attach conditions, and plenty of states are simply silent. Maryland names it.

To a shop. A retail food store, grocery store or food cooperative may stock your products. Before you sell that way you need to:

One detail that catches people at markets: if you hand out samples, they have to be prepackaged in your home kitchen. You cannot cut and portion at the table. MDH cottage food guidance

What you can make

Maryland's exemption is for non-potentially-hazardous food — shelf-stable products that do not need refrigeration to stay safe. Potentially hazardous food, which some states call TCS food, is food that needs time or temperature control for safety: anything that has to be kept hot or cold. That is out, as it is in most states.

For the current product-by-product detail, the Department of Health's guidance is the document to read — it is linked in the sources below and it is thorough on this point. We are deliberately not restating a list here that the department maintains and updates, because a list copied onto a third-party page is a list that goes stale without anyone noticing. The cap on this page is exactly what happens when that goes wrong.

License, permit and inspection

A cottage food business in Maryland needs no license and no permit, and your home kitchen is not inspected as a condition of selling.

The state keeps a complaint-driven role rather than a routine one: the Department of Health can act if there is a problem with your product. That is the usual shape of a cottage food exemption and it is worth understanding correctly — you are not unregulated, you are outside the licensing and inspection regime while remaining answerable for what you sell.

What has to be on the label

Every package carries your name and address, the name of the product, the ingredients and sub-ingredients in descending order, the net weight, the allergens, and this statement in 10-point or larger type in a contrasting color:

Made by a cottage food business that is not subject to Maryland’s food safety regulations

Three practical details worth knowing:

Food safety training

For selling direct to consumers, Maryland requires no course.

For the retail store route it does, and it is specific: a basic food safety course certificate from an ANSI-approved program, taken within the past three years. The three-year window means a certificate from 2021 will not do, however good the course was. If you are planning to approach a grocery store, book the course first — it is the step most likely to delay you.

Sales tax and local rules

No license is not no tax. Whether what you sell is taxable, and whether you need to register to collect, belongs to the Comptroller of Maryland, and we are not going to print a rate.

Local rules are separate again. The exemption settles the state licensing question; your county or city may still have zoning rules about operating a business from a residence. Ask locally before you start.

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 Maryland?

No. A cottage food business needs no license and no permit, and your kitchen is not inspected as a condition of selling. If you want to sell through a retail store you do need a completed Retail Sales Request Form, government-issued ID and a food safety certificate — but that is a condition on that route, not a license.

How much can I sell in a year in Maryland?

$100,000 in annual revenues. Chapter 320 of 2026 raised the cap from $50,000, and it took effect on 1 October 2026, so the higher figure is live now. The Department of Health's own guidance document, dated 11/2025, still prints $50,000 and older documents print $25,000 — the statute is newer than both.

I keep seeing $50,000. Which number is right?

$100,000. Chapter 320 amends Health–General § 21-301(b-1)(3) to read "in an amount not exceeding [$50,000] $100,000", was approved on 28 April 2026, and took effect on 1 October 2026. The $50,000 figure is still printed on the health department's guidance PDF, which is a genuinely official document that simply has not been updated yet. Where an official source is older than another official source, the newer one governs.

Can I mail my products to a customer?

Yes, inside Maryland. Mail delivery and personal delivery are both named ways of selling direct to a consumer, alongside selling from your residence, at a farmer's market or at a public event. Interstate sales are prohibited, so the package stays in the state.

Can a grocery store sell my products?

Yes. A retail food store, grocery store or food cooperative may stock you, which is a route New Jersey and Washington both close off. Before you sell that way you need government-issued ID and a completed Retail Sales Request Form, a basic food safety course certificate from an ANSI-approved program taken within the past three years, and you must give the store written notification before selling.

Does my home address have to be on the label?

Not necessarily. A unique ID number may stand in for your address — in which case your name and phone number are both required. Otherwise the label carries your name and address, the product name, ingredients and sub-ingredients in descending order, net weight, allergens, and the statement that the food was made by a cottage food business not subject to Maryland's food safety regulations, in 10-point or larger type in a contrasting color.

Can I give out samples at a farmer's market?

Yes, but they have to be prepackaged in your home kitchen. You cannot cut, portion or plate samples at the table. It is a small rule that catches a lot of people on their first market day.

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