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

What Virginia actually decides

Virginia writes this as an exemption from inspection rather than as a programme you join. There is no permit, no registration and no fee, and VDACS says that an exempt operator does not pay its $40 annual inspection fee. If a bill arrives anyway, report it.

What confuses people is that there are three tiers, not one. Baked goods, candy and dry goods have no dollar cap at all. Pickles and acidified vegetables are separate and capped at $9,000 gross in a calendar year, with VDACS asking you to document those sales as you go. Honey from your own hives is a third tier, under 250 gallons a year, and on that tier alone you may not sell other foods except through the two above.

July 2026 changed how you sell. Both home tiers may now sell at any location, over the internet, or by phone to someone in Virginia, and deliver in person, by mail or by delivery service. Before that it was in person only. The label may also now carry a PO box instead of a physical address, which is a genuine privacy improvement.

If you are doing acidified products, take the pH requirement seriously. Every different product needs its own test at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower, paper strips are not accurate enough, and VDACS wants an electronic meter, roughly $100. For anything canned under two months, blend the sample rather than testing the brine on its own.

One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the prohibited-food list, the training requirement or some kitchen rules, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from Virginia 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.

What you can sell in Virginia

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.

• Candies
• Jams and jellies that are not low-acid or acidified low-acid products
• Dried fruits, dried herbs, dry seasonings and dry mixtures
• Coated and uncoated nuts
• Vinegars and flavoured vinegars
• Popcorn, popcorn balls and cotton candy
• Dried pasta and dry baking mixes
• Roasted coffee and dried tea
• Cereals, trail mixes and granola
• Baked goods that need no time or temperature control after preparation
• Pickles and acidified vegetables at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower, including pickled products, salsa, chow-chow and relishes. This is a separate tier with its own $9,000 cap
• Honey from your own hives, under 250 gallons a year. This is a third tier

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.

• Canned fermented foods
• Canned foods that need refrigeration for safety
• Canned acid foods
• Canned fruits
• Low-acid canned vegetables
• Any food that needs time or temperature control after preparation, derived from the statute rather than published as a prohibition.
• Low-acid or acidified low-acid jams and jellies, derived the same way.
• Infused honey, which VDACS treats as a value-added product outside the pure-honey exemption

Where you are allowed to sell it

The researched record lists direct sales, farmers markets, online orders, delivery, in-state 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 permit, no registration and no fee. VDACS states that exempt operators do not pay its $40 annual inspection fee, and that a bill received in error should be reported. There is no dollar cap on the baked goods, candy and dry goods tier; the pickles and acidified vegetables tier is capped at $9,000 gross in a calendar year, and VDACS asks producers to document those sales on an ongoing basis.

No training is recorded as universally required. Nothing in section 3.2-5130 or the VDACS FAQ imposes training. For acidified foods VDACS strongly encourages a Better Process Control School course and a process authority review, which is encouragement rather than a requirement. VDACS never states the absence.

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.

• The food is processed and prepared in your own private home, and the products must need no time or temperature control after preparation.
• Acidified products reach an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower, and each different product you offer needs its own pH test.
• Paper pH strips are not accurate enough. VDACS says use an electronic pH meter, about $100, and for product canned under two months blend the sample rather than testing the brine alone.
• Honey comes from your own hives, and under that tier you may not sell other foods except through the two tiers above.
• Virginia sets no home kitchen hygiene rules: no pets rule, no children rule, no separate-equipment rule, no water testing. That absence is inferred from silence in both statute and FAQ.

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.

• 2024-07-01: The annual gross sales cap on home-processed pickles and acidified vegetables rose from $3,000 to $9,000.
• 2026-07-01: Both home tiers may now sell at any location, through the internet, or by phone to an individual in Virginia, and deliver in person, by mail or by delivery service. Before this, sales were in person only, at the private home, a farmers market, or a temporary event of no more than 14 consecutive days. The label may also now carry a post office box number instead of a physical address. The same act directs VDACS to convene a work group on standards for private homes producing products outside the exemption, meeting by 1 November 2026 and reporting on the first day of the 2027 session.

Start this weekend

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

• Work out which tier you are in. The $9,000 cap applies to pickles and acidified vegetables, not to baked goods.
• Buy an electronic pH meter if you make acidified products, and test every product separately.
• Use the PO box option on the label if you would rather not publish your home address.
• Keep ongoing records of acidified sales. VDACS asks for them against the $9,000 ceiling.
• Do not pay an inspection fee bill. Exempt operators do not owe the $40, and VDACS wants to hear if one arrives.