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Missouri 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, no registration, no fee and no sales cap at all — the $50,000 limit people still quote was removed on 28 August 2022. Missouri also bars your local health department from regulating production: the statute says "A local health department shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation."

The catch is the menu, and it is a short one. The Missouri Cottage Law covers exactly three things: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or herb mixes. Nothing else. But that is not the whole story — a separate exemption in the Missouri Food Code carries fruit butters, sorghum, cracked nuts, spice mixes and dry soup mixes, where your local rules allow it. Both routes are below, because most guides describe only the first.

Route one: the Cottage Law, and its list of three

The Missouri Cottage Law lets you make specific non-potentially-hazardous foods in your home kitchen, using ordinary residential appliances, for sale to the public without routine inspection. The list is:

The department is blunt about how narrow that is: "Cottage Law" is not an umbrella or all-encompassing term that lets you make any food at home. If your item is not on the list, it cannot be sold or claimed under the Cottage Law exemption.

Foods DHSS names as excluded: cut produce, baked goods garnished with fresh fruit, freeze dried foods, salsa, pickles, sauces such as BBQ and hot sauce, sprouts, wild mushrooms, meats, dairy, eggs and pet foods.

One trap inside the allowed list. Certain jams and jellies are excluded even though jam is on the list — a "No Sugar Added" or "Sugar Free" recipe, or a hot pepper jam, can have an altered pH or water activity that stops it being non-potentially-hazardous. Because those products vary so much, DHSS says they cannot be sold under the Cottage Law. The category on the list is not a guarantee about your particular recipe. DHSS, Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance

Route two: the Food Code exemption — and why it depends on your county

This is the part most guides miss, and it is in the department's own guidance.

The Missouri Food Code's definition of "Food Establishment" carries its own exemption. Where local laws allow, other non-potentially-hazardous foods may be sold from an individual stand, direct to the consumer, without being inspected by the local public health agency. DHSS gives these examples:

But this route is local, and that changes the answer. Local public health agencies must use either the Missouri Food Code or a local code that is equivalent or more stringent. If your agency has written its own code, other non-potentially-hazardous foods may or may not be exempt from routine inspection where you live. DHSS's instruction is to contact your local public health agency and ask.

So the honest shape of Missouri is: three foods are yours by state law regardless of what your county thinks, and a wider set is available if your county allows it. Those are genuinely different kinds of permission, and it is worth knowing which one your product is standing on.

How much can you sell, and where

Annual limit
None. The $50,000 cap was removed on 28 August 2022 — "There is no longer a limit to how much a cottage food producer can make annually."
Permit, registration, fee
None.
Direct to consumers
Yes — and only. Wholesaling takes you out of the exemption entirely.
Online
Yes, since 28 August 2022, provided both the producer and the purchaser are located in Missouri.
Across state lines
Prohibited. The guidance underlines it: a cottage food producer may not sell their products across state lines.
Who may sell it
You, or a member of your household with extensive knowledge of the product — so the person at the table can answer a customer's questions.

If you still see $50,000 quoted, it is out of date. That figure governed before 28 August 2022 and it lingers on pages that have not been revised, including some local ones. The statute itself now sets no gross annual sales figure at all, which puts Missouri among the thirteen no-cap states on this site: Georgia, New York, Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and New Mexico. RSMo 196.298

No permit — and a limit on your local health department

There is no permit, no registration, no fee and no food handler training requirement in the statute or in the department's guidance. A cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment and is not subject to the health or food code laws of the state or of local health authorities.

Missouri goes a step further than most states here. The statute provides that a local health department shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation. Several states leave local rules fully intact — Minnesota says selling from your home is permitted only to the extent local ordinance allows. Missouri does not.

Two honest qualifications. First, nothing stops state or local health authorities investigating a foodborne disease or outbreak, and they keep records of complaints. Second, that protection attaches to the Cottage Law route. The Food Code route in the section above is explicitly local, and your agency's own code governs there.

You may also see third-party sites saying Missouri issues a cottage food certificate. Neither the statute nor the department's guidance describes one. If a market or a buyer asks you for one, ask DHSS before you pay anyone for it.

What has to be on the label

Labeling is required, and the department lists it item by item. Every label must be legible to the consumer and carry:

On the Food Code route there is one more thing: a clearly visible placard at the sales or service location saying the same thing — that the food is prepared in a kitchen not subject to DHSS inspection. The Cottage Law list does not include the placard; the Food Code exemption list does. If you sell under both, put up the placard.

Food safety training

Neither the statute nor the department's guidance requires a course or a certificate.

Individual farmers markets sometimes ask vendors for a food handler card as a condition of renting a table. That is the market's rule, not the state's, and it is worth asking before you book a stall rather than on the morning.

Sales tax

No permit is not no tax. Whether what you sell is taxable, and whether you need to register to collect, belongs to the Missouri 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 permit to sell food from home in Missouri?

No. There is no permit, no registration, no fee and no training requirement. A cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment and is not subject to the health or food code laws of the state or local health authorities. The statute also provides that a local health department shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation.

How much can I sell in a year in Missouri?

There is no limit. The $50,000 annual gross income cap was removed on 28 August 2022, and the department states there is no longer a limit to how much a cottage food producer can make annually. The figure still appears on pages that have not been updated, including some local health agency pages — it is out of date.

What can I actually make under the Missouri Cottage Law?

Three things: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herb and dried herb mixes. The department is explicit that "Cottage Law" is not an umbrella term for making any food at home — if your item is not on that list it cannot be sold under this exemption. Excluded examples include cut produce, baked goods garnished with fresh fruit, freeze dried foods, salsa, pickles, BBQ and hot sauce, sprouts, wild mushrooms, meats, dairy, eggs and pet foods.

Can I sell dry soup mix or spice blends?

Not under the Cottage Law, but possibly under a second exemption. The Missouri Food Code's definition of Food Establishment exempts other non-potentially-hazardous foods sold from an individual stand direct to the consumer where local laws allow, and the department names fruit butters, sorghum, cracked nuts, packaged spices and spice mixes and dry soup mixes as examples. Because that route depends on your local public health agency's own code, you have to ask them rather than relying on the state answer.

Can I sell my baked goods online in Missouri?

Yes, since 28 August 2022, as long as both you and the purchaser are located in Missouri. Selling across state lines is prohibited. Sales must also be direct to the end consumer — wholesaling takes you out of the exemption and into the DHSS Manufactured Food program.

My jam is sugar-free. Is it still covered?

Possibly not. The department warns that certain jams and jellies are excluded even though jam is on the allowed list: a "No Sugar Added" or "Sugar Free" recipe, or a hot pepper jam, can have an altered pH or water activity that stops it being non-potentially-hazardous. Because those products vary so greatly they cannot be sold under the Cottage Law. Being in an allowed category is not a guarantee about your particular recipe.

What exactly goes on my label?

The full name and address of your operation, the common name of the food, all ingredients in descending order of weight, the net weight, any allergens, and a statement that the product is prepared in a kitchen not subject to inspection by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. If you are selling under the Food Code exemption rather than the Cottage Law, you also need a clearly visible placard at the point of sale saying the same thing.

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