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Selling homemade food in Idaho means your label has to follow the Idaho Direct to Consumer Commerce Act — Senate Bill 1283 (2026), signed into law and effective March 20, 2026; this Act replaced Idaho's prior cottage food rule (former IDAPA 16.02.19.001.04). Homemade non-TCS foods sold direct-to-consumer within Idaho require no permit, registration, or inspection. 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:
Verbatim wording confirmed against the Idaho DHW Food Safety page (the enforcing agency). The notification may be delivered by ANY of three means: a conspicuously displayed sign at the point of sale, a label affixed to the food product, or a card given to the informed end consumer — a label physically on the package is not strictly mandatory if a sign or card conveys the same statement (the three-means enumeration is per the researcher's reading of SB 1283; confirm against the statutory text at legislature.idaho.gov when reachable — the site was unreachable at verification time). No minimum font size is prescribed by the statute; the agency requires only a 'conspicuous' notice. Applies ONLY to direct-to-consumer sales within Idaho; wholesale, consignment, third-party, or out-of-state distribution voids the exemption. NOTE: the pre-2026 wording ('prepared in a home kitchen that is not subject to regulation and inspection... may contain allergens') is SUPERSEDED — do not use it.
Idaho scrapped its cottage food rule in March 2026 and replaced it with the sweeping Direct to Consumer Commerce Act (SB 1283) — one of the most permissive homemade-food regimes in the U.S. There is no permit, no registration number, no fee, and no inspection. The single hard requirement is a short mandated disclaimer sentence, and it can even be delivered by a sign or a handed card rather than a printed label. The old 'home kitchen not subject to regulation and inspection' wording is now obsolete.
Pre-2026 guidance (including still-circulating public-health-district fact sheets) told sellers to state the food was 'prepared in a home kitchen that is not subject to regulation and inspection... may contain allergens.' SB 1283 replaced that with a new mandated sentence, confirmed verbatim by the Idaho Dept. of Health & Welfare: 'This product is not subject to government food safety inspection or licensing requirements. It may contain allergens.' Use the new wording exactly.
The exemption applies only to sales made directly to the end consumer within Idaho. The moment you sell wholesale, on consignment, through a third party (including a store or a food hub), or ship out of state, you are legally a food establishment and lose the exemption entirely — the agency page states wholesale operations remain regulated and out-of-state sales may draw FDA requirements.
Foods needing time/temperature control for safety are not covered. Acidified/pickled products, refrigerated cakes, and anything with pH >4.6 and water activity >0.85 fall outside the exemption; if unsure, lab-test pH and water activity or check with your Public Health District.
A full ingredient list is required only when the product has two or more ingredients. The allergen warning, however, is baked into the mandatory disclaimer sentence and must always appear, regardless of ingredient count.
Timeline: Immediate — no application, permit, or inspection. You may sell as soon as your label, sign, or consumer card carries the required disclaimer, producer name/contact, and (if 2+ ingredients) an ingredient list.
Cost: $0 — no permit or registration required.
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 Idaho's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
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Make my Idaho label →Idaho requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This product is not subject to government food safety inspection or licensing requirements. It may contain allergens.” The state sets no minimum point size for it.
No. Idaho 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).
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: https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/health-wellness/community-health/food-safety (Idaho DHW Food Safety Program, formerly foodsafety.idaho.gov — enforcing agency, corroborates SB 1283 effective 2026-03-20, disclaimer wording, no permit number); https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2026/legislation/S1283/ (Idaho SB 1283, Direct to Consumer Commerce Act — statutory text; host unreachable at verification time); prior rule cross-check: https://adminrules.idaho.gov/rules/current/16/160219.pdf (former IDAPA 16.02.19.001.04) Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.