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Minnesota 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 — but you do register with the state every year, and the rule most people trip on is the handover. You can advertise online and take orders online, but human food has to be handed over in person: pickup at your home, pickup at your market booth, or delivery by you. You cannot mail it, and you cannot put it with a third-party shipper.

Registration is tiered. Under $7,665 a year it is free; from $7,666 up to the $78,000 ceiling it costs $50, and it expires every 31 March. Minnesota is also one of the few states that lets you make and ship pet treats. And a real change is coming: from 1 August 2027 the tiers collapse into one $30 fee and shipping inside Minnesota becomes legal.

Registration, the two tiers and the 31 March deadline

There is no license. There is registration, and it is tiered by what you sell:

Tier 1 — up to $7,665 a year
No fee. A free online course and exam, required every year.
Tier 2 — $7,666 to $78,000 a year
$50, plus a $2.50 processing fee if you pay online. An MDA-approved safe food handling course, required every three years, or when you move up from Tier 1.
Annual ceiling
$78,000 in gross receipts in a calendar year.
Expiry
31 March, every year. Re-register by 1 April to keep selling.

The 31 March date is a fixed calendar date, not an anniversary of when you signed up — register in February and your first year is short. Put it in your calendar now; it is the single most common way a Minnesota cook accidentally stops being legal.

Two eligibility details catch people. A certified food manager credential does not substitute for the cottage food training — the course has to be specific to this law. And if you already hold a food handler license under § 28A.04, you do not qualify as a cottage food producer at all. MDA, Cottage Food Law guidance

Where you may sell — and why you cannot ship

This is the section to read twice, because Minnesota draws the line in an unusual place: the order may be remote, the handover may not.

So a Minnesota storefront works perfectly well for taking the order and collecting payment — it just ends with a pickup slot or your own car, rather than a shipping label. That changes on 1 August 2027.

What you can make — including pet treats

Minnesota works from a safety test rather than a closed list. Two categories are in:

And pet treats, which is genuinely unusual. They must be baked or dehydrated, made only for dogs or cats, and safe for the species. Pet treats are also the one thing you may ship — by mail or commercial delivery, to the end consumer. Out-of-state shipments have to follow the other state's law.

What is out: meat and dairy products are potentially hazardous and cannot be sold as cottage foods, and that sweeps in cheese, yogurt, butter, ghee, cream cheese and flavored butters. Also excluded: pickled eggs or meats, jerky, tamales, egg rolls, chocolate-covered fruit, charcuterie boards, and edible cannabinoids including THC and CBD.

What changes on 1 August 2027

Minnesota rewrote this law in its 2025 session, and the amendments take effect on 1 August 2027. Until then they are not law, however they are worded on the statute page:

A warning about reading the statute yourself. The revisor's page for 28A.152 prints the amended text — so the $30 fee, the three-year training and the mail delivery are all right there in black and white, next to a note saying they take effect in 2027. Several guides have published them as current. They are not. Minn. Stat. 28A.152

The label, the sign and the website

Minnesota asks for the same disclosure in three places, which is more than most states. The statute's wording is:

These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.

It goes on your labels, on a sign or placard at the point of sale, and on any website you use to advertise or take orders, where it has to be highly visible.

One small inconsistency worth knowing about. MDA's guidance renders the point-of-sale sign with "These foods are homemade" where the statute says "These products are homemade". We are not going to pretend to resolve that for you — copy the wording from MDA's current guidance for each of the three places, rather than from this page.

The website requirement is the one people forget, and it is the one a regulator can check without leaving the office.

License, inspection and local rules

No license, and no inspection of your kitchen as a condition of registering. What you have instead is registration, training and the three-place disclosure above.

The statute is explicit that local rules survive: business licensing, sanitation, public health and zoning ordinances all still apply, and selling from your home is permitted only "to the extent allowed by local ordinance". That phrase does real work — your city can narrow this, and the state law does not override it.

Eligibility is narrow too: individuals, sole proprietorships, single-member LLCs, or an LLC owned by two people living at the same residence.

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 Minnesota Department of Revenue, 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 Minnesota?

No license, but yes registration. You register with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture every year and complete the required training. It is free if you sell up to $7,665 a year and $50 above that, up to the $78,000 ceiling. Registration expires every 31 March regardless of when you signed up.

How much can I sell in a year in Minnesota?

$78,000 in gross receipts in a calendar year. Below $7,665 you are Tier 1 and pay no fee; from $7,666 to $78,000 you are Tier 2 and pay $50, plus $2.50 if you pay online. From 1 August 2027 the tiers disappear, everyone pays $30, and the cap is adjusted for inflation every two years.

Can I ship my cookies to a customer in Minnesota?

Not yet. Human cottage food has to be handed over in person — pickup at your home, pickup at your market or event booth, or delivery by you. You may not mail it or use a third-party shipper. Shipping inside Minnesota becomes legal on 1 August 2027. Pet treats are the exception and may be shipped today.

Can I take orders online if I cannot ship?

Yes. Advertising online and taking orders online are both fine — the restriction is on the handover, not the order. A storefront that collects the order and the payment and ends in a pickup slot or your own delivery is exactly how this law expects you to work. Your website has to display the statement that your products are homemade and not subject to state inspection, prominently.

Can I sell to a grocery store or a coffee shop?

No. Cottage foods cannot be sold from a retail location or store, not even from a pop-up table inside one, and selling to a store for resale requires a food license rather than this exemption. The one exception is a qualifying farmers' market or community event that happens to be held at a retail location.

Can I sell dog treats?

Yes, and Minnesota is one of the few states that says so explicitly. Pet treats must be baked or dehydrated, made only for dogs or cats, and safe for the intended species. They are also the only cottage food you may ship — by mail or commercial delivery to the end consumer. Shipments to another state have to comply with that state's law.

I have a certified food manager certificate. Does that cover the training?

No. The training has to be specific to the Cottage Food Law — a certified food manager credential does not substitute. Tier 1 producers take a free online course and exam every year; Tier 2 producers take an MDA-approved safe food handling course every three years, or when moving up from Tier 1. Separately, if you already hold a food handler license under § 28A.04, you do not qualify as a cottage food producer at all.

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