Cottage Food Label Requirements in Arkansas (2026)

Cottage food rules in Arkansas — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Arkansas

Arkansas no longer runs a cottage food program in the usual sense. The Food Freedom Act (Act 1040 of 2021, Senate Bill 248, approved 29 April 2021, effective 28 July 2021) created a new subchapter at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-57-501 to 20-57-507 and, in the words of the Arkansas Department of Health, the earlier Cottage Food Act (Act 399 of 2017) 'was removed and replaced' by it. NOTE ON THE CITATION GIVEN TO US: the brief cited '§ 20-57-301 et seq.'; the enacted text of Act 1040 adds 'Subchapter 5 — Food Freedom Act' at §§ 20-57-501 to 20-57-507, so § 20-57-301 is not the Food Freedom Act and the 501 series is used throughout this record. Eligibility turns on three things only, with no application and no numeric threshold. First, the person must be a 'producer', defined at § 20-57-503(7) as a person who processes homemade food or drink products on the person's private residence; 'homemade food or drink product' is defined at § 20-57-503(3) as a product processed at the private residence of the producer, including a farm or ranch where the producer resides, that is exempt from state licensure, inspection, certification and packaging and labeling requirements, and that is non-time/temperature control for safety food. 'Process' is broad — § 20-57-503(6) covers cooking, baking, drying, mixing, cutting, fermenting, preserving, dehydrating, growing and raising. Second, the product must be non-TCS: food that does not require time or temperature control for safety to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation, as further defined in Department of Health rules (§ 20-57-503(5)(A)). ADH restates this in plain terms as food or drink that does not require refrigeration to prevent the growth of disease-causing microorganisms and is processed at the private residence of the producer, and confirms that such products are exempt from ADH permitting and inspection. Third, the buyer must be an 'informed end consumer' — § 20-57-503(4) — the last person to purchase the product, who does not resell it, and who has been informed that the product is not regulated, inspected, certified or subject to state packaging or labeling requirements and has not been processed in a facility subject to state licensing, permitting, inspection or regulation. The producer's home kitchen itself is not inspected, licensed or certified, and no home-kitchen standard, separate-kitchen rule, water test or pet restriction appears in the subchapter. Practical qualifiers do exist outside the subchapter: § 20-57-507 preserves the Arkansas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (§ 20-56-201 et seq.), so products must not be adulterated or misbranded, and ADH adds that ingredients or additives not Generally Recognized as Safe by FDA make a food adulterated and unsellable. § 20-57-507(a)(6) also states the subchapter exempts no one from tax law, fishing or hunting law, federal law, or another state's laws. Acid and acidified products carry extra conditions that function as eligibility conditions for those specific items (see allowed_foods and inspection).

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Any non-time/temperature control for safety food or drink processed at the producer's private residence — the statute defines the category rather than listing products, so the ADH Homemade Food Production Guide (Appendix A, updated 21 May 2026) is the operative list and is summarised in the entries below
• Bakery products that do not require refrigeration and have a final pH of 4.6 or less and a water activity of 0.85 or less: biscuits, biscotti, breads, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, pastries, fruit-filled pies, pineapple upside-down cake, pretzels, quick breads
• Candy and confections whose final product needs no refrigeration for safety and has a water activity of 0.85 or less: bon bons, brittle, caramels, chocolate, chocolate-covered non-TCS foods (nuts, dried fruits, uncut fruits and berries, marshmallows, pretzels), fudge, hard candy, popcorn balls
• Candy flavoured with alcohol at less than 5% alcohol by volume, per Ark. Code Ann. § 3-2-413 (ADH Appendix A). Note that alcohol flavouring is listed as NOT allowed in the baked goods, jam and canned-condiment categories
• Jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades, conserves, fruit butters and syrups with a final pH of 4.6 or less or a water activity of 0.85 or less: conserves, apple butter, fruit syrup, sorghum, jam, jelly, marmalades, preserves, and pepper jelly made with commercially dried and ground pepper
• Home-canned acid and acidified fruit products with an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less that have been heat treated to kill vegetative cells: apples, applesauce, apricots, berries, cherries, cranberries and cranberry sauce, acidified figs, fruit puree, mixed fruit cocktail, grapefruit and oranges, grapes, green mangoes, papaya, peaches, pears, pie filling, pineapple, plums, stewed rhubarb, strawberries
• Acidified vegetables and tomato products at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less, heat treated, using an ADH-approved recipe, a Process Authority evaluation or per-batch pH metering, with batch records: tomatoes acidified with bottled lemon juice, citric acid or vinegar, acidified tomato juice, acidified tomato sauce, salsa
• Pickled products at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less, heat treated, under the same recipe/testing and record-keeping conditions: pickled asparagus, beets, carrots, green and yellow beans, green tomatoes, okra, relish, watermelon rinds, cucumbers, spiced apple rings. Pickled cucumbers and other acidified vegetables are named in the statute itself at § 20-57-503(5)(B)
• Vinegar and infused vinegars with an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less (ADH warns homemade vinegars may not be used to produce pickles or acidified products because their acid percentage is unknown)
• Condiments at an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less that are heat treated: barbecue sauce, ketchup/catsup, fruit salsas, spaghetti sauce without meat, pepper sauce, fruit chutney without nuts, tomato salsa, salsa verde, taco sauce, simple syrups at a 1:1 water/sugar ratio with flavouring
• Packaged pie and cake fillings and toppings with a final pH of 4.6 or less or water activity of 0.85 or less and heat treated: fruit toppings such as peach, apple or cherry; pie filling thickened with ClearJel or Thermflo (apple, blueberry, cherry, peach); lemon or lime curd
• Packaged ready-to-consume beverages with a final pH of 4.6 or less or water activity of 0.85 or less: packaged soft drinks, packaged teas, heat-treated and canned high-acid fruit juices, packaged lemonade and fruit-flavoured ades
• Dried, dehydrated and roasted products: baking mixes, dry beans, coconut, coffee beans, dried fruit, fruit leathers, grains, granola, cereals and trail mixes, dried herbs, freeze-dried fruit, vegetables and herbs, milled cornmeal and flaxseed, mushrooms from a commercial source only, nut mixes, egg-free pasta noodles, popcorn, potato chips, seasonings, seeds, dry soup mixes, dry tea, dried tomatoes, coated and uncoated tree nuts and legumes, vegetable leathers, vegetable chips, dehydrated vegetables
• Frozen products with a final pH of 4.6 or less or water activity of 0.85 or less, for example fruit-based frozen treats such as popsicles and sorbet, and fruit-based freezer jams
• Icings, fillings, frostings, sugar art and toppings at a final pH of 4.6 or less or water activity of 0.85 or less: buttercream, gumpaste, flat icing, fondant, fudge, glaze, royal icing; cake and cupcake toppers, modelling-chocolate figurines, sugar flowers, edible images printed on icing or wafer sheets; stabilised commercial non-dairy whip cream products, dried or freeze-dried fruit, edible flowers, herbs such as lavender and mint, whole fruit, fruit peels or zest
• Foods made with hulled hemp seeds, hemp seed protein powder and hemp seed oil — ADH states these are the only hemp products GRAS and permitted for use in food
• Microgreens — sprouted seeds harvested after the emergence of true leaves — are allowed under the Food Freedom Act, but may be cut only once, at harvest
• Whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables may be sold with no ADH permit or inspection (a separate ADH no-permit category, not dependent on the Food Freedom Act)
• Maple syrup, sorghum or honey produced by a maple syrup producer, sorghum producer or beekeeper, including creamed (whipped) honey and honey flavoured with dry non-TCS ingredients such as ground cinnamon or nutmeg (separate ADH no-permit category)

Not allowed under the program:

• Meat, poultry and seafood — § 20-57-504(b)(3) bars any transaction involving the sale of meat, poultry, seafood or time/temperature control for safety food products; ADH adds that no product containing meat, poultry or seafood may be sold under the Act and that smoked, cured or dried meats need an ADH permit plus a process variance
• Any time/temperature control for safety food. § 20-57-503(8)(B) lists animal food that is raw or heat treated; food of plant origin that is heat treated or consists of raw seed sprouts; cut leafy greens; cut tomatoes or mixtures of cut tomatoes; and garlic-in-oil mixtures. ADH adds cut or sliced fresh tomatoes, cut or sliced melons, and raw seed sprouts, and defines cut leafy greens as leaves cut, shredded, sliced, chopped or torn (a field 'harvest cut' is not a cut leafy green, and cilantro and parsley are not leafy greens)
• Dairy products — milk, cheese, butter, sour cream and the like — are not sellable under the Food Freedom Act. ADH points instead to Act 698 of 2025, a separate raw-milk regime amending § 20-59-248 that permits incidental direct sales of raw milk and raw milk products at the farm, a farmers market, a natural food store or by delivery from the farm, under its own warning-label, refrigeration-at-or-below-40°F and signed-acknowledgement conditions. § 20-57-507(a)(4) already preserved unpasteurised milk sales under § 20-59-248 as a separate track
• Any food whose combination of water activity and pH places it in the 'Product Assessment Required' cells of ADH Tables A or B, and generally any product with a final pH above 4.6 or a water activity above 0.85
• Canned low-acid foods (finished equilibrium pH above 4.6 and water activity above 0.85): canned beans, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, corn, artichoke, asparagus, okra, olives, spinach, onions, squash, peas, green beans, fish, meat, poultry, broth and eggs — ADH permit required
• Raw seed sprouts and sprouted seeds or beans: an ADH permit plus a variance covering seed disinfection and per-batch irrigation-water pathogen testing
• Refrigeration-dependent bakery: cheesecake (including no-bake cheesecake), banana cream and meringue pies, pumpkin and squash pie, custard or pudding cakes and cupcakes, tres leches cakes, fillings containing meat, poultry, fish, seafood or vegetables, pizza, frozen doughs, cake or bread baked in a jar, sesame balls, kas las paus, kalapao, kolaches, tamales, fawn kauv or banh cuon, deep-fried filled items, and anything decorated with fresh cut fruits, vegetables or meat
• Non-baked products containing raw or pasteurised eggs: raw cookie dough, egg noodles, soft meringues on pies, tiramisu, mousse; and any candy or icing containing uncooked or partially cooked raw eggs, cream-based filling, or eggs, cream, milk or cream cheese unless the finished product is documented as non-TCS
• Homemade lard, bacon grease or other animal fats; non-baked dairy such as butter, cheese, cream cheese and yogurt
• Fresh, un-canned or unpasteurised juice, fresh-squeezed juice, cold brew coffee, fruit ciders and fruit or tomato juices that do not meet the pH criteria and are not canned or pasteurised; beverages prepared on site; elderberry juice or syrup (ADH states elderberries are low-acid and no approved method exists)
• Oils and oil-based products: infused oils, oil-based vinaigrettes, sunflower, flaxseed, canola and rapeseed oils; home-canned caramel and chocolate sauces; coffee syrups; pesto and hummus; fresh sauces such as guacamole or refrigerator salsa; corn and bean salsa; salsa canned in quart jars; mole paste; mincemeat pie filling; pie fillings thickened with tapioca, starch or flour before canning; fruit curds other than lemon or lime
• Refrigerator pickles, refrigerator jam, pickled eggs, radishes, fish, meat or seafood; jams, jellies and butters made with reduced sucrose or sugar substitutes; pumpkin, squash and sweet potato butters; bacon jam; pepper jelly containing whole pieces of pepper
• Nut butters, dried noodles with eggs, fresh, frozen or cooked pasta, cooked tapioca, jerky of any animal origin, roasted or smoked vegetables and fruits, freeze-dried cheesecake, dairy, eggs, ice cream, meat, fish, seafood and poultry, wild-harvested mushrooms, and popcorn or kettle corn made on site (ADH permit required)
• Ice milk, ice cream and dairy ice pops, non-dairy soft serve, frozen uncooked or partially cooked bread doughs, batters and pies
• Any hemp product other than the seed-derived items listed as allowed — no hemp flower, hemp extract, CBD, THC or other hemp-derived compound
• Ready-to-eat food prepared on site, and commercially prepared food given to the consumer unpackaged — ADH-permitted establishment only
• Foods containing ingredients or additives that are prohibited or not GRAS under FDA rules, which ADH treats as adulterated and unsellable

How much you may sell

No cap. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-57-501 to 20-57-507, read in full in the enacted text of Act 1040 of 2021, contain no annual sales, gross revenue, batch or volume ceiling of any kind, and the ADH Homemade Food Production Guide of 21 May 2026 states none. The Arkansas limits are on the food (non-TCS only), on who may buy (an informed end consumer who does not resell), and on disclosure — not on dollars. The only numeric ceiling found anywhere nearby belongs to a different statute: the 500-gallon-per-month average that used to cap incidental raw milk sales under § 20-59-248, and Act 698 of 2025 struck that definition out. Do not carry that number over to homemade food.

Where you may sell

• Direct to the informed end consumer, in person, by telephone or online — § 20-57-503(9) defines a 'transaction' as the exchange of buying and selling in person, by telephone or online, plus delivery
• By the producer, an agent of the producer (ADH gives employee or friend as examples), or a third-party vendor including a retail shop or grocery store — § 20-57-504(b)(1)(B)
• From a retail space located at the ranch, farm, home or office where the product is produced — § 20-57-506(b)(1)
• At a retail location of a third-party vendor — § 20-57-506(b)(2). A seller whose space also sells food made in a licensed food service establishment must keep the homemade products separate — § 20-57-506(c)
• Farmers markets. § 20-57-502 states the purpose of encouraging expanded sales at farmers markets, ranches, farms and producers' homes or offices, § 20-57-503(1)(B) names the farmers market as a delivery point, and the ADH quick-reference table marks farmers market sales as allowed
• Shipping and mail order are allowed. § 20-57-504(b)(4) permits delivery by the producer, an agent of the producer, a third-party vendor or a third-party carrier, and ADH spells out third-party carrier as mail, parcel post and the like; its quick-reference table marks 'Shipped using a commercial carrier' as allowed. This contradicts the pattern of most cottage food states and should not be assumed away
• Out-of-state sales are permitted. § 20-57-504(b)(2) allows a transaction to occur in Arkansas or in another state if the seller complies with all applicable federal laws; § 20-57-507(a)(6)(C) and (D) preserve federal law, including any federal prohibition on selling certain items in interstate commerce, and other states' laws. ADH advises contacting FDA and the destination state and local public health authorities before any out-of-state sale
• PROHIBITED CHANNEL: restaurants and other food service establishments. § 20-57-506(a) states that except as provided in the subchapter a homemade food or drink product shall not be sold or used in any food service establishment, and ADH explains that homemade non-TCS food is not from an approved source. Wholesale-style resale is equally out: the buyer must be the last purchaser and must not resell (§ 20-57-503(4))

Permit, registration and fees

Arkansas requires no state permit or registration for a cottage food operation.

1. There is no application, registration, permit, licence or notification step. § 20-57-504(a) states that homemade food or drink products produced and sold in compliance with the subchapter are exempt from state licensure, certification, inspection, and packaging and labeling requirements, and ADH confirms these products are exempt from ADH permitting and inspection requirements
2. OPTIONAL, for privacy only: a producer who does not want to publish a home address and telephone number may request an identification number from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and print that instead — § 20-57-505(a)(2), 'if requested by the producer to protect the producer's safety'. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture gives the application as the Cognito form 'Application For Food Freedom Act Business ID Number' at https://www.cognitoforms.com/ArkansasAgriculture1/ApplicationForFoodFreedomActBusinessIDNumber, and notes the number lets a product be traced back to its producer if there is a problem
3. If acid or acidified products are made (pickles, acidified vegetables, acidified tomato products), the conditions in § 20-57-503(5)(B) apply before sale rather than any filing: use an ADH-approved or laboratory-tested recipe, or test every batch with a calibrated pH meter to confirm an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or less; label each batch with a unique batch number; and keep records of the batch number, the recipe, the recipe source or pH result, and the date the batch was prepared. ADH adds that the pH meter should have a resolution of 0.1 pH units and an accuracy of plus or minus 0.1 pH units, and points to Food Process Authorities listed at https://www.afdo.org/directories/fpa/
4. Obligations outside the food law remain: § 20-57-507(a)(6)(A) does not exempt producers from any applicable tax law, so state and local sales tax and any local business licence or registration must be handled separately

Fee: No state permit fee exists, because no permit exists. The cost of the optional Department of Agriculture identification number was NOT confirmed — neither the statute, the ADH guide nor the extension publication states a fee or a term for it, and the application form itself was not opened. Treat the ID number cost as unknown rather than as free.

Renewal: Not applicable — nothing is issued, so nothing expires. §§ 20-57-501 to 20-57-507 contain no renewal, term or expiry provision. Whether the optional Department of Agriculture identification number carries a term or renewal is likewise unconfirmed.

Food safety training

No training requirement. Neither Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-57-501 to 20-57-507 nor the ADH Homemade Food Production Guide of 21 May 2026 requires a food handler card, food protection manager certification, food safety course or any number of training hours for a producer of homemade non-TCS food. What the law substitutes for training is disclosure to the buyer plus, for acid and acidified foods only, a process discipline: an approved or lab-tested recipe or per-batch pH metering, batch numbering and record keeping. ADH offers help rather than compulsion — producers are told to contact the Environmental Health Specialist at their Local Health Unit whenever a food does not clearly fall in a listed category, and § 20-57-507(a)(3) expressly preserves an agency's ability to provide assistance, consultation or inspection at the producer's own request.

Inspection

No. This is the core of the Arkansas model. § 20-57-504(a) exempts compliant homemade food and drink products from state licensure, certification and inspection, and ADH states in terms that these products are exempt from ADH permitting and inspection requirements. There is no plan review, no pre-opening visit, no routine inspection of the residence and no water or sewage check. Four limits on that exemption are in the statute itself. § 20-57-507(a)(1) does not impede the Department of Health in any investigation of a food-borne illness. § 20-57-507(a)(3) preserves inspection at the producer's request. § 20-57-507(a)(7) preserves the Department's authority to ensure food is not adulterated or misbranded under the Arkansas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, § 20-56-201 et seq. And § 20-57-507(a)(2) leaves brand and animal health inspection requirements untouched. The one place where a verification burden falls on the producer is acid and acidified food: pH must be established by an ADH-approved recipe, a certified laboratory or Process Authority evaluation, or the producer's own calibrated pH meter on every batch, with batch numbers and records kept — self-verification, not state inspection. Producers should also expect no liability shield: the Act exempts them from licensing, not from suit, and the University of Arkansas extension service notes the Act provides no liability protection.

What your city or county may add

Arkansas preempts local prohibition and regulation of this activity. § 20-57-507(b) states that the subchapter preempts county, municipal and other political subdivision jurisdictions from prohibiting and regulating the production and sale of homemade food or drink products — an unusually strong clause that removes the local-health-department layer most states leave in place. Preemption is not total, and two carve-outs matter in practice. § 20-57-507(a)(5) states the subchapter does not change the regulation of other goods and services where homemade products are also produced or sold, and § 20-57-507(a)(6)(A) preserves all applicable tax law. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture illustrates the gap with municipal business licensing and zoning: it reports a city that exempts farmers market vendors from needing a business licence but requires one for vendors selling other farmers' products away from the market, and requires a business licence for people selling cakes from home, which in turn may trigger city zoning requirements. Farmers markets may also impose their own vendor rules. So the state cannot forbid the food, but a city may still reach the business, and a market may still set conditions of entry.

Program sources: Act 1040 of the Regular Session, 93rd General Assembly (2021) — Senate Bill 248, 'An Act To Create The Food Freedom Act', as engrossed 21 April 2021, approved 29 April 2021; adds Ark. Code Title 20, Chapter 57, Subchapter 5 (§§ 20-57-501 title, 502 purpose, 503 definitions, 504 food freedom, 505 disclosures, 506 exemption — location sold, 507 applicability — preemption), amends § 20-57-201 and repeals § 20-57-209 — https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?type=PDF&file=1040&ddBienniumSession=2021%2F2021R · Arkansas Department of Health, 'Arkansas Homemade Food Production Guidelines', dated May 21, 2026, 20 pp. — no-permit and permit-required categories, where and how homemade non-TCS foods may be sold, disclosure list, TCS exclusions, pickled and acidified conditions, Appendix A summary of non-TCS foods by category, and the Food Freedom Act quick-reference table — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Homemade-Food-Guide-5.21.2026-Update.pdf · Act 698 of the Regular Session, 95th General Assembly (2025) — Senate Bill 464, amending Ark. Code § 20-59-248 on sales of raw milk and raw milk products (removes the 500-gallon monthly definition, adds natural food stores and delivery, sets warning statements, the 40°F requirement and the signed acknowledgement of risk); cited by ADH as the reason dairy is outside the Food Freedom Act — https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?type=PDF&file=698&ddBienniumSession=2025%2F2025R · University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, FSPPC318, 'The Arkansas Food Freedom Act: Making and Selling Homemade Food and Drinks in Arkansas' — source of the Department of Agriculture business ID number application link, the no-liability-protection point, and the municipal business licence and zoning examples — https://www.uaex.uada.edu/publications/pdf/FSPPC318.pdf · Arkansas Department of Agriculture, 'Application For Food Freedom Act Business ID Number' (optional privacy ID referenced by § 20-57-505(a)(2)); URL recorded from FSPPC318, form NOT opened, so its fee and term are unverified — https://www.cognitoforms.com/ArkansasAgriculture1/ApplicationForFoodFreedomActBusinessIDNumber