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Mississippi 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 permit from the state health department, up to $35,000 in gross annual sales. Mississippi does not require a license or permit from MSDH to run a cottage food operation, and does not inspect you unless a complaint is filed.

The catch is not the money, it is the channel. Using the internet and social media to market and advertise your products is allowed. Selling products online, selling in retail or wholesale stores, and shipping through postal services are all prohibited. You may show it on Instagram; you have to hand it over in person.

No permit, and no inspection unless somebody complains

Mississippi runs one of the lighter-touch schemes in this guide on paper. A cottage food operation is exempt from the requirements that apply to a normal food service establishment.

MSDH license or permit
Not required.
Sales limit
$35,000 in gross annual sales.
Inspection
None unless a complaint has been filed.
Where the food is made
The kitchen of a private home — house, apartment, condominium or rental.
Who you may sell to
The final customer, directly, inside Mississippi.

What happens if you pass $35,000: the operation is then treated as a regular food establishment and has to meet a food establishment's requirements. It is not a fine, it is a change of category — which is why the number matters more than it looks.

Depending on where you are, additional business permits or licenses may be required, especially outside city limits. MSU Extension P3286, Mississippi Cottage Food Operations

One piece of housekeeping worth knowing about: MSDH's own regulations page still describes its cottage food question-and-answer sheet as being for producers "with sales less than $20,000 a year." That wording predates the 2020 change. The $35,000 is current; the $20,000 is a leftover label on an old link.

Where the $35,000 came from, and the bills that failed

Senate Bill 326 of 2020 raised the ceiling from $20,000 to $35,000 and authorized cottage food operations to advertise over the internet. Both halves of that bill shape the page you are reading.

Since then, reform has been tried and has not landed. Bills in 2024, 2025 and 2026 — including SB 2265, which would have taken the cap to $59,000 — all failed. So $35,000 is not a figure that is about to move, and you can plan on it for now.

If you have read that Mississippi went to $50,000 under HB 403, effective 1 August 2026, that is not Mississippi. HB 403 is a Louisiana bill — Act 801 of 2026, which raised Louisiana's cap to $100,000. Two states, one bill number, and a figure that would have had you planning around money you are not allowed to earn here.

The approved list, and the pH that matters

Cottage food in Mississippi means non-potentially hazardous food: it does not need time or temperature control, does not need refrigeration even after opening, and has not been found to support the growth of pathogens. If your product needs refrigeration, it is not allowed.

The approved list is specific:

Acidified foods have a definition and a number. They are low-acid foods, such as vegetables, with acid added, reaching a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below and a water activity greater than 0.85 — the pickled products. Examples: beans, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes, cauliflower, peppers, tropical fruits, and fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi.

Fermented products are a step further. MSU Extension states they require additional paperwork, product testing and process approval before being sold as cottage food. That is not a sentence to skim if sauerkraut or kimchi is your plan.

Low-acid products are not allowed at all. Anything above pH 4.6 — typically vegetables, meat and fish with no acid added — needs pressure canning, and pressure-canned products are out, because of the botulism risk.

Advertise online, sell in person — the rule people get wrong

This is the sentence to read twice, because getting it wrong is the easiest way to be out of compliance in Mississippi while feeling perfectly reasonable:

Using the internet and social media for marketing and advertising products only is allowed. Selling products online, in retail or wholesale stores, or shipping through postal services is prohibited.

So: a Facebook page, an Instagram account, photographs, prices, a phone number — fine. A checkout button, a shipped box, a shelf in a shop — not fine.

Where you may sell:

And the geography is strict in both directions. Products made in Mississippi must be sold in Mississippi, directly from producer to final customer — and cottage foods made in other states may not be sold in Mississippi.

There are also rules about where the food lives before it is sold. It must be made and stored within the private home, in the kitchen where it was produced or a room adjacent to that kitchen designated for food storage only. No outbuilding — no shed, no barn. And commercial facilities and equipment cannot be used to make cottage food products, which is the opposite of what several states in this guide now allow.

What has to be on the label — seven things

Mississippi's label is one of the fuller ones in this guide, and it includes an element most states leave out: net weight.

  1. Name of the cottage food operation;
  2. Address of the cottage food operation;
  3. Name of the cottage food product;
  4. Ingredients and sub-ingredients, in descending order by predominance of weight;
  5. Allergen information as specified by federal labeling requirements;
  6. The net weight or net volume;
  7. This statement, in at least 10-point font, in a color that clearly contrasts with the label background:

Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Mississippi's food safety regulations.

On allergens, Mississippi works from the list of eight — milk, eggs, wheat, soybeans, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. Federal law also requires you to name the type: which tree nut, which fish, which crustacean shellfish. So "Contains: wheat, eggs, milk, soy, walnuts" rather than "tree nuts".

If you make any nutritional claim, federal labeling requirements for nutritional information come with it.

Sales tax and local rules

Mississippi taxes retail sales, and food is not exempt the way it is in some states. Your rate and your filing obligations are a question for the Department of Revenue and your accountant.

Local rules sit on top of the state scheme. The Extension publication notes that additional business permits or licenses may be required depending on location, especially if the operation is outside city limits. Ask your county before you start.

If you decide your operation does not fit inside cottage food law, the route forward is a commercial kitchen and a manufactured food permit from MSDH. Food permits, Mississippi State Department of Health

Official sources

Last verified: 1 November 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 Mississippi?

No. Mississippi does not require a license or permit from the Mississippi State Department of Health to operate a cottage food business, and the health department does not inspect cottage food operations unless a complaint has been filed. Depending on your location, other business permits may be required, especially outside city limits.

How much can I sell in a year in Mississippi?

$35,000 in gross annual sales. Senate Bill 326 of 2020 raised it from $20,000. Above $35,000 the operation is treated as a regular food establishment and has to meet a food establishment's requirements. Bills to raise the cap in 2024, 2025 and 2026 — including SB 2265, which proposed $59,000 — all failed.

Can I sell online in Mississippi?

No. You may use the internet and social media to market and advertise your products, but selling products online is prohibited, and so is shipping through postal services. A Facebook page showing your cookies is fine; a checkout button is not. You sell from your home, at a farmers' market, or at a municipal or county fair.

Can a shop sell my products?

No. Selling in retail or wholesale stores is prohibited. Sales must be made directly from the producer to the final customer, inside Mississippi. Cottage foods made in other states may not be sold in Mississippi either.

What exactly does my label say?

"Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Mississippi's food safety regulations." — in at least 10-point font, in a color that clearly contrasts with the background. Plus your operation's name and address, the product name, ingredients and sub-ingredients in descending order by weight, allergen information, and the net weight or net volume.

Can I use a commercial kitchen or commercial equipment?

No. Cottage food products must be made and stored within the private home, in the kitchen where they were produced or an adjacent room designated for food storage only — no shed and no barn — and commercial facilities and equipment cannot be used. That is the opposite of several states in this guide, which now allow commercial equipment.

Can I sell kimchi or sauerkraut?

Fermented foods are on the acidified list, but with a condition most guides skip: MSU Extension states that fermented products require additional paperwork, product testing and process approval before they may be sold as cottage food products. Acidified foods must reach a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below and a water activity above 0.85, and only plant foods qualify. Low-acid products, which need pressure canning, are not allowed at all.

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