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

What Maryland actually decides

Start with the trap. Maryland caps a cottage food business at $50,000 of annual revenue, but that number lives in the definition of "cottage food business" at COMAR 10.15.03.02B, not in regulation .27 and not in Health-General section 21-330.1. A seller who reads the regulation and the statute, which is the sensible thing to do, will conclude there is no cap. Above $50,000 you stop being a cottage food business and need a health department food licence, and neither COMAR nor the MDH guidance says that consequence out loud.

For direct sales there is no licence and no registration. Two optional submissions exist, both through the Cottage Food Business Request Form. One gets you a free unique identification number to print on the label instead of your home address. The other is required only if you want to sell through a retail food store: a label review plus documentation of a food safety course, and you may not sell to a store until MDH notifies you in writing.

The course is ANSI-accredited, completed within the past three years, and covers basic food safety, cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, pest control and the handling of food. It is not required for direct sales at all, which is a distinction worth holding on to.

One operational rule catches market sellers. Everything is prepackaged and labelled in your home kitchen. Nothing may be made, cut, bagged or portioned at a market or event, kettle corn included. Samples are allowed but they are cut and individually wrapped at home, and the display product still carries a full label.

One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the current sales cap figure or the date a recent change took effect, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from Maryland Department of Health 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 Maryland

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 breads, cookies and pastries without toppings or fillings that need temperature control
• Cakes and cupcakes without perishable icing or filling, wedding and specialty cakes included
• Pies, turnovers and fruit tarts from fruits with a natural pH of 4.6 or less
• Hot-filled canned acid fruit jellies, jams and preserves
• Fruit butters from apple, apricot, grape, peach, plum, prune or quince
• Candy that needs no temperature control: brittles, toffee, lollipops, gummies, marshmallows
• Chocolate confections made from commercially manufactured chocolate with commercial fillings that need no temperature control
• Fruit leathers
• Repackaged commercial seasoning, spice and tea blends
• Non-perishable snacks such as kettle corn and popcorn balls
• Foods manufactured on a farm by a licensed food processor under COMAR 10.15.04.19
• Any other food that needs no temperature control and is produced by a licensed entity

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.

• Baked goods needing refrigeration: meringue, pecan and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, cream and custard pies, cream-cheese or butter-based buttercream icings and fillings
• Low-acid canned foods
• Acidified and pickled products: corn relish, pickles, salsa, pepper jelly, barbecue sauce, mustard, condiments
• Garlic, or fresh and dried vegetables, in oil
• Raw seed sprouts
• Fish, shellfish, meat and poultry products
• Milk and dairy products
• Beverages

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 does not list a general permit for this tier. No licence and no registration for direct sales. Two MDH submissions exist, both through the Cottage Food Business Request Form: a free unique identification number to use on the label in place of your home address, and, before selling to a retail food store, a label review plus food safety course documentation. You may not sell to a retail store until MDH notifies you in writing.

No training is recorded as universally required. Required only to sell to a retail food store, completed within the past three years, covering basic food safety, cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, pest control and prevention, and receiving, storing, preparing and serving food. Not required for direct sales.

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.

• Products are produced or packaged in a residential kitchen in Maryland and stored on the premises of the business.
• Everything is prepackaged and labelled in the home kitchen. Nothing may be made, cut, bagged or portioned at a market or event, kettle corn included.
• Samples are allowed, but they are cut and individually wrapped at home, and the display product still carries a full label.
• You comply with all county and municipal laws. A local government may forbid home food production outright.
• You may not refuse a complaint inspection or interfere with sampling.

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.

• 2023-12-11: Regulation.27 amended. The substance of the amendment could not be read: every state-hosted route to the Maryland Register archive and the annotated COMAR failed, and the date comes from the official history note as mirrored elsewhere.
• 2024-11-27: Regulation.27C amended as an emergency provision. Substance not read, for the same reason.
• 2025-04-28: The.27C emergency amendment was made permanent. Substance not read, for the same reason.

Start this weekend

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

• Track revenue against $50,000 even though the regulation does not mention it. Crossing it changes what you are.
• Request the free unique identification number if you would rather not print your home address.
• If a shop wants to stock you, do the label review and the food safety course first, and wait for MDH in writing.
• Bag and label everything at home. Portioning at the market is not allowed, kettle corn included.
• Wrap samples individually at home, and keep a fully labelled product on the display.