Michigan 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 you need no license: "A cottage food operation is exempt from the licensing and evaluation provisions of this act." No permit, no fee, no kitchen inspection.
Two things shape how you work. There is a sales cap — MDARD publishes $50,000 a year, or $75,000 where products are sold at $250 or more per unit. And there is an unusual online rule: you may sell by internet, mail order or a delivery platform only if the customer had an opportunity to interact with you directly before the sale, and only to customers in Michigan.
The cap, and an honest note about its date
- Published limit
- $50,000 in gross sales a year.
- Higher tier
- $75,000 where the operation sells products "at a price of $250.00 or more per unit".
- Direct to consumer
- Required. A product "must be sold directly from the cottage food operation to the consumer".
- Consignment and wholesale
- "Sales by consignment or at wholesale are prohibited."
Now the part we are not going to paper over. The statute fixes both figures "until October 1, 2026" and allows the department to adjust them for inflation from that date. That date has passed. MDARD still publishes $50,000 and $75,000, and we could not find any notice of an adjusted figure — so the numbers above are what MDARD currently publishes, not a figure we have confirmed is the post-adjustment one.
If you are anywhere near the ceiling, that distinction is worth a phone call rather than a guess: ask MDARD what the current limit is before you plan a year around it. MCL 289.4102 · MDARD, Michigan Cottage Foods
No license, no inspection — and an optional registration
The Food Law is explicit: "A cottage food operation is exempt from the licensing and evaluation provisions of this act." There is nothing to apply for, nothing to pay and no one coming to look at your kitchen.
Registration with the MSU Product Center is optional, and it exists for a practical reason — it is the route to putting a registration number on your label instead of your home address. If you would rather customers did not read your street address off a cookie box, that is the thing to ask about.
Local zoning still applies, and a rented commercial kitchen does not make you a cottage food operation: a licensed facility puts you under food establishment licensing instead.
The online rule — the one that decides how you sell
Michigan allows what most cottage food states restrict, and restricts it in an unusual way. This is the part House Bill 4122 changed, effective 24 March 2026. You may sell by internet, mail order or a third-party delivery platform, on two conditions:
- the operation gives the consumer "an opportunity to directly interact" with it before the sale; and
- the customer is in Michigan.
That first condition is doing real work. A faceless checkout where nobody can reach you before paying is not the shape the statute describes; a page where a customer can message you, call you or meet you first is. In practice: make sure there is a way to reach a human, and make sure it is visible before the order is placed, not after. MCL 289.4102(4)
Out-of-state customers are out, whatever the delivery method.
What you can and cannot sell
Cottage food in Michigan means food that does not need time or temperature control for safety — nothing that has to be kept hot or cold to be safe. In practice that is baked goods, jams and jellies, candies, dry mixes, granola, popcorn, roasted coffee and the like.
Anything needing refrigeration is out. So are canned vegetables, salsas and other low-acid or acidified canned goods, and anything made with meat or dairy that depends on refrigeration.
The authoritative list of what qualifies is MDARD's, and it is worth reading before you commit to a product: MDARD, Michigan Cottage Foods Information.
What has to be on the label
Every product is labeled individually before sale, and one element is prescribed word for word:
Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan department of agriculture and rural development.
It must be in "at least the equivalent of 11-point font size" and in a color that clearly contrasts with the background. Both of those are in the statute, so neither is a design decision. MCL 289.4102(3)(g)
The rest of the label — the business name and address of the home kitchen, the product name, the ingredients in descending order by weight, the net quantity, and federal allergen labeling — is set out on MDARD's labeling page. We are pointing you there rather than reciting it, because that page is the one MDARD keeps current.
Food safety training
The statute does not require a food handler card or a manager certification for a cottage food operation — the exemption from licensing and evaluation is the whole arrangement.
Michigan State University Extension publishes a cottage food course that many operators take anyway. Not required; genuinely useful if you are working with acidified products or anything close to the line.
Is your kitchen inspected?
No — which is exactly what your label has to tell the customer, in those words and at that type size. The disclosure is the consumer protection here, in place of a visit.
That also explains why the statement is prescribed so precisely: with no inspection in the system, the sentence on the box is the only thing standing between a buyer and an assumption.
Sales tax
Being exempt from licensing says nothing about tax. Whether what you sell is taxable, and whether you must register to collect, is for the Michigan Department of Treasury.
Official sources
- MCL 289.4102 — cottage food operationsMichigan Legislature
- Michigan Cottage Foods InformationMichigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
- Michigan Department of TreasuryState of Michigan
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 Michigan?
No. The Food Law says a cottage food operation is exempt from the licensing and evaluation provisions of the act — no permit, no fee and no kitchen inspection. Registration with the MSU Product Center is optional, and its practical use is putting a registration number on your label instead of your home address.
How much can I sell in a year in Michigan?
MDARD publishes $50,000 in gross sales a year, or $75,000 where products are sold at $250 or more per unit. One caveat worth knowing: the statute fixed both figures "until October 1, 2026" and allows an inflation adjustment from that date. That date has passed and we could not find a published adjusted figure, so if you are near the ceiling, ask MDARD for the current number rather than planning around ours.
Can I sell online in Michigan?
Yes, since House Bill 4122 took effect on 24 March 2026 — with two conditions that are easy to miss. Internet, mail-order and third-party delivery sales are allowed only if the operation gives the consumer an opportunity to directly interact with it before the sale, and only to consumers in Michigan. A checkout where nobody can reach you before paying is not the shape the statute describes.
What does "an opportunity to directly interact" actually mean?
The statute does not define it further, so we will not pretend to a precision it does not have. What is clear is the direction: the customer should be able to reach you — message, call or meet — before money changes hands, and that route should be visible before the order is placed rather than after. If your setup makes that impossible, ask MDARD before you rely on it.
Can I sell to a shop or a restaurant?
No. Sales must be direct from the cottage food operation to the consumer, and sales by consignment or at wholesale are prohibited. Supplying a café or a grocery means stepping out of cottage food and into food establishment licensing.
What exactly has to be on my label?
One element is prescribed word for word: "Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan department of agriculture and rural development.", in at least the equivalent of 11-point font and in a contrasting color. The rest — business name and address, product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net quantity and federal allergen labeling — is set out on MDARD’s labeling page, which is the version they keep current.
Can I use a rented commercial kitchen?
Not as a cottage food operation. A licensed facility puts you under food establishment licensing rather than the cottage food exemption, so the arrangement changes entirely. Local zoning applies to the home kitchen either way.
Other states
- GeorgiaNo state license since July 2025 · no revenue cap
- TexasNo permit · $150,000 cap · you must deliver online orders yourself
- CaliforniaCounty registration · $88,878 or $177,756 in 2026
- FloridaNo permit · $250,000 cap · mail order allowed by statute
- New YorkFree exemption, up to 16 weeks to be reviewed · no revenue cap · in-state only
- IllinoisRegister locally · no sales cap · online sales and in-state shipping allowed
- North CarolinaHome Processor program · kitchen inspected before you sell · an indoor pet disqualifies the kitchen
- New Jersey$100 permit for 2 years · $50,000 cap · NJ residents only, nothing in the post
- PennsylvaniaLimited Food Establishment · $35 a year · inspected · internet sales included
- ArizonaNo sales cap · refrigerated foods allowed · Arizona only, and TCS goes hand to hand
- OhioNo license in the rules · no sales cap · a closed list of foods · Ohio only
- VirginiaNo permit, no inspection, no fee · sell by phone or internet · Virginia only, no resale
- Washington$355 permit for 2 years · annual inspections · $35,000 cap · sell online, never ship
- MassachusettsPermit from your local board of health · internet and mail sales allowed · no state cap stated
Tools
- Pricing calculator for home bakersWhat to charge, with your own numbers
- Price list templateFill it in, print it, hand it over — free, nothing saved
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