Home › State guides › Colorado
Selling homemade food in Colorado means your label has to follow the Colorado Cottage Foods Act (C.R.S. § 25-4-1614) — Home Kitchens / Cottage Food Production. Here is exactly what that label must show in 2026 — the required fields, the allergen rule, and the verbatim disclaimer and its font size — sourced to the statute and dated.
Print this statement on the label, word for word:
The statute sets NO minimum type size — no point value is claimed. The label disclaimer is separate from the placard required at the point of sale. Reconfirm on the CDPHE Cottage Foods page.
Under C.R.S. 25-4-1614 (Colorado Cottage Foods Act), a producer may be only an individual who is a resident of Colorado, or a Colorado limited liability company with two or fewer members who are all Colorado residents (subsection (9)(c)). Food may be produced in the producer's home kitchen or in a commercial, private, or public kitchen, provided that kitchen is not licensed, inspected, or regulated (subsections (2)(a) and (9)(a.5)). Only nonpotentially hazardous foods that do not require refrigeration may be produced, and they must be sold directly to informed end consumers (subsection (2)(b)(I)). The producer must complete a food safety course before selling and must keep net revenue per product under the statutory cap.
Allowed:
Not allowed under the program:
$10,000 or less in net revenue per calendar year from the sale of EACH eligible food product (C.R.S. 25-4-1614(2)(e)). CDPHE confirms the cap applies per product type, so several varieties of the same item each carry their own $10,000 allowance. Note: HB26-1033 (the 'Tamale Act', signed 2026) raises this figure, but CDPHE states that bill 'begins January 1, 2027'; as of 2026-08-16 the $10,000 per-product cap is the operative figure.
Colorado requires no state permit or registration for a cottage food operation.
Fee: No state cottage food registration fee, because no registration is required under the current statute. CDPHE offers free equilibrium pH testing for up to five pickled products per producer.
Renewal: Not applicable under the current statute (no registration). Annual registration is scheduled to begin January 1, 2027 under HB26-1033.
Required. C.R.S. 25-4-1614(2)(c): the producer must take a food safety course including basic food handling training, comparable to or given by the Colorado State University Extension service or a state, county, or district public health agency, and must maintain good standing under the course requirements including additional classes if needed. CDPHE accepts any one of three options: (1) CSU Extension 'Food Safety Training for Colorado Cottage Food Producers', an in-person classroom course - CSU Extension states it lasts 3.5 hours and the certificate is valid three years; (2) a Food Handlers Card obtained online through StateFoodSafety; (3) a food safety course offered by the local public health agency. The producer (or the person preparing the food) must hold the training before selling.
No routine inspection or licensure of the home kitchen. Under C.R.S. 25-4-1614(4), a cottage food product is subject to food sampling and inspection by CDPHE or a county, district, or regional health agency pursuant to C.R.S. 25-5-406 only if the product is determined to be misbranded under subsection (3), if a consumer complaint has been received, or if the product is suspected in an injury or foodborne illness outbreak. Sections 25-4-1604 to 25-4-1613 of the Food Protection Act do not apply (subsection (7)).
The statute contains no express preemption of local government. CDPHE guidance states that a cottage food business is subject to income and sales tax and that 'in some locations you may need to get additional licenses or pay additional taxes', pointing to home-rule jurisdictions in the Colorado Department of Revenue DR 1002 publication. Sampling and inspection powers under subsection (4) are shared with county, district, and regional health agencies, and subsection (8) allows those agencies to create voluntary producer registries.
Program sources: C.R.S. § 25-4-1614, Home kitchens - exemption - food inspection - short title - definitions - rules ('Colorado Cottage Foods Act'), 2025 Colorado Revised Statutes, full text - https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-25/disease-control/article-4/part-16/section-25-4-1614/ (retrieved via https://r.jina.ai/ proxy; direct fetch returned 403) · Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 'Cottage Foods Act' - https://cdphe.colorado.gov/dehs/cottage-foods (retrieved via https://r.jina.ai/ proxy; direct fetch returned 403) · Colorado State University Extension, 'Cottage Food Safety Training' - https://extension.colostate.edu/offering/cottage-food-safety-training/ · Colorado General Assembly, HB26-1033 'Expanding the Colorado Cottage Foods Act' bill page (summary only; enrolled text not accessible) - https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb26-1033 · National Agricultural Law Center, 'Colorado Expands Cottage Food Laws with the Passage of the Tamale Act' (secondary; used only for the 2027 effective date cross-check) - https://nationalaglawcenter.org/colorado-expands-cottage-food-laws-with-the-passage-of-the-tamale-act/
Colorado is a true exemption state, not a permit state: the Colorado Cottage Foods Act (C.R.S. 25-4-1614) lets you make and sell approved non-potentially-hazardous foods from a home kitchen with no state license, registration, or inspection. Its signature rule is a per-product revenue cap of $10,000 or less per calendar year for each eligible food product (counted separately by product, not lumped together), and a whole-egg allowance capped at 250 dozen per month. The one mandatory step is completing a food safety course (comparable to a Colorado State University Extension or public-health course) and keeping good standing. All sales must go directly from producer to an informed end consumer inside Colorado — no interstate shipping. Note: this changes on 2027-01-01 under the Tamale Act, which expands what home producers may sell.
The limit is $10,000 per eligible food product per calendar year. Sellers mistakenly think it's a single business-wide ceiling; tracking each product line separately is what keeps you compliant.
Colorado cottage foods must be delivered directly to an informed end consumer within Colorado. Listing on a marketplace and shipping to out-of-state buyers breaks the exemption.
Only non-potentially-hazardous foods qualify (pickled fruits/vegetables, spices, teas, dehydrated produce, nuts, seeds, honey, jams/jellies/preserves, fruit butter, flour, baked goods, and whole eggs up to 250 dozen/month). Cheesecakes, most cream/custard items, canned low-acid vegetables, and salsas are common disallowed mistakes.
Producers must complete an approved food safety course and label with product name, producer name/address/contact, production date, full ingredients, and the required 'not subject to state licensure or inspection' disclaimer. Selling before taking the course, or omitting the disclaimer, are frequent errors.
Timeline: About 1-2 days and no permit at all. Step 1: complete an approved food safety course (e.g., Colorado State University Extension or a local public health agency course) and keep the certificate. Step 2: build compliant labels with the required disclaimer and ingredient list. Then you may sell immediately — there is no state registration, application, or inspection to wait on. (Rules expand under the Tamale Act effective 2027-01-01.)
Cost: $0 — no permit or registration required. Your only potential out-of-pocket cost is the approved food safety course; some Colorado public-health and Extension courses are low-cost or free — confirm the current price with the specific provider (Colorado State University Extension or your local public health agency).
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 Colorado's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
Enter your recipe and get a print-ready label with the exact Colorado wording, ingredients ordered by weight and allergens auto-declared. Free watermarked preview; clean PDF for $12.
Make my Colorado label →Colorado requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection and that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish. This product is not intended for resale.” The state sets no minimum point size for it.
No. Colorado does not require a permit or registration number printed on the 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 (see below); the date the food was made; a telephone number for the operation.
No. Colorado requires no state cottage food permit or registration. No state cottage food registration fee, because no registration is required under the current statute. CDPHE offers free equilibrium pH testing for up to five pickled products per producer.
Allowed: Pickled fruits and vegetables (CDPHE: finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below); Spices / dry spices; Teas / dry teas; Dehydrated produce; Freeze-dried produce (CDPHE list); Nuts and seeds; Honey; Jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butter; Flour; Baked goods, including muffins, fruit pies, cookies and cakes; Candies, including cotton candy and fudge; Fruit empanadas.
$10,000 or less in net revenue per calendar year from the sale of EACH eligible food product (C.R.S. 25-4-1614(2)(e)). CDPHE confirms the cap applies per product type, so several varieties of the same item each carry their own $10,000 allowance. Note: HB26-1033 (the 'Tamale Act', signed 2026) raises this figure, but CDPHE states that bill 'begins January 1, 2027'; as of 2026-08-16 the $10,000 per-product cap is the operative figure.
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: Colorado Cottage Foods Act, C.R.S. § 25-4-1614(3)(a) (label) and (3)(c) (point-of-sale placard). colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_25-4-1614. Verified 2026-08-09. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.