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Cottage Food Label Requirements in Alabama (2026)

Selling homemade food in Alabama means your label has to follow the Alabama cottage food production operation — Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1, rewritten by Act 2021-456 (SB 160, effective 1 August 2021) and mirrored in the State Board of Health rules at Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01(4)(a)14. No food service permit and no state licence; there is no dollar cap since 2021, and sales may be made in person, by phone or online with delivery by mail or through an agent — to consumers inside Alabama only. Two duties remain: a current certification from an ADPH-approved food safety course, and registration with your COUNTY health department, which reviews a sample label before issuing a number. Here is exactly what that label must show in 2026 — the required fields, the allergen rule, and the disclaimer and its font size — sourced to the statute and dated.

In brief — Alabama

Required disclaimer: “This food is not inspected by the Health Department. This product may contain allergens.”
Minimum font size: 10-point minimum
Permit number on label: No
Sales cap: No cap
Program: Alabama cottage food production operation — Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1, rewritten by Act 2021-456 (SB 160, effective 1 August 2021) and mirrored in the State Board of Health rules at Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01(4)(a)14. No food service permit and no state licence; there is no dollar cap since 2021, and sales may be made in person, by phone or online with delivery by mail or through an agent — to consumers inside Alabama only. Two duties remain: a current certification from an ADPH-approved food safety course, and registration with your COUNTY health department, which reviews a sample label before issuing a number.
Last verified: 2026-08-10

What must be on an Alabama cottage food label

Product name — the common name of the food
Your business / producer name
The address of the cottage food operation
A complete ingredient list, in descending order by weight (sub-ingredients included)
An allergen declaration — the 9 major FDA allergens, in the ingredient list or a “Contains:” line
Net weight, in US customary and metric units
The state's required disclaimer at a minimum of 10-point type (see below)

The disclaimer Alabama requires

Alabama fixes what the label has to say, not the words. Any wording that conveys the same thing complies — this is the version we recommend printing:

“This food is not inspected by the Health Department. This product may contain allergens.”

At least 10-point font. Alabama prescribes CONTENT, not wording: a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department, and a disclaimer that the food may contain allergens — so no sentence is legally verbatim. The wording shown is the one published by the state's approved trainer (Alabama Extension FCS-2058) and reprinted on the county registration form, which is what your reviewer reads. Read literally the statute puts the 10-pt minimum on the food name, your name, your address and the not-inspected statement, while the Board of Health rule and the county form put all five items — ingredients and allergen disclaimer included — under the same 10-pt heading: set the whole block at 10 pt. The county registration number is not a label field.

Alabama prescribes content, not wording: § 22-20-5.1(e) asks for a statement that the food is not inspected and a disclaimer that it may contain allergens. What is quoted here is the version published by the state's approved trainer and reprinted on the county registration form — the one your reviewer reads.

Cottage food rules in Alabama — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Alabama

Alabama runs a true cottage food exemption, codified at Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1 ('Cottage food production') and mirrored in the food service rules at Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01(4)(a)(8) and (14)(iii). The exemption attaches to a 'cottage food production operation', defined by the statute as a person operating out of his or her home who (a) produces cottage food for sale, (b) sells the foods produced only directly to consumers, whether in-person, by phone, or online, in the state, and (c) delivers the foods produced directly to consumers in the state, whether in person, through an agent of the producer, or by mail. 'Home' is defined by the statute as a primary residence that contains a kitchen and appliances designed for common residential use — production must happen in the primary home kitchen, and the ADPH review form asks the producer to sign an acknowledgement that 'foods can only be produced in my primary home kitchen for direct sales to the final consumer within the state of Alabama'. Two provisions define the ceiling on state authority: § 22-20-5.1(b) states that a cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment and is not required to have a food service permit issued by the county health department, and § 22-20-5.1(c) states that neither the State Department of Public Health nor a county health department may regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation except as provided by that section. The two duties the section does impose are labelling and a department-approved food safety course, both in subsection (e). Section 22-20-5.1(d) preserves one enforcement power regardless: the department may issue a stop sale, seize, or hold order for any food suspected of being the cause of a foodborne illness. ADPH adds one administrative step not written into the statute — completing and submitting a Cottage Food Review Form to the local county health department.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

Cakes, breads, Danish pastries, donuts, pastries, and pies (statutory list, § 22-20-5.1(a)(1)a.)
Jam, jellies, and fruit preserves
Candy
Dried and dehydrated herbs, herb mixes, vegetables, or fruits
Roasted coffee
Dried baking mixes
Fermented or preserved vegetables or fruit that do not result in the production of alcohol and that have an acidity level allowed by the department — the administrative rule ties that acidity level to Chapter 1 of the adopted Food Code definition of time/temperature control for safety food. ADPH states that fermented vegetables such as pickles and acidified foods such as salsa must undergo pH verification before they may be sold, and that the verification must come from a processing authority or the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, not from the producer's own pH meter; once the verification is approved, ADPH recommends the producer routinely run their own pH tests
Freeze-dried vegetables and fruits, but only after water activity verification from a processing authority (ADPH FAQ; freeze-drying is not named in the statutory list and is treated by ADPH as a dried/dehydrated product conditioned on Aw testing)
Non-potentially hazardous foods containing less than 3% alcohol (ADPH FAQ example: Alabama Lane Cake). Above 3%, ADPH directs the producer to the Alabama Beverage Control Board
Any other non-potentially hazardous food prepared in the home that does not require time or temperature control for safety to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation, and that is not meat, poultry, or fish — the statutory definition is a general non-TCS standard and the enumerated list is introduced by 'includes', not 'consists of'

Not allowed under the program:

Meat, poultry, or fish — excluded by name in the statutory definition of cottage food. ADPH confirms beef jerky and baked items containing meat, such as pigs in a blanket, are not allowed
Any food that requires time or temperature control for safety to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation (potentially hazardous / TCS food)
Fermented or preserved vegetables or fruit that result in the production of alcohol, or whose acidity level is not one allowed by the department
Fermented or acidified products sold without the required pH verification from a processing authority or Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, and freeze-dried products sold without water activity verification
Non-potentially hazardous products containing more than 3% alcohol, absent clearance from the Alabama Beverage Control Board (ADPH FAQ)
Low-acid foods in a hermetically sealed container, for example home-canned vegetables, when not prepared in a permitted establishment — Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01(4)(a)(14)(i) states that the private-home exclusion 'shall not be construed as allowing' this. Note this sentence sits in the charitable-sale/farmers-market exclusion rather than in the cottage food exclusion, so its reach over a cottage food production operation was not resolved from the text read

How much you may sell

No cap. This contradicts the older framing of Alabama's law and the framing in the brief for this file, and the newer law controls: the $20,000 annual gross receipts cap that existed under the earlier version of § 22-20-5.1 was repealed. Two corrections are needed. First, the current text of § 22-20-5.1, as reproduced by the National Agricultural Law Center current through Register Vol. 43, No. 3 (December 31, 2024), contains no dollar figure, no gross receipts limit and no volume limit anywhere in the section; ADPH's own FAQ states that 'the limit for annual income under the law has been removed'. Second, the repealing vehicle was NOT HB 300: it was Senate Bill 160 of the 2021 Regular Session, whose official synopsis is 'to allow various methods of sales by cottage food production operations, remove the existing cap on gross receipts by cottage food production operations, and require cottage food production operations to include certain nutrition information on product labels'. SB 160 is reported as Act No. 2021-461. That act number and its dates could not be read on an official Alabama Legislature or Secretary of State page and come from bill-tracking sites only, so treat them as unconfirmed; the removal of the cap itself is not in doubt, since ADPH states it directly and no dollar figure survives anywhere in the current section.

Where you may sell

Direct to the consumer in person, at the home or elsewhere
Direct to the consumer by phone order
Direct to the consumer online, provided the receiving person is in Alabama (ADPH FAQ: 'A cottage food producer may sell their food products directly to consumers in person, by phone, or online as long as the receiving person is in Alabama')
Delivery by the producer, through an agent of the producer, or by mail — all three are named in the statute, and ADPH defines an agent of the producer as a person who works on behalf of the producer to deliver the products to the consumer. Mailing within Alabama is expressly allowed
Sale from a venue that is not permitted by the health department — ADPH states a producer may sell from a mobile food unit, van, cart, tent, booth, or storefront that is NOT permitted by the Health Department, so long as the products are made in the producer's home and sold directly to the consumer
Advertising, including social media, is not prohibited (ADPH FAQ)
PROHIBITED: any sale that is not direct to the final consumer. No wholesale, no consignment, and no retail store placement — ADPH: 'A cottage food producer may only sell their products directly to consumers'
PROHIBITED: sale in or to a permitted food establishment or a health-department-permitted mobile food unit. ADPH: 'Permitted food establishments are not allowed to sell food items produced in a private home'
PROHIBITED: out-of-state sale, out-of-state delivery and interstate shipping — the statute limits both the sale and the delivery to consumers 'in the state'
FARMERS MARKETS ARE A SEPARATE QUESTION, not a flat no. ADPH declines to answer it, stating that state-sanctioned farmers' markets are under the jurisdiction of the Farmers Market Authority within the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries and that the producer should consult that authority. Independently, Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01(4)(a)(14)(i) excludes from 'food establishment' a kitchen in a private home where only non-TCS food is prepared for sale at a state sanctioned farmer's market, provided the consumer is informed by a clearly visible label, tag, or placard at the point of sale that the food was prepared in a kitchen not inspected by a regulatory agency. That is a distinct exclusion from the cottage food exclusion; the Farmers Market Authority rules governing market access were not read

Permit, registration and fees

Registration is handled by Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), Division of Food, Milk and Lodging, acting through the applicant's Local County Health Department, which is where the review form, label and course certificate are submitted. ADPH is 'the department' for purposes of § 22-20-5.1(a)(3)..

Confirm the product is a cottage food: non-potentially hazardous, prepared in the primary home kitchen, no meat, poultry or fish
Complete a food safety course approved by ADPH and obtain the certificate (see training)
If the product is a fermented or preserved vegetable or fruit, obtain pH verification from a processing authority or the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service; if the product is freeze-dried, obtain water activity verification from a processing authority. ADPH will not accept the producer's own pH meter readings for the initial verification
Draft the product label carrying all six required elements in at least 10-point font (see the label file for AL). ADPH states expressly that a scannable QR code may NOT stand in for the contact information or the ingredient list
Complete the ADPH 'Review Form for Cottage Foods Producer' (revision 6/7/24): first and last name, business name, physical address, mailing address, phone, email, products produced, and sign the acknowledgement that foods will be produced only in the primary home kitchen for direct sale to the final consumer within Alabama
Attach to the form a copy of the label, a copy of the current food safety course certification, and the pH or water activity verification if applicable — these are the three checkbox attachments on the form
Submit the packet to the Local County Health Department for review. The county records a date received, a date reviewed, an application ID and the expiration date of the food safety course in the department-use block of the form
Request written confirmation from the county health department that the food safety course certificate and product labels have been reviewed — ADPH states the county can provide this, and it is what a municipality typically asks for when issuing a business licence

Fee: No state fee is set. There is no fee in § 22-20-5.1, none on the ADPH cottage food page and none on the review form. ADPH answers the fee question by saying 'Fees vary by county. Check with your Local County Health Department about any fees for the review process.' No county fee amount is confirmed here — do not quote a dollar figure for the county review without calling the county. Note the statutory backdrop: because a cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment under § 22-20-5.1(b), no food service permit fee applies. A municipal or county business licence is a separate matter outside ADPH's authority.

Renewal: Not confirmed as a periodic renewal of the review itself. The statute requires only that the operator 'maintain certification of having attended and passed a food safety course approved by the department', and the review form has a department-use field for 'Date of Expiration for Food Safety Course' — which implies the practical renewal trigger is the expiry of the course certificate, at which point ADPH says the producer must retake a course. Whether the county requires a fresh review form on that date, on a fixed annual cycle, or only when products or labels change, is NOT stated in any source read.

Food safety training

Yes — mandatory, and it is one of only two duties the statute imposes. Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1(e) requires that a cottage food production operation 'shall complete a food safety course approved by the department' and that 'the operator of a cottage food production operation shall maintain certification of having attended and passed a food safety course approved by the department'. ADPH names the accepted courses: the food safety course developed specifically for cottage food operations by the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, and any other course taken through an ANSI-accredited food safety program. ADPH confirms that when the certificate expires the producer must retake a course, and the county health department records the certificate expiration date on the review form. Alabama does not call this a food handler card and the statute does not use that term; there is no separate ADPH food handler card requirement for a cottage food operation. NOT CONFIRMED: the course cost, the course length in hours, and how long a certificate remains valid — the Alabama Extension page states only that 'current certification must be maintained' and gives no term, and no renewal interval appears in the statute or on the ADPH page.

Inspection

No home kitchen inspection. ADPH answers the question directly: 'Will the Health Department inspect my home kitchen? No. The Local County Health Department will only review the food safety course certificate and the product labels.' The statutory basis is § 22-20-5.1(b), which places a cottage food production operation outside the definition of a food service establishment and removes the county food service permit, and § 22-20-5.1(c), which bars both ADPH and county health departments from regulating production at a cottage food production operation except as provided in that section. What remains is a document review at the county — certificate, sample label, review form, plus pH or water activity verification where required — and the one retained enforcement power in § 22-20-5.1(d): ADPH may issue a stop sale, seize, or hold order for any food suspected of being the cause of a foodborne illness. No routine, periodic or complaint-driven kitchen inspection right for cottage food operations was found in the sources read.

What your city or county may add

Section 22-20-5.1(c) restrains county HEALTH departments specifically, on the subject of regulating food production. It does not speak to zoning, business licensing, or other municipal ordinances, and nothing in the section read purports to override them. The practical local layer has three parts. First, the county health department is the point of contact: the review form and attachments go there, the county records the application ID and the course expiry, and the county issues the written confirmation ADPH describes as useful for obtaining a business licence — so administrative handling, and any review fee, varies across Alabama's county health departments. Second, ADPH states plainly that fees vary by county, which is the clearest signal that county practice is not uniform. Third, farmers' markets sit under a different agency entirely: state-sanctioned farmers' markets fall under the Farmers Market Authority of the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries, and ADPH refers producers there rather than answering. Municipal business licence, zoning and home-occupation rules were not researched for this file and should be confirmed with the city or county directly.

Program sources: Alabama Department of Public Health, Division of Food, Milk and Lodging, 'Cottage Food' program page — definition of cottage food operation and cottage food, six label elements at 10-point font, resources, and the full FAQ set (no home kitchen inspection; online, phone and mail sales within Alabama; agent of the producer; no restaurant, retail, consignment or permitted-mobile-unit sales; farmers markets referred to the Farmers Market Authority; pH verification by a processing authority or Alabama Extension; water activity verification for freeze-dried; under 3% alcohol; fees vary by county; QR code not accepted). Page last updated July 9, 2026 — https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/foodsafety/cottage-food.html · Alabama Department of Public Health, 'Review Form for Cottage Foods Producer', rev. 6/7/24, 1 p. — required fields, the three attachment checkboxes (label, current food safety course certification, pH or water activity verification if applicable), the primary-home-kitchen and in-state direct-sale acknowledgement, and the department-use fields including Date of Expiration for Food Safety Course — https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/foodsafety/assets/cottagefoodsreviewform.pdf · National Agricultural Law Center (University of Arkansas), 'Cottage Food Law Statutes: Alabama' — verbatim reproduction of Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1 and Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01, current through Register Vol. 43, No. 3, December 31, 2024. Used for all statutory quotation in this file — https://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/cottagefood/Alabama.pdf · Alabama Cooperative Extension System, 'Alabama Cottage Food Law: Basic Rules and Regulations' — approved course is the one taught by Alabama Extension or any ANSI-accredited food safety program; current certification must be maintained (no term stated) — https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/cottage-food-law/alabama-cottage-food-law-basic-rules-and-regulations/ · SECONDARY, for the repealing vehicle only: bill-tracking summaries of Alabama SB160 (2021 Regular Session), 'Cottage food production operations, allow online sales, remove gross receipts cap, require certain nutrition information to be included on product labels, Sec. 22-20-5.1 am'd.' — reported as Act No. 2021-461, passed May 6, 2021, effective August 1, 2021. Read via search-result summaries of https://legiscan.com/AL/bill/SB160/2021 and https://trackbill.com/bill/alabama-senate-bill-160-.../2013226/ ; neither page body was retrievable

What's specific about selling cottage food in Alabama

Alabama is unusually strict on the fine print: EVERY required element must be at least 10-point font, and it demands TWO distinct label statements — a non-inspection statement AND a separate allergen 'may contain allergens' disclaimer — not one combined line. A P.O. Box is expressly allowed in place of a home street address, which matters for home sellers who don't want their residence printed on every jar. And it is a pure exemption: no permit, no registration number, nothing of that kind on the label.

Common mistakes cottage food sellers make in Alabama

Believing the $20,000 cap and the online-sales ban still exist

Both were repealed by Act 2021-456 (SB 160), effective 1 August 2021. The old subsection (f) — « may not sell baked goods, jams and jellies, candies, or dried herbs and herb mixes over the Internet » — is gone entirely, and the $20,000 gross income condition disappeared with the old definition. This is the rare trap that costs you sales rather than a fine: producers still turn down online orders they are allowed to take.

Two statements, not one

Alabama requires a non-inspection statement AND a separate allergen 'may contain allergens' disclaimer. Many operators print only the non-inspection line and fail the allergen requirement.

10-point font floor applies to everything

The minimum 10-point font requirement is not limited to the disclaimer — per ADPH it applies to ALL required label information (name, address, ingredients). Shrinking an ingredient list to fit a small jar is a common violation.

No permit number to print — but training is mandatory

Alabama issues no cottage-food permit/registration number, so nothing of that kind goes on the label — don't invent a 'permit #' field. Operators must still complete an ADPH-approved food safety course (Alabama Cooperative Extension or any ANSI-accredited program), but that certificate is not a label element.

Match ADPH's wording, not another state's

The on-label phrase references the 'Health Department' (per ADPH), not 'Department of Public Health' — and ADPH does not fix one exact verbatim phrase. Don't copy another state's mandated string (e.g. 'Made in a home kitchen') as if Alabama prescribed it; confirm current wording with ADPH.

Setting only part of the label at 10 point

Read literally, the statute's 10-point sentence covers the food name, your name, your address and the not-inspected statement, while the ingredient list and the allergen disclaimer sit in the next sentence. The Board of Health rule (420-3-22-.01(4)(a)14.d) and the county registration form put all five items under one « at least size 10-point font » heading. The county reviews your label — set the whole block at 10 pt and the question never arises.

Quoting a required sentence that no Alabama law contains

The statute prescribes content, not wording: a statement that the food is not inspected, and a disclaimer that it may contain allergens. Templates that hand you a « legally required verbatim » Alabama sentence are inventing one. Use the wording the state's own approved trainer prints — « This food is not inspected by the Health Department. » and « This product may contain allergens. » — because that is what the county reviewer has in front of them.

Skipping the county registration because the law says no permit

Subsection (b) removes the food service PERMIT, not the registration. In practice you file with your county health department: the registration form, proof of a current approved food safety certification, a list of the foods you will make, and a sample label. The county issues a registration number with an expiration date tied to your training certificate — renewing the training is what renews the registration.

Assuming any home-baked food qualifies

Anything needing time or temperature control is excluded, and Extension spells out what that means in a kitchen: custard or cream-filled pies, cheesecakes, cakes with whipped topping, raw cookie dough, garlic-in-oil, any milk product, kombucha. Dried, dehydrated and fermented items qualify only within ADPH's limits — water activity below 0.88 or pH below 4.2 — and that means a lab or processing-authority test whose results go to the county with your registration.

Selling to a shop, or shipping across the state line

Sales must be direct to the consumer and delivery must stay inside Alabama, whether in person, through an agent of the producer, or by mail. Wholesale to a restaurant, grocery, novelty shop or any reseller is out, and so is a parcel to a customer in another state.

How long it takes and what it costs in Alabama

Timeline: No label pre-approval or permit-issuance step. An operator may label and sell once they hold the required ADPH-approved food safety training certificate — effective immediately upon completing training. Confirm the current approved course provider (Alabama Cooperative Extension or an ANSI-accredited program) with ADPH.

Cost: $0 — no permit required. Alabama's cottage food law is a pure exemption with no registration or permit fee; the only out-of-pocket cost is the required food safety training course (fee varies by provider; some Extension options are low-cost — confirm current pricing with ADPH).

Alabama changes its rules — we'll tell you

Cottage food laws get revised, and a new disclaimer or font size can quietly make your label non-compliant. Leave your email and we'll write to you only when Alabama's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.

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Alabama cottage food labels — FAQ

Does Alabama require a “made in a home kitchen” disclaimer?

Alabama does not fix the words — it fixes what the label has to say. The wording below is the one to use: “This food is not inspected by the Health Department. This product may contain allergens.” It must be set at a minimum of 10-point type. Alabama prescribes content, not wording: § 22-20-5.1(e) asks for a statement that the food is not inspected and a disclaimer that it may contain allergens. What is quoted here is the version published by the state's approved trainer and reprinted on the county registration form — the one your reviewer reads.

Do I have to print my permit number on the label in Alabama?

No. Alabama does not require a permit or registration number printed on the label.

What has to be on an Alabama cottage food label?

At minimum: product name — the common name of the food; your business / producer name; the address of the cottage food operation; a complete ingredient list, in descending order by weight (sub-ingredients included); an allergen declaration — the 9 major FDA allergens, in the ingredient list or a “Contains:” line; net weight, in US customary and metric units; the state's required disclaimer at a minimum of 10-point type (see below).

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Alabama?

Registration in Alabama goes through Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), Division of Food, Milk and Lodging, acting through the applicant's Local County Health Department, which is where the review form, label and course certificate are submitted. ADPH is 'the department' for purposes of § 22-20-5.1(a)(3).. Confirm the product is a cottage food: non-potentially hazardous, prepared in the primary home kitchen, no meat, poultry or fish. Complete a food safety course approved by ADPH and obtain the certificate (see training). If the product is a fermented or preserved vegetable or fruit, obtain pH verification from a processing authority or the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service; if the product is freeze-dried, obtain water activity verification from a processing authority. ADPH will not accept the producer's own pH meter readings for the initial verification. Draft the product label carrying all six required elements in at least 10-point font (see the label file for AL). ADPH states expressly that a scannable QR code may NOT stand in for the contact information or the ingredient list.

What foods can I sell under the Alabama cottage food law?

Allowed: Cakes, breads, Danish pastries, donuts, pastries, and pies (statutory list, § 22-20-5.1(a)(1)a.); Jam, jellies, and fruit preserves; Candy; Dried and dehydrated herbs, herb mixes, vegetables, or fruits; Roasted coffee; Dried baking mixes; Fermented or preserved vegetables or fruit that do not result in the production of alcohol and that have an acidity level allowed by the department — the administrative rule ties that acidity level to Chapter 1 of the adopted Food Code definition of time/temperature control for safety food. ADPH states that fermented vegetables such as pickles and acidified foods such as salsa must undergo pH verification before they may be sold, and that the verification must come from a processing authority or the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, not from the producer's own pH meter; once the verification is approved, ADPH recommends the producer routinely run their own pH tests; Freeze-dried vegetables and fruits, but only after water activity verification from a processing authority (ADPH FAQ; freeze-drying is not named in the statutory list and is treated by ADPH as a dried/dehydrated product conditioned on Aw testing); Non-potentially hazardous foods containing less than 3% alcohol (ADPH FAQ example: Alabama Lane Cake). Above 3%, ADPH directs the producer to the Alabama Beverage Control Board; Any other non-potentially hazardous food prepared in the home that does not require time or temperature control for safety to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation, and that is not meat, poultry, or fish — the statutory definition is a general non-TCS standard and the enumerated list is introduced by 'includes', not 'consists of'.

How much can I sell in Alabama before I need a commercial licence?

Is this legal advice?

No. CottageCompliance gives general information based on each state's published rules, dated to when we last verified them. Always confirm with your state or local agency before selling.

Source: Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1 (2025 Code of Alabama; history: Act 2014-180, Act 2021-456) and Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-3-22-.01, reprinted by the National Agricultural Law Center (current through 31 December 2024). County registration procedure, form and SB 160 effective date: Jefferson County Department of Health, « Alabama Cottage Food Law », 3/2024. Label wording, allowed foods and the aw < 0.88 / pH < 4.2 limits: Alabama Cooperative Extension FCS-2058, revised April 2022. Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.