Skip to content
Confita
Start free

Rules for Pennsylvania · Last updated September 9, 2026

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

Pennsylvania does not have a cottage food law. It has a Limited Food Establishment registration, which means an inspection, a plan review, and in some cases lab testing you pay for.

Make a Pennsylvania label 
New YorkOhio
Key takeaways
  • Registration is $35, collected at the opening inspection, after a plan review filed 60 days ahead.
  • Routine inspections apply. This is a registered food business, not an exemption.
  • Not available in Philadelphia County, which runs its own system.

What Pennsylvania actually decides

Most states carve home bakers out of the food business rules. Pennsylvania brings them in and calls the result a Limited Food Establishment. That framing explains everything else on this page: there is a plan review, an opening inspection, routine inspections after that, and for several product categories a laboratory test you arrange and pay for yourself.

The timeline is the part worth planning around. Plan review goes in at least sixty days before you intend to open, and the department answers within fifteen business days. The $35 fee is collected when the inspector comes. Acidified and fermented foods, beverages, dressings, sauces, salsa, dehydrated foods, moist breads and some pies all need lab testing before they can be sold, which is a cost and a delay that does not appear on the registration form.

What you get for that is one of the widest product lists in the country. Jerky, kombucha, dressings, sauces, maple products, acidified canned foods and dehydrated goods are all in, alongside the usual baked goods and jams. Very few states allow that range from a home kitchen. The exclusions are the predictable ones: anything needing refrigeration, cheesecakes and cream pastries, low-acid canned foods, garlic in oil, and fluid dairy, eggs, meat and fish.

Two practical traps. Registration is not available in Philadelphia County at all. And selling from a farmers market or roadside stand can need a separate retail food facility licence on top of this one, from the department or your local health jurisdiction.

The short version

what the rule is calledLimited Food Establishment
when an inspector comesRoutine
annual sales limitNo cap

What you can sell in Pennsylvania

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: breads, cakes, cookies, pies
  • Jams and jellies
  • Candy, chocolate and fudge
  • Acidified and fermented canned foods
  • Dry goods, nut mixes, spices and seasonings
  • Dehydrated foods
  • Beef and other meat jerky
  • Honey
  • Maple syrup and maple products
  • Dressings, sauces, butters and spreads
  • Vinegars and dried herbs
  • Beverages and drinks such as kombucha, root beer and lemonade

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 time and temperature controlled food requiring refrigeration
  • Cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, cream, custard and meringue pastries
  • Baked goods containing meat or cheese
  • Low-acid canned foods such as soups, gravies, un-pickled vegetables and fruit in syrup
  • Garlic-in-oil products
  • Fluid milk, dairy, eggs, meat, poultry and fish
  • Wholesale juice requiring a HACCP five-log reduction
  • Cut or chopped fresh fruits and vegetables
Up nextWhere you are allowed to sell it

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, restaurants.

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 Limited Food Establishment Registration before you sell; the listed cost is $35. Plan review goes in at least sixty days before you open and the department answers within fifteen business days. The $35 fee is collected at the opening inspection. Honey processed on the same farm that produced it pays no fee but still registers and is inspected. Registration is not available in Philadelphia County. Selling from a retail satellite such as a farmers market or roadside stand may also need a retail food facility licence from the department or the local health jurisdiction. Acidified and fermented foods, beverages, dressings, sauces, salsa, dehydrated foods, moist breads and some pies need laboratory testing at your own expense.

No training is recorded as universally required. No course is mandated. You have to show basic food safety knowledge and have an employee health policy, written or spoken, before you open.

Routine 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.

  • No pets may be in the home while a personal home kitchen is used, unless the processing area is fully separated by a closing door and has its own outside entrance.
  • Children may not be in the kitchen during business food processing.
  • Business ingredients must be stored separately from personal-use ingredients, on their own shelves or in their own cupboards.
  • Home cooking and business production may not run at the same time in a dual-use kitchen.
  • Private well water must be tested for coliform and nitrate or nitrite before opening, and for coliform every year.

What belongs on a Pennsylvania label

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, checked September 9, 2026

  1. 01Product name
  2. 02Ingredients by weight
  3. 03Allergens
  4. 04Net weight
  5. 05Name and street address
  6. No permit number. No state size rule; the federal 1/16 inch minimum applies.
Make a Pennsylvania label

Start this weekend

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

  1. File the plan review at least sixty days before you want to open. Nothing else can start until this does.
  2. Check whether your products need lab testing. Acidified foods, beverages, sauces, dehydrated goods and moist breads usually do.
  3. Budget the $35 fee for the opening inspection, plus whatever the lab work costs.
  4. Set the kitchen up for the separation rules: business ingredients stored apart, no home cooking at the same time, no pets in the house while you produce.
  5. Ask about a retail food facility licence if you plan to sell at a market or stand. It is a separate permission.

Nearby places

Nearby guides

Neighboring 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.

Pairs well with

Keep going

ToolCottage food label makerTurn your recipe, allergens and required statement into a printable label.GuideCottage food business guideThe wider framework: product, kitchen, sales channel, label and local checks.GuideCottage food label requirementsEvery field a cottage food label needs, in the order to check them before you print.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

Sources

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

Is this the whole Pennsylvania 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. Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture 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.

More cottage food laws

More in Mid-Atlantic

Cottage food laws

Selling somewhere else too?

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

Free label maker

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.

Make the label Start my free week