Worknest Business

Vermont 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 since 1 July 2025 the exemption runs to $30,000 in gross receipts. Act 42 of 2025 created a cottage food operation category in Vermont law for the first time, and set the licensing exemption at that figure.

But the exemption is not automatic, and that is what makes Vermont different. You must file for it every year: "Annually, a food manufacturing establishment claiming a licensing exemption… shall submit to the Department a licensing exemption filing as required by rule" — and that filing requires you to attest that you completed the required training. Exempt here does not mean invisible.

The threshold is $30,000 — and the old one was not what you think

The fee schedule in 18 V.S.A. § 4353 now carries a line that did not exist before: "Food manufacturing establishments; cottage food operations — Gross receipts of $30,000.00 or less from the sale of cottage food products are exempt pursuant to section 4358 of this title."

What it replaced is worth knowing, because almost every guide gets it wrong. The old exemption in § 4358(b) covered "an individual manufacturing and selling bakery products from his or her own home kitchen whose average gross retail sales do not exceed $125.00 per week". Not $10,000 a year — $125 a week. The $10,000 figure that circulates belongs to a different line of the same schedule, the one for non-bakery food manufacturers.

So the real change is from a weekly cap of $125 — roughly $6,500 a year if you sold every week — to $30,000 of gross receipts annually. That is a far bigger jump than the version you will read elsewhere.

Exemption threshold
$30,000 in gross receipts from cottage food products.
Above it
A home bakery license is $100 a year. Non-bakery food manufacturers pay $175 ($10,001–$50,000) or $275 (over $50,000).
Annual filing
Required, even when exempt.
Training
Required, and attested to in the filing.

Act 42 of 2025, as enacted · H.401 status

The annual filing — the part people will miss

Most exemptions in this guide work by simply not applying to you. Vermont's works by you telling the Department of Health, once a year, that it does.

Section 4358(c) as rewritten: "Annually, a food manufacturing establishment claiming a licensing exemption pursuant to this title shall submit to the Department a licensing exemption filing as required by rule. The licensing exemption filing shall require the food manufacturing establishment to attest to the completion of any training required by rule pursuant to section 4303 of this title."

And the training requirement it points at is also new. Section 4303(a)(7): "There shall be training requirements for food manufacturing establishment operators and employees to ensure cleanliness, sanitation, and healthfulness."

Two practical consequences. First, being under $30,000 is not enough on its own — if you do not file, you are not claiming the exemption. Second, the training is a precondition you attest to, so do it before you file rather than after.

What the filing involves in detail is set by rule, and the rules were still being made. The Act directed the Commissioner of Health to adopt emergency rules pending permanent ones, which means the forms and the training specifics may have moved since this page was written. Ask the Department of Health for the current filing rather than relying on a description.

What counts as a cottage food product

Act 42 defines it as food "that does not require refrigeration or time or temperature control for safety", and then lists:

And home-canned food, with a real condition. "Home-canned pickles, vegetables, or fruits having an equilibrium pH value of 4.6 or lower or a water activity value of 0.85 or less that are made using recipes: (i) approved by the National Center for Home Food Preservation; or (ii) reviewed by a food processing authority for safety."

That is a cleaner rule than most states manage. Several let you sell home-canned food if the chemistry is right but leave you to establish it; Vermont names the body whose recipes it will accept. If you use an NCHFP recipe as written, you have met the test.

The list closes with "any other good defined by the Commissioner in rule or policy", so it can grow without another Act.

Who may make it: a cottage food operator is "any person who produces or packages cottage food products solely in the home kitchen of the person's private residential dwelling or a kitchen on the person's personal property".

Where you may sell

The exemption is from licensing and the associated licensure fees — it is not a separate permission scheme with its own selling rules, which is why Act 42 says little about channels.

We are not going to invent a list of venues. What the Act does is place cottage food operations inside the definition of a "food manufacturing establishment" and then exempt them from licensing below $30,000. The practical rules on where and how you sell come from the Department of Health's rules, which were being written when this page was prepared.

If selling to shops or restaurants is your plan, note the shape of the scheme: above the threshold you need a license, and the home bakery license is $100 a year — a low number by the standards of this guide. Vermont's design seems to be a gentle on-ramp rather than a hard ceiling.

Labels

We are not printing a required label sentence for Vermont. Act 42 is a licensing and fee statute: it defines the category, sets the threshold, creates the filing and points at rulemaking. It does not set out a disclaimer, and we did not read a current official statement of one.

Since you are already filing with the Department of Health once a year, that is the natural moment to ask what the label must carry. Federal food labeling applies to packaged food regardless, and listing your ingredients and declaring allergens is what any customer with an allergy needs from you.

Sales tax

A licensing exemption is not a tax exemption. Whether what you sell is taxable, and whether you need to register to collect, belongs to the Vermont Department of Taxes, and we are not going to print a rate.

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 Vermont?

Not if your gross receipts from cottage food products are $30,000 or less — but you must file for the exemption every year. Act 42 of 2025 requires a food manufacturing establishment claiming a licensing exemption to submit an annual licensing exemption filing to the Department of Health, attesting to the training required by rule. Above $30,000 a home bakery license is $100 a year.

How much can I sell in a year in Vermont?

$30,000 in gross receipts under the exemption, since 1 July 2025. Above that you need a license rather than having to stop — the home bakery license is $100 a year, which is among the cheapest in this guide.

I read the old limit was $10,000. Is that right?

No, and this one is worth correcting. The old exemption covered an individual selling bakery products from their own home kitchen whose average gross retail sales did not exceed $125.00 per week. The $10,000 figure belongs to a different line in the same fee schedule, the one for non-bakery food manufacturers. So the change was from roughly $125 a week to $30,000 a year — a much larger jump than most guides describe.

What is the annual filing?

A licensing exemption filing submitted to the Department of Health, required by Act 42 of anyone claiming a licensing exemption. It requires you to attest that you completed the training required by rule. The detail is set by rule, and the Commissioner was directed to adopt emergency rules pending permanent ones, so ask the Department for the current form rather than relying on a description.

Can I sell home-canned pickles?

Yes, if the chemistry and the recipe both check out. Home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits qualify at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower or a water activity of 0.85 or less, made using recipes approved by the National Center for Home Food Preservation or reviewed by a food processing authority for safety. Naming the NCHFP is unusually helpful — use one of its recipes as written and you have met the test.

Where can I make the food?

A cottage food operator produces or packages solely in the home kitchen of their private residential dwelling, or a kitchen on their personal property. A rented commercial kitchen is not a cottage food operation in Vermont.

What has to be on my label?

We are not printing a sentence for Vermont, because Act 42 is a licensing and fee statute that points at rulemaking rather than setting out a disclaimer, and we did not read a current official statement of one. You file with the Department of Health annually anyway — that is the moment to ask. Federal labeling applies to packaged food regardless.

Other states

Tools

More guides

Ready to take orders?

Once you are set up, take orders with your own Worknest page — your customers order from one link, you get notified, and you can take the money at pickup.

Get the app

No monthly fee. Your customers order in their browser — they never need an app.