Confita
What Georgia actually decides
House Bill 398 took effect on 1 July 2025 and it was a genuine rewrite, not a tidy-up. The state cottage food licence is gone, along with its $100 fee and the inspection you used to pass before selling. Sales to retail stores and restaurants are now allowed, so is mail order, and most local regulation is barred unless a local government passes a specific opt-out ordinance.
There is no sales cap. There is no permit. The only paperwork is optional: if you would rather not print your home address on a label, you can ask the department in writing for an identification number to use instead. The cost of requesting one is not published anywhere we could find.
One thing is genuinely unsettled, and it is worth knowing before you rely on either answer. HB 398 imposes no training requirement and repealed the licensing scheme the old training rule hung off. The department’s own cottage food page still tells operators to complete ANSI-accredited food safety training. Those two positions conflict. Until the page is updated, the safe reading is to do the training, because it is inexpensive and it settles the question.
The old regulations, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. subject 40-7-19, are still on the books and are partly superseded while they wait to be amended. If you find guidance that quotes them, check the date on it first.
One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the permit or registration or the training requirement, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from Georgia Department of Agriculture 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
What you can sell in Georgia
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 goods such as loaf breads, rolls, biscuits and cakes
- Jams, jellies, and preserves
- Uncut fruits and vegetables
- Dried fruits
- Dry herbs, seasonings, and mixtures
- Cereals, trail mixes, and granola
- Coated and uncoated nuts
- Vinegars and flavored vinegars
- Dill pickles
- Confections and fudge
- Dry soup mixes, roasted coffee beans, dry pasta
- Popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy
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.
- Alcoholic beverages
- Foods containing cannabis
- Raw milk
- Potentially hazardous foods requiring temperature control for safety
- Baked goods whose fillings require refrigeration or have high moisture content
- Fruit butters when commercial sterility may be affected by reduced sugar or pectin
