All guidesRules for Maine · Last updated September 13, 2026

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

Maine calls one licence four different names across four documents. It is $20 a year, and selling at a farmers market needs a second licence on top of it.

Key takeaways
  • A $20 Home Food License, after a pre-opening inspection. No sales cap.
  • Selling off-premise at a market or craft fair needs a separate Mobile Vendor licence.
  • The product test is shelf stability, not a list.

What Maine actually decides

First, a naming problem that will cost you an afternoon if nobody warns you. The Department calls this Home Food Manufacturing in the rule, Home Food License on the guidance sheet, Home Food Processor on the fee line, and Home Kitchen License on the mobile vendor sheet. They are all the same licence. If you think you have found four different permits, you have found one.

It costs $20 a year, follows a pre-opening inspection, and has no sales cap. What catches people is the second licence: selling off-premise at a farmers market or a craft fair needs a Mobile Vendor licence in addition to this one. Budget for both if markets are the plan.

The product boundary is shelf stability rather than an enumerated list, which is more generous than it sounds. Bread, cookies, brownies, muffins, biscotti, granola, jams and jellies are in. Pickles, relishes and salsa are in too, after an acidified-food process review. Cheesecake, cream and custard pies, cream-filled pastries and anything with cream cheese or whipped cream are out, along with anything needing refrigeration.

The kitchen requirements are concrete and worth checking before the inspection. A two-bay sink, or a one-bay sink plus a dishwasher, with hot and cold water at adequate pressure. A private well tested every year for coliform and nitrates. Pets may be in the processing area outside production, but they come out before you process and every surface gets cleaned.

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 Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry directly. Everything else on this page was read off an official source on September 13, 2026. If one of those points decides your case, ask them.

The short version

Home Food Licensewhat the rule is called
Before you openwhen an inspector comes
No capannual sales limit

What you can sell in Maine

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.

  • Shelf-stable food, meaning food that is not potentially hazardous. That boundary, not a list, is what the licence covers
  • Bread
  • Cookies
  • Brownies
  • Muffins
  • Biscotti
  • Granola
  • Jams and jellies
  • Pickles and relishes, after an acidified-food process review
  • Salsa, after an acidified-food process review
  • Barbecue and hot sauces, after an acidified-food process review
  • Other canned shelf-stable products, after a process authority reviews them

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.

  • Cheesecake
  • Cream pies and custard pies
  • Cream-filled pastries, and desserts containing cream cheese or whipped cream
  • Anything that must be refrigerated or frozen to stay safe
  • Home-canned food that needs pressure cooking to seal, which the rule bans from sale outright
  • Meat and poultry, which run through a separate inspection programme
  • Dairy products, which need a Milk Producer Permit or a Milk Distributor License

Where you are allowed to sell it

The researched record lists direct sales, farmers markets, online orders, delivery, in-state shipping, interstate 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 Home Food License before you sell; the listed cost is $20 a year. The Department calls one licence four names across four documents: Home Food Manufacturing in the rule, Home Food License on the guidance sheet, Home Food Processor on the fee line, and Home Kitchen License on the mobile vendor sheet. They are the same licence. Selling off-premise at a farmers market or craft fair needs a second licence, a Mobile Vendor License at $20 a year, and the food must come from an approved licensed source such as a licensed home processor. Every canned shelf-stable product needs a process authority review before the licence issues, a private well needs an annual coliform and nitrate test, and the licence covers your own residence only. Maine publishes no sales cap in the rule, the statute or on any Department page, and never says there is none.

No training is recorded as universally required. No training requirement appears in the rule or on any Department page, and the Department never states the absence. It points to University of Maine Cooperative Extension food safety training as a resource rather than a duty.

Before you open 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.

  • A two-bay sink, or a one-bay sink plus a dishwasher, with hot and cold water at adequate pressure.
  • A private well is tested every year for coliform and nitrates.
  • Pets may be in the processing area outside production. Before you process, they come out and every surface and utensil is washed, rinsed and sanitized.
  • A thermometer in the refrigerator, held at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below.
  • Only new glass containers or home-canning jars intended for reuse. Seals are never reused.

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.

  • 2023-10-25: Broadened "direct producer-to-consumer transaction" in the Food Sovereignty Act to include roadside stands, fundraisers, farmers markets, community social events, buying clubs, deliveries, CSAs and herd-share agreements.
  • 2025-09-24: The Act to Protect the Right to Food rewrote much of the Food Sovereignty Act: new definitions of consumer, food producer, food sovereignty and traditional foodways, three new sections, ordinances now reaching traditional foodways as well as direct producer-to-consumer transactions, the Act applying to ordinances adopted before 31 October 2017, and ordinances to be liberally construed.

What belongs on a Maine label

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
checked September 13, 2026

  1. 01Product name
  2. 02Ingredients by weight
  3. 03Net weight
  4. 04Name and street address
  5. No permit number. No state size rule; the federal 1/16 inch minimum applies.
Make a Maine label

Start this weekend

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

  • Do not chase four permits. Home Food Manufacturing, Home Food License, Home Food Processor and Home Kitchen License are one licence.
  • Add the Mobile Vendor licence if you plan to sell at markets or craft fairs. It is separate.
  • Sort the sink before the inspection: two bays, or one bay plus a dishwasher.
  • Test a private well annually for coliform and nitrates.
  • Get an acidified-food process review before selling pickles, relishes or salsa.

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.

Massachusetts cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Massachusetts, and what goes on the label.New Hampshire cottage food lawWhat you can sell in New Hampshire, and what goes on the label.Rhode Island cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Rhode Island, and what goes on the label.Vermont cottage food lawWhat you can sell in Vermont, 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 Maine rule?

No, and you should not treat it as one. This is the official source read carefully on September 13, 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. Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 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 13, 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.