Arizona cottage food law (2026): what you can sell and label

What Arizona actually decides

Most cottage food rules are a list of things that keep at room temperature. Arizona stopped being one of those in September 2024. Tamales, burritos, soups and stews, jerky, fermented foods and prepared meals are all inside the program now, subject to in-person delivery, temperature control, a single destination and a two-hour transport limit. Very few states go this far.

The trade is that Arizona actually registers you. It costs nothing, but you may not sell before the certificate issues, its number prints on every label, and ADHS quotes four to six weeks. You register with the street address of your home kitchen, and a PO box will not do. Display the certificate any time you sell somewhere other than your own kitchen.

What catches people is that you register a menu, not a category. Adding a product beyond the approved list needs prior approval by email before you sell it, and any change to your registration details is reported within 30 days. Your food handler certificate has to stay active for the whole life of the registration, because letting either one lapse ends the exemption.

Two things sit outside the program entirely and are worth knowing before market day: open sampling and on-the-spot assembly. Samples are packaged and labelled like any other product. Pouring drinks for someone at your table is not covered.

One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the date a recent change took effect, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from Arizona Department of Health Services directly. Everything else on this page was read off an official source on September 9, 2026. If one of those points decides your case, ask them.

What you can sell in Arizona

Straight from the official record. Read these as categories rather than a menu, because one recipe can cross the line on its own: a filling that needs refrigeration, a pH that needs testing, or a process that needs an authority to sign it off.

• Baked desserts and sweets: cookies, cakes and cupcakes, frosting and icing, brownies and bars, cheesecakes, pies and cobblers, pastries, donuts
• Breads and breakfast baking: sourdough, quick breads, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bagels, scones, yeast breads and rolls, focaccia, biscuits, pretzels
• Confections and candy: freeze-dried candy, chocolate-dipped treats, fudge, chamoy and Tajin candies, hot cocoa bombs, toffee and brittles, caramel apples, truffles
• Savoury prepared foods: tamales, burritos, salsa and hot sauces, tacos, pickled vegetables, meals and entrees, soups and stews, jerky, empanadas, fermented foods
• Pantry and dry goods: spice blends and rubs, roasted coffee, loose leaf tea, dry baking mixes, granola, honey, dried pasta, extracts, dehydrated and freeze-dried produce
• Jams, jellies and spreads: fruit jams and jellies, pepper jellies, fruit butters, marmalades, curds, nut butters
• Snack foods: popcorn and kettle corn, roasted and candied nuts, trail mixes, crackers, chips, dip mixes
• Beverages and drink mixes: lemonades and aguas frescas, hot cocoa mixes, syrups, fresh juices, dry drink mixes, sodas, non-alcoholic kombucha

What is outside the rule

If your product is on this list, the answer is not "ask nicely". It is a different licence, a different kitchen, or both.

• Fish, frozen, canned or fresh
• Shellfish, frozen, canned or fresh
• Raw milk, as an ingredient or on its own. You may not pasteurize it yourself
• Alcoholic beverages. Alcohol as a cooking ingredient is fine when the finished food is not intended to intoxicate
• Marijuana and CBD infused products
• Pet treats and animal feed, which the Arizona Department of Agriculture regulates instead
• Dietary supplements and capsules, and any ingredient that is not FDA generally recognised as safe
• Foraged wild produce, home-raised raw shelled eggs, hunted game and home-raised quail

Where you are allowed to sell it

The researched record lists direct sales, farmers markets, online orders, delivery, in-state shipping, retail or wholesale.

One channel being open does not open the rest. Shipping, delivery and wholesale each turn on the product and where it is going, so check the route you actually plan to use.

Paperwork, training and inspections

The researched record lists ADHS Cottage Food Program registration (certificate of registration) before you sell; the listed cost is No fee. This is a free registration rather than a permit, but you may not sell before it issues and its number prints on every label. Register online through My Health Department with the home kitchen street address (PO boxes are not accepted), a menu-style list of products, an attestation and your food handler certificate. ADHS says processing takes four to six weeks. Display the certificate whenever you sell anywhere other than your home kitchen. Adding products beyond the approved menu needs prior approval by email to [email protected], and any change to your registration details is reported within 30 days. A complaint brings written notice and possible suspension or revocation.

Training is required: Food handler training course from an ANSI/ANAB-accredited program. The certification must stay active for the life of the registration. Letting either lapse ends the exemption. In a group home for people with developmental disabilities, at least one staff member taking part in preparation holds it.

No inspection is what the record says about inspections. Confirm what that means for your product and your local authority, because the two can differ.

Kitchen rules people miss

None of these fit on a label, which is exactly why they get skipped. Read them before the first batch, not after.

• All cottage food is processed, packaged and labelled inside your own home kitchen. No outdoor grilling, smoking or drying, and the kitchen may not exceed 1,000 square feet.
• Products and food preparation equipment may not be stored outside the home, and the home kitchen may not act as a commissary for a mobile food unit.
• Every ingredient comes from an approved source allowed by law and is FDA generally recognised as safe.
• Packaging is clean, sanitary, secure, fully encloses the food and carries a tamper-evident seal. The label itself can be the seal.
• Open sampling, on-the-spot assembly and pouring drinks are outside the program. Samples are packaged and labelled like any other product.

What changed, and when

A dated change means an older checklist can be confidently wrong. Read the instrument itself at the official source before you trust anything written before these dates.

• 2024-09-14: Arizona moved from a shelf-stable-only exemption to one that also allows time and temperature controlled foods such as tamales, prepared meals, dairy and USDA-inspected meat, subject to in-person delivery, temperature control, one destination and a two-hour transport limit. Created A.R.S. title 36, chapter 8, article 2.
• 2025-02-04: Final expedited rulemaking put registration, labelling, delivery, third-party vendor and packaging requirements into rule, and stated in rule that cottage food may be offered for sale and delivery only in Arizona. The Administrative Register issue is dated 28 February 2025 and the 4 February effective date comes from a secondary source.

Start this weekend

In this order, so the label is the last thing you check and not the first thing you guess.

• Register before anything else. Four to six weeks, free, and you cannot legally sell until the certificate is in your hand.
• Write the menu carefully at registration. Adding a product later needs written approval from ADHS first.
• Keep the food handler certificate current. If it lapses, the exemption goes with it.
• Print the registration number on every label. It is not optional and it is the easiest thing to forget.
• Package your samples. Handing out an open tray is outside the program, however normal it looks at a market.