All guidesRules for Florida · Last updated September 9, 2026

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

Florida has the most generous cap in the country at $250,000, no permit and no training requirement. The catch is the part people skip: wholesale is banned outright.

Key takeaways
  • $250,000 in annual gross sales, and no FDACS food permit for as long as you stay under it.
  • You can ship, including out of state. Selling wholesale is prohibited by statute.
  • Local governments cannot ban your operation or regulate your products.

What Florida actually decides

Florida made a deliberate choice to keep this simple. Section 500.80 exempts a cottage food operation from the permit requirement that applies to other food businesses, sets the ceiling at $250,000 of annual gross sales, and stops local governments from banning you or regulating your products. There is no training requirement written anywhere, though the department never says so in as many words.

The limit that catches people is not the cap. Cottage food in Florida is a direct-to-consumer rule, and s. 500.80(2) bans wholesale outright. You can sell at the market, take orders online, deliver, and ship by USPS or a commercial carrier, including across state lines. You cannot sell to a shop that resells your product. The moment that becomes the plan, you need a real FDACS food permit and a different kind of kitchen.

The product test is the usual one, phrased as a prohibition: nothing time or temperature controlled, nothing potentially hazardous, nothing that needs refrigeration. Everything must be prepackaged and labelled before it is sold, and it has to be stored at your residence. That last one quietly rules out renting storage space as you grow.

FDACS can ask you in writing to document the sales figure, so keep the records as though someone will eventually read them. Start with the FDACS page below, then check s. 559.955 for the home-based business conditions, which are separate and still apply.

One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the prohibited-food list or the training requirement, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer 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.

The short version

Cottage food operationwhat the rule is called
Only on a complaintwhen an inspector comes
250,000 USDannual sales limit

What you can sell in Florida

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.

  • Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits
  • Cakes, pastries, cookies
  • Candies and confections
  • Honey
  • Jams, jellies and preserves
  • Fruit pies and dried fruits
  • Dry herbs, seasonings and mixtures
  • Homemade pasta
  • Cereals, trail mixes and granola
  • Coated and uncoated nuts
  • Vinegar and flavoured vinegars
  • Popcorn and popcorn balls

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.

  • Any food that is time or temperature controlled for safety.
  • Any potentially hazardous food as defined by department rule.
  • Anything requiring refrigeration, which needs a full FDACS food permit instead
  • Products sold at wholesale, which s. 500.80(2) bans outright

Where you are allowed to sell it

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

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 does not list a general permit for this tier. No FDACS food permit is required. Section 500.80 exempts the operation from the s. 500.12 permitting requirement for as long as it stays under the cap.

No training is recorded as universally required. No training requirement appears in s. 500.80 or on the FDACS cottage foods page, but FDACS never says so in as many words.

Only on a complaint 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.

  • Cottage food products may only be sold if they are stored on the premises of the cottage food operation.
  • Every cottage food product must be prepackaged with a label before it is sold.
  • Cottage food operations must be conducted at the residence of the operator or of an owner of the entity.
  • Local governments may not prohibit a cottage food operation or regulate its products, though the operation must still meet the home-based business conditions in s. 559.955.

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.

  • 2021-07-01: Raised the annual gross sales cap from $50,000 to $250,000, extended the definition to entities as well as people, authorised internet and mail-order sales and delivery by USPS or commercial carrier, and moved regulation of cottage food to the state.
  • 2025-07-01: Section 500.80 was reenacted without substantive change as part of a broad Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill.

What belongs on a Florida label

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
checked September 9, 2026

  1. 01Product name
  2. 02Ingredients by weight
  3. 03Allergens
  4. 04Net weight
  5. 05Name and street address
  6. 06Home kitchen statement, exact wording
  7. No permit number. Required text at least 10 point.
Make a Florida label

Start this weekend

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

  • Confirm your sales route is direct. If any part of the plan is selling to a shop that resells, this rule does not cover you.
  • Keep sales records you could hand over. FDACS may ask you to document the $250,000 figure in writing.
  • Prepackage and label everything before it leaves the house. Packing at the market is not allowed here.
  • Check s. 559.955 for the home-based business conditions. They sit outside the cottage food rule and still apply.
  • If you plan to ship, confirm the product is genuinely shelf stable for the whole trip, not just the first day.

Nearby guides

Neighbouring states look similar until the one difference that matters. Worth a read if you sell across a border, or if someone in the next state over gave you advice.

Georgia cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Georgia, and what goes on the label.Kentucky cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Kentucky, and what goes on the label.Mississippi cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Mississippi, and what goes on the label.North Carolina cottage food lawWhat you can sell in North Carolina, and what goes on the label.

Keep going

Cottage food label makerTurn your recipe, allergens and required statement into a printable label.Cottage food business guideThe wider framework: product, kitchen, sales channel, label and local checks.How to start a home bakeryA first-sale checklist for the business decisions around the kitchen.
Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Is this the whole Florida rule?

No, and you should not treat it as one. This is the official source read carefully on September 9, 2026 and put in one place. Your city, your county, the market you sell at and your own product can each add a layer this page does not know about. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is the authority, not us.

Can I just use the label maker and skip this?

The label maker opens with the fields this jurisdiction requires, so it will get the sticker right. What it cannot do is tell you whether the recipe is allowed, whether your kitchen qualifies, or whether you can sell through the channel you had in mind. A correct label on a product you are not allowed to sell is still a problem.

Does the right label make me compliant?

No. The label is the last step and the most visible one, which is why it gets all the attention. The recipe, the kitchen, the training, the registration and the sales route all sit upstream of it, and any one of them can be the thing that is actually wrong.

Sources

Details were checked against public sources on September 9, 2026. Confirm current prices, policies, or provider instructions before relying on them.

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Cottage food laws

Selling somewhere else too?

The rule changes with the kitchen, the product and the sales route. Pick another place to compare.

Rule in front of you? Make the label.

The label maker opens with these requirements already loaded. Build it, then read the finished sticker back against the official source before you print a full sheet.