Cottage Food Label Requirements in Indiana (2026)

Cottage food rules in Indiana — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Indiana

Indiana calls its cottage food operator a 'home based vendor', and the whole programme sits in IC 16-42-5.3 (Home Based Food Products), a chapter added by House Enrolled Act 1149 of 2022, P.L.49-2022 SECTION 4, effective 1 July 2022. The chapter is written as an exemption rather than as a licence: IC 16-42-5.3-2 says simply that 'a person may prepare and sell food products as a home based vendor if the person complies with the requirements of this chapter', and IC 16-42-5.3-3 says that production and sale in accordance with the chapter 'are exempt from the requirements of this title that apply to food establishments'. The exemption is reinforced at the definitional level: IC 16-18-2-137(b)(8), as amended by P.L.49-2022 SECTION 1 and again by HEA 1424 of 2026, excludes from 'food establishment' a home based vendor or an individual vendor who sells a food product under IC 16-42-5.3. There is no application, no permit, no registration and no fee anywhere in the chapter. Eligibility is instead defined by the four substantive conditions in IC 16-42-5.3-4. First, the food product must be 'made, grown, or raised by an individual at the individual's primary residence, including any permanent structure that is on the same property as the residence'. That wording is what lets an Indiana vendor work in a barn, shed or other permanent outbuilding on the residential property, and it is also what excludes a rented or shared commercial kitchen: the Indiana Department of Health home based vendor FAQ states plainly that products made in a rented kitchen are a licensed food business, not a home based vendor operation. 'Primary residence' is glossed by IDOH in its 26 May 2026 memorandum as the home where a person lives for a majority of the year, not a vacation or investment property. Second, the product must not be a 'potentially hazardous food product'. That term is defined for purposes of IC 16-42-5.3 by IC 16-18-2-287.8, as amended by P.L.49-2022 SECTION 2: a food, natural or synthetic, that requires temperature control because it is in a form capable of supporting the rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms, the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum, or, in raw shell eggs, the growth of Salmonella enteritidis; the definition expressly includes foods of animal origin whether raw or heat treated, foods of plant origin that are heat treated or consist of raw seed sprouts, cut melons, and garlic-in-oil mixtures not modified so as to stop that growth. Third, the product must be prepared using the sanitary procedures enumerated in IC 16-42-5.3-4(3). Fourth, the product must not be resold. One affirmative obligation does apply to every home based vendor: IC 16-42-5.3-7 requires a food handler certificate from a certificate issuer accredited by the American National Standards Institute, and requires a copy of it to be given to the local health department in the county where the vendor's residence is located. That filing is the closest thing Indiana has to registration, and it is a one-way notification, not an approval. Two developments deserve attention because older summaries get them wrong in opposite directions. House Bill 1562 of 2025 would have repealed IC 16-42-5.3 outright and replaced it with a 'community producers' chapter; it passed the House on 12 February 2025 but died in Senate committee and was recorded dead on 24 April 2025, so the repeal never happened. Then HEA 1424 of 2026 (2026 Public Law 163, signed 12 March 2026, effective 1 July 2026) added an entirely new chapter, IC 16-42-5.4 (Regulation of Community Producers), creating two new categories, 'homestead vendor' and 'small farm'. It did not repeal IC 16-42-5.3. The IDOH Food Protection Division memorandum of 26 May 2026 states the point explicitly: 'although new categories of home food processors have been established, all statutes for home-based vendors (IC 16-42-5.3) remain in force.' As of August 2026 Indiana therefore runs three parallel home food regimes, and a would-be cottage baker must first decide which one to operate under, because they differ sharply in allowed foods, sales channels and income limits.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Any food product that is not a 'potentially hazardous food product' as defined by IC 16-18-2-287.8 — the statute IC 16-42-5.3-4(2) states the rule negatively and gives no positive list, so the ceiling is the potentially-hazardous test, not an enumerated menu
• Baked items such as cookies, cupcakes, cake pops, bread and muffins (Indiana Department of Health home based vendor FAQ)
• Candy and confections such as chocolates, nougats, caramels and chocolate covered nuts (IDOH FAQ)
• Whole and uncut produce (IDOH FAQ; IC 16-42-5.3-1(b) also names whole uncut produce among the goods sold at a roadside stand, and IC 16-42-5.3-11(b) exempts the sale of whole uncut produce by an individual vendor of a farmers' market or roadside stand)
• Tree nuts and legumes (IDOH FAQ)
• Honey, molasses, sorghum and maple syrup (IDOH FAQ)
• Mushrooms grown as a product of agriculture; IDOH strongly encourages anyone selling wild mushrooms to be certified by a mushroom identification expert (IDOH FAQ)
• Traditional jams, jellies and preserves made from high-acid fruits using full sugar recipes — IDOH states this is the only canned food allowed
• Chicken eggs, subject to IC 16-42-11 and the Indiana State Egg Board: IC 16-42-5.3-11(a) applies IC 16-42-11 to egg sales under the chapter, and IC 16-42-5.3-11(b) exempts an individual vendor of a farmers' market or roadside stand from food establishment requirements as to eggs. IDOH states that eggs other than domestic chicken eggs (duck, quail, turkey) are potentially hazardous and require a permit from the local health department, and that egg sellers do not need a food handler certificate
• Poultry products produced under IC 15-17-5-11, sold by an individual vendor of a farmers' market or roadside stand — IC 16-42-5.3-10(b)(1) requires that poultry sold at a farmers' market or roadside stand be frozen at the point of sale, while poultry sold on the farm where it was produced must be kept refrigerated at the point of sale and through delivery by the producer to the end consumer
• Rabbits slaughtered and processed on a farm for limited sales on the farm, at a farmers' market or at a roadside stand — IC 16-42-5.3-10(b)(2), same frozen-at-market / refrigerated-on-farm rule, and the seller must comply with the chapter's labelling requirements

Not allowed under the program:

• Any potentially hazardous food product, that is any food requiring temperature control within IC 16-18-2-287.8 — IC 16-42-5.3-4(2)
• Foods of animal origin, raw or heat treated, as such foods are named in IC 16-18-2-287.8(b)(1)
• Foods of plant origin that are heat treated, and raw seed sprouts — IC 16-18-2-287.8(b)(2)
• Cut melons — IC 16-18-2-287.8(b)(3); IDOH's FAQ extends the practical warning to cut tomatoes and cut lettuce
• Garlic-in-oil mixtures that are not modified so that they no longer support microbial growth — IC 16-18-2-287.8(b)(4)
• Meat products (IDOH home based vendor FAQ). The only flesh foods a home based vendor may move are the IC 15-17-5-11 exempt poultry and the on-farm processed rabbits described in IC 16-42-5.3-10
• Pickles made by acidification or fermentation where the product is sold in an oxygen sealed container (IDOH FAQ)
• Low acid and acidified foods such as pickled green beans, pickled beets and salsa (IDOH FAQ)
• Shell eggs other than domestic chicken eggs — duck, quail and turkey eggs (IDOH FAQ); IDOH also states that quail must be inspected before sale and does not fall within the poultry exemption
• Any product that is resold rather than sold direct to the end consumer — IC 16-42-5.3-4(4), reinforced by the mandatory 'NOT FOR RESALE.' statement in IC 16-42-5.3-5(a)(6)
• Meat from a game animal — IC 16-42-5.3-10(c) excludes it from the poultry and rabbit exemption
• Dehydrated and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables are not resolved: IDOH answers 'it depends on the fruit' and directs the vendor to Purdue Food Science for testing and to the local health department. Treat as unsettled rather than allowed

How much you may sell

There is no sales cap. Chapter IC 16-42-5.3 contains no annual gross sales limit, no annual gross receipts limit and no unit limit anywhere in its thirteen sections, and none was added by any later act; the enrolled text of HEA 1149 of 2022 read in full on 16 August 2026 contains no dollar figure at all. The Indiana Department of Health confirms this in its 26 May 2026 memorandum to local health departments, which sets the three Indiana home food regimes side by side and enters, under the home based vendor column, 'No annual gross income restrictions'. This is the single most important structural difference between Indiana's home based vendor exemption and the new IC 16-42-5.4 categories created by HEA 1424 of 2026: a homestead vendor under IC 16-42-5.4-1 and the owner of a small farm under IC 16-42-5.4-4 each must not receive more than one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) in gross sales in a single year, whereas the home based vendor has no ceiling. What limits a home based vendor is not revenue but scope: everything must be made, grown or raised at the individual's primary residence under IC 16-42-5.3-4(1), nothing may be potentially hazardous, and nothing may be resold. A separate federal threshold can bite regardless of the state silence: IDOH warns in the same memorandum that a producer must have an annual gross income of less than $25,000 from produce intended to be consumed raw to stay exempt from the FDA Produce Safety Rule, and that sales above that figure are subject to inspection. That $25,000 figure is a federal produce rule threshold, not an Indiana cottage food cap, and it does not apply to baked goods, candy or jams.

Where you may sell

• Sales must be to an 'end consumer', defined by IC 16-42-5.3-1(a) as the last person to purchase the food product and who does not resell it; IC 16-42-5.3-4(4) forbids resale
• Sold in person, by telephone, or through the Internet — IC 16-42-5.3-4(5) authorises all three expressly
• Delivered to the end consumer in person, by mail, or by a third party carrier — IC 16-42-5.3-4(6). Indiana is unusual here: mail order and shipping are permitted by statute, where most cottage food states forbid them
• Roadside stand, defined by IC 16-42-5.3-1(b) as a structure including a tent, stand, vehicle or trailer that is visible from a road and located not more than one hundred (100) feet from the edge of the side of the road, where whole uncut produce, non-potentially-hazardous food products, IC 15-17-5-11 exempt poultry, rabbits, or eggs permitted by the state egg board are sold to an end consumer
• Farmers' markets, fairs and festivals — the chapter contemplates farmers' market sales throughout (IC 16-42-5.3-10, IC 16-42-5.3-11(b)), and IDOH states that a vendor may sell at a town festival if the home based vendor law is followed and the organisers allow it; IDOH stresses that no market, fair or festival is obliged to admit home based vendors
• Prohibited: shipping or delivering a food product to an end consumer located outside Indiana — IC 16-42-5.3-6(a). The exemption is intrastate only
• Mandatory when shipping or delivering: the product must go out in a sealed package that allows the end consumer to determine whether it has been tampered with — IC 16-42-5.3-6(b)(1)
• Mandatory when shipping or delivering: the vendor must keep a record of the shipping or delivery address of each end consumer for at least one (1) year after the date of sale, and must provide those records to the state department on request — IC 16-42-5.3-6(b)(2) and (3). IDOH confirms the records may be electronic or paper, and that the retention duty attaches only to shipped or mailed sales
• Prohibited in practice: wholesale and retail-through-a-store. IDOH states that a home based vendor may not sell to a local grocery store, because selling through a grocery store is wholesale and requires a permit and an inspected kitchen; the statutory hook is the no-resale rule in IC 16-42-5.3-4(4)
• Every product label must be posted on the vendor's Internet web site — IC 16-42-5.3-5(b); IDOH reads this as requiring the label to be available on the vendor's webpage or the market website when selling online

Permit, registration and fees

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

1. Confirm your product is not a potentially hazardous food product within IC 16-18-2-287.8. This is the whole eligibility test for the food itself: no temperature control required, no raw or heat-treated animal-origin food, no heat-treated plant food, no raw seed sprouts, no cut melons, no unmodified garlic-in-oil. Jams and jellies are the only canning IDOH allows, and only high-acid fruit with full sugar recipes
2. Confirm you will make, grow or raise the product at your own primary residence, including any permanent structure on the same property as the residence (IC 16-42-5.3-4(1)). A rented or shared commercial kitchen disqualifies you and makes you a licensed food business instead; a barn or shed on your own property does not
3. Obtain a food handler certificate from a certificate issuer accredited by the American National Standards Institute (IC 16-42-5.3-7(a)). IDOH confirms the training need not be taken in the county where you sell. Egg sellers are not required to hold the certificate
4. Give a copy of the food handler certificate to the local health department in the county where your residence is located (IC 16-42-5.3-7(c)). This is a notification, not an application, and no fee, form or approval is prescribed by the statute
5. Be ready to produce a copy of the certificate to the Indiana Department of Health or to any end consumer on request (IC 16-42-5.3-7(b))
6. Follow the sanitary procedures set out in IC 16-42-5.3-4(3): proper hand washing; sanitizing the container or other packaging in which the food product is contained; storing the food product safely; producing the food product in a food preparation or packaging area in which animals are not present; and cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces that have contact with the food product
7. Label every packaged product, or post a sign for unpackaged product, with the six elements required by IC 16-42-5.3-5(a): the name and address of the producer; the common or usual name of the food product; the ingredients in descending order by predominance by weight; the net weight or volume by standard measure or numerical count; the date on which the food product was processed; and the statutory statement in at least 10 point type. Allergen labelling is not required by IC 16-42-5.3 and IDOH's FAQ confirms it is not necessary — note that this is the opposite of the new IC 16-42-5.4-7(a)(5), which does require an allergen description from homestead vendors and small farms
8. Use the current wording of the mandatory statement. As codified today it reads 'This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the Indiana Department of Health. NOT FOR RESALE.' The enrolled 2022 text and the IDOH FAQ still print the older 'state department of health' wording, which was updated when the agency was renamed
9. Post the label of each food product on your Internet web site (IC 16-42-5.3-5(b))
10. If you ship or deliver: ship only within Indiana, in a tamper-evident sealed package, and keep the delivery address of every end consumer for at least one year (IC 16-42-5.3-6)
11. If you sell exempt poultry or on-farm processed rabbit at a farmers' market or roadside stand, freeze it at the point of sale; if you sell it on the farm where it was produced, keep it refrigerated at the point of sale and through delivery (IC 16-42-5.3-10(b))
12. Before choosing this route, compare it with IC 16-42-5.4, in force from 1 July 2026, which lets a homestead vendor or small farm owner sell prepared foods, meat products, produce, natural sweeteners, candy, baked goods and fruit spreads under a $1,500,000 gross sales ceiling, on property or at a farmers market. The two chapters are alternatives, not layers

Fee: None. No fee of any kind appears in IC 16-42-5.3. There is no permit fee, no registration fee, no inspection fee and no renewal fee, because there is no permit. The only money a home based vendor necessarily spends on compliance is the cost of the ANSI-accredited food handler certificate, which is charged by the private certificate issuer and is not set by Indiana law; no figure for it is stated in the statute or in any IDOH document read here, so none is asserted.

Renewal: Not applicable — there is nothing to renew. IC 16-42-5.3 creates no permit and therefore prescribes no permit term, no expiration and no renewal cycle. IC 16-42-5.3-7 requires a food handler certificate but sets no validity period and no re-certification interval; whatever expiry applies is the one set by the ANSI-accredited certificate issuer, not by Indiana law. The only recurring statutory obligation in the chapter is the one-year retention of shipping and delivery addresses under IC 16-42-5.3-6(b)(2).

Food safety training

Yes — a food handler certificate is mandatory, and it is the only training requirement. IC 16-42-5.3-7(a) provides that 'a home based vendor shall obtain a food handler certificate from a certificate issuer that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute.' The statute names no specific course, sets no minimum hours and states no validity period; the only constraint is that the issuer be ANSI-accredited. Three duties attach to the certificate. Under IC 16-42-5.3-7(b) the vendor must provide a copy to the state department or to an end consumer on request — an unusual provision, since it makes an ordinary customer entitled to demand proof of the vendor's training. Under IC 16-42-5.3-7(c) the vendor must provide a copy to the local health department in the county where the vendor's residence is located. IDOH's home based vendor FAQ adds two administrative clarifications: vendors do not have to complete the ANSI-approved food safety training in the county in which they sell, and egg sellers do not need to obtain a food handler certificate at all. Beyond this certificate, IC 16-42-5.3 imposes no exam, no continuing education and no cottage-food-specific course. IC 16-42-5.3-9 permits the state health commissioner to develop guidelines for the requirements of the chapter, including standards for best safe food handling practices, disease control measures and standards for potable water sources — guidelines, not rules, and IC 16-42-5.3-13(b) forbids a local food environmental health specialist from enforcing the department's rules concerning home based vendors more strictly than the department's guidelines. Note the contrast with the new chapter: under IC 16-42-5.4-8 a homestead vendor or small farm owner needs the ANSI food handler certificate only if they wish to ship or deliver, and may not ship or deliver without it, whereas the home based vendor must hold it in every case.

Inspection

No routine inspection. There is no pre-approval inspection, no annual inspection and no scheduled visit of any kind in IC 16-42-5.3, which is the direct consequence of IC 16-42-5.3-3 exempting compliant production and sale from the food establishment requirements of Title 16. IDOH states the position in its FAQ: if you follow the regulations you are not subject to regular inspections. Inspection is instead triggered by cause. IC 16-42-5.3-8(a) makes a home based vendor subject to food sampling and inspection in two circumstances only: if the state department determines that the vendor's food product is misbranded under IC 16-42-2-3 or adulterated, or if a consumer complaint has been received by the state department. IC 16-42-5.3-8(b) gives the department an emergency power: if it has reason to believe an imminent health hazard exists with respect to a vendor's food product, it may order cessation of production and sale until it determines the hazardous situation has been addressed. IC 16-42-5.3-8(c) sets the mechanics: the state health commissioner or the commissioner's authorized representatives may take samples for analysis and conduct examinations and investigations through officers or employees under the commissioner's supervision, and those officers and employees may enter, at reasonable times, the facilities of a home based vendor and inspect any food products there together with all pertinent equipment, materials, containers and labeling. Note that entry is 'at reasonable times' and is not conditioned on a written consent form, unlike the consent-based schemes of permit states. Enforcement is delegated downward but capped: under IC 16-42-5.3-13(a) local health officers are, for the purpose of enforcing the chapter, food environmental health specialists subordinate to the state department, and under IC 16-42-5.3-13(b) the state department must give them guidelines on interpretation, and a food environmental health specialist may not enforce the department's rules concerning home based vendors in a manner more strict than those guidelines. IDOH's FAQ confirms that local inspectors do appear at farmers' markets, but describes their role there as inspecting the general sanitary conditions of the market, verifying that home based vendor products are not potentially hazardous and are labelled and that sanitary requirements are met, and educating market masters and vendors. The consequence of falling outside the exemption is spelled out in the IDOH memorandum of 26 May 2026: a vendor who fails to meet the home based vendor requirements is treated as an unlicensed retail food establishment subject to 410 IAC 7-26, which brings the full retail food establishment sanitation rule and licensing regime into play.

What your city or county may add

Indiana pre-empts local licensing of home based vendors, and does so in strong terms. IC 16-42-5.3-12 provides that 'notwithstanding any other law, a local unit of government (as defined in IC 14-22-31.5-1) may not by ordinance or resolution require any licensure, certification, or inspection of foods or food products of a home based vendor or an individual vendor who prepares and sells food products under this chapter.' The pre-emption reaches licensure, certification and inspection alike, and it covers the individual vendor as well as the home based vendor. A second, softer control sits in IC 16-42-5.3-13(b): local health officers acting as food environmental health specialists may not enforce the state department's rules concerning home based vendors more strictly than the state department's guidelines, so a county cannot achieve by interpretation what IC 16-42-5.3-12 denies it by ordinance. IDOH restates the principle in its May 2026 memorandum: a local health department and the state department of health may not be more restrictive than public law. What local government retains is narrow but real. The local health department is the recipient of the food handler certificate copy under IC 16-42-5.3-7(c). It permits non-chicken eggs, which IDOH treats as potentially hazardous and outside the exemption. Its inspectors patrol farmers' markets for general market sanitation and for products that fall outside the exemption, and it acquires full retail-food jurisdiction under 410 IAC 7-26 the moment a vendor stops meeting the home based vendor conditions. Private venues are not bound by the pre-emption at all: IDOH is explicit that farmers markets are owner operated and can be more restrictive than state law about which products may be sold, and that no market, fair or festival is obliged to admit home based vendors. Zoning and home-occupation ordinances are a separate matter that IC 16-42-5.3-12 does not address — it pre-empts food licensure, certification and inspection, not land use — and no Indiana municipal or county zoning code was read for this record, so no statement is made about what a given city allows.

Program sources: House Enrolled Act 1149, Second Regular Session of the 122nd General Assembly (2022), P.L.49-2022 — full enrolled text adding IC 16-42-5.3 sections 1-13, amending IC 16-18-2-137 (food establishment) and IC 16-18-2-287.8 (potentially hazardous food product), and repealing IC 16-42-5-29 — https://www.in.gov/localhealth/unioncounty/files/2022-10-05-House-Enrolled-Act-1149-Home-Based-Vendors.pdf · House Enrolled Act 1424, Second Regular Session of the 124th General Assembly (2026), enrolled version — adds IC 16-42-5.4 (Regulation of Community Producers) effective 1 July 2026, defines homestead vendor and small farm with the $1,500,000 gross sales limit, and re-amends IC 16-18-2-137(b)(8) to keep the home based vendor exclusion — https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/house/bills/HB1424/HB1424.05.ENRS.pdf · House Bill 1424 (2026), introduced version, Indiana General Assembly — digest and introduced text — https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/house/bills/HB1424/HB1424.01.INTR.pdf · House Bill 1424 (2026), Senate committee (engrossed) version — https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/house/bills/HB1424/HB1424.04.COMS.pdf · House Bill 1562 (2025), introduced version — the bill that would have repealed IC 16-42-5.3 and replaced it with a community producers chapter, and which died in Senate committee — https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/house/bills/HB1562/HB1562.01.INTR.pdf · House Bill 1260 (2024), introduced version — earlier home based vendor bill, engrossed and dead 5 February 2024 — https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1260/HB1260.01.INTR.pdf · Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection Division, memorandum to Local Health Departments, 'Farm and Homestead Food Sales', 26 May 2026 — states that all statutes for home based vendors (IC 16-42-5.3) remain in force, gives the three-column comparison of homestead vendor / small farm operator / home based vendor including 'No annual gross income restrictions' for home based vendors, cites 2026 Public Law 163, and sets out the 410 IAC 7-26 consequence of non-compliance — https://ag.purdue.edu/department/foodsci/_docs/idoh-homestead-and-small-farm-guidance.pdf · Indiana Department of Health, 'HOME BASED VENDERS - FAQs' — the agency's list of allowed and prohibited products, labelling answers, no-allergen-labelling answer, rented kitchen answer, inspection answer, records answer and out-of-state shipping answer — https://www.in.gov/health/food-protection/files/Home-Based-Vendors-FAQ-FINAL.pdf · FindLaw, Indiana Code section 16-42-5.3-4 (current through 1 January 2026) — cross-check of the codified requirements for preparation and sale — https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-16-health/in-code-sect-16-42-5-3-4/ · FindLaw, Indiana Code section 16-42-5.3-5 (current through 1 January 2026) — source for the current wording of the mandatory label statement naming the 'Indiana Department of Health' — https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-16-health/in-code-sect-16-42-5-3-5/ · FindLaw, Indiana Code section 16-42-5.3-1 (current through 1 January 2026) — cross-check of the end consumer and roadside stand definitions — https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-16-health/in-code-sect-16-42-5-3-1/ · BillTrack50, Indiana HB1562 (2025) bill detail — final status 'Dead', 24 April 2025, confirming the repeal of IC 16-42-5.3 never took effect — https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1783858