Cottage Food Label Requirements in Iowa (2026)

Cottage food rules in Iowa — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Iowa

Iowa runs two distinct home-based tracks, and choosing the wrong one is the most common Iowa mistake. Track 1 is the cottage food exemption at Iowa Code § 137F.20 (enacted by 2022 Acts, ch 1129, § 10, from House File 2431): cottage food is exempt from all licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling laws of the state if the food is sold and delivered by the producer directly to the consumer, or delivered by mail or by an agent of the producer such as an employee. No license, no permit, no inspection, no fee. 'Cottage food' is defined at § 137F.1(3) as the production and sale of food produced at a private residence other than time/temperature control for safety (TTCS) food, and it excludes milk or milk products regulated under Iowa Code ch. 192 or 194 and meat, meat food products, poultry or poultry food products regulated under ch. 189A. The premises of a residence in which food is produced under § 137F.20 is expressly carved out of the definition of 'food establishment' at § 137F.1(9)(f). Track 2 is the licensed Home Food Processing Establishment (HFPE) under Iowa Code ch. 137D, which is what a producer needs as soon as the operation leaves the exemption: selling for resale (to shops, wholesale), or producing TTCS food such as refrigerated ready-to-eat items, raw meat or poultry from an exempt inspected source, or made-to-order food. § 137D.1(3) defines an HFPE as a business on the premises of a residence in which homemade food items are produced for sale or resale, for consumption off the premises, if the business has gross annual sales of less than fifty thousand dollars; a residence where food is prepared to be used or sold by churches, fraternal societies, charitable or civic organizations is not an HFPE. Critically, § 137D.1(4)(b)(1) states that 'homemade food item' includes food that is not TTCS food 'but does not include such food if produced and sold under section 137F.20' — the two tracks are mutually exclusive for the same product and channel, not stacked. Note also that the old Iowa 'home bakery' licence no longer exists as such; DIAL states the HFPE licence replaced the home bakery licence, and the state's kitchen rules now live in Iowa Admin. Code 481—ch. 34, not in 481—ch. 33 (that chapter covers food and beverage vending machine inspections and was rescinded effective 3/17/99).

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• COTTAGE FOOD (no licence): any food produced at a private residence that is not a time/temperature control for safety food — DIAL's own guidance and the statutory definition together cover shelf-stable baked goods, jams and jellies, dried and dehydrated goods, candies, honey, granola and roasted nuts
• COTTAGE FOOD: home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits, but only if the finished equilibrium pH is 4.60 or lower OR water activity is 0.85 or lower, each batch is measured with a pH meter or water activity meter, each container carries the date the food was processed and canned, and the producer provides documentation to the regulatory authority on request (§ 137F.1(3) and DIAL Cottage Foods & Farmers Markets guidance)
• COTTAGE FOOD: where it is not obvious whether a food is TTCS, DIAL requires the producer to be able to document to the regulatory authority on request that the food does not need to be kept hot or cold
• HFPE (licensed, ch. 137D): food that is not TTCS food, when produced and sold outside the § 137F.20 exemption — for example the same baked goods sold for resale through a shop
• HFPE: made-to-order food that is regularly prepared and promptly served, delivered or otherwise provided to a consumer immediately upon order and is intended for immediate consumption (§ 137D.1(4)(b)(2))
• HFPE: refrigerated TTCS ready-to-eat homemade food items, subject to holding at 41°F or below (or 135°F or above), the cooling and reheating time/temperature rules of 481—34.6, and a labelled expiration date of no more than seven days from preparation unless a longer date is validated by an accredited food science institution (481—34.7(4))
• HFPE: high-acid foods controlled by pH such as barbecue sauce, condiments and dressings, if produced to a standardized recipe, containing no more than 10 percent low-acid ingredients by weight, with the recipe submitted to and approved by the regulatory authority, with each batch's equilibrium pH tested below 4.60 by a calibrated food pH tester and recorded on the batch record, and adequately heated to destroy spoilage organisms (481—34.6(6)(a))
• HFPE: dried foods controlled by water activity, such as dehydrated or freeze-dried food, produced to a standardized recipe, containing no raw or undercooked foods of animal origin, with each batch tested for water activity or a validated written procedure ensuring 0.85 aw or below (481—34.6(6)(b))
• HFPE: jams, jellies, preserves and fruit butters meeting the standard of identity at 21 CFR Part 150, produced to a standardized recipe; nonstandardized fruit jellies at 45 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar concentrated to 65 percent soluble solids; nonstandardized nonfruit jellies at 65 percent soluble solids (481—34.6(6)(c)-(e))
• HFPE: standardized sweeteners and table syrups meeting 21 CFR Part 168 (481—34.6(6)(f))
• HFPE: fermented foods, but only after the department approves an HACCP plan validated by a recognized process authority — fermentation may not begin before that approval (481—34.6(6)(g))
• HFPE: packaged raw meat or poultry items, where the source is exempt (producer slaughtering not more than 1,000 poultry per calendar year under 9 C.F.R. § 381.10(c)(1), or an inspected source exempt under 9 C.F.R. § 381.10(d) or § 303.1(d)), sold directly to the end consumer and labelled with safe handling instructions (§ 137D.1(4)(c) and 481—34.6(2), 34.7(3))
• HFPE ingredients: honey from an unlicensed establishment and eggs from the establishment's own flock may be used in homemade food items (481—34.5(1))

Not allowed under the program:

• COTTAGE FOOD: any time/temperature control for safety food — a food that requires time and temperature controls for safety to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation (§ 137F.1(17)). DIAL's guidance spells out the TTCS set as raw or heat-treated animal food, heat-treated plant food, raw seed sprouts, cut melons, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes and garlic-in-oil mixtures not modified to prevent pathogen growth
• COTTAGE FOOD: milk or milk products regulated under Iowa Code ch. 192 or 194 (§ 137F.1(3)(a))
• COTTAGE FOOD: meat, meat food products, poultry or poultry food products regulated under Iowa Code ch. 189A (§ 137F.1(3)(b))
• COTTAGE FOOD: unpasteurized fruit or vegetable juice (DIAL Cottage Foods guidance criteria)
• COTTAGE FOOD: home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits that cannot be shown to reach pH 4.60 or below or water activity 0.85 or below on a per-batch meter reading
• HFPE: unpasteurized fruit or vegetable juice, raw sprout seeds, foods containing game animals, fish or shellfish, alcoholic beverages, bottled water, packaged ice, consumable hemp products, food that will be further processed by a food processing plant, TTCS food packaged using a reduced oxygen packaging method, and milk or milk products under ch. 192 or 194 and meat and poultry products under ch. 189A except the narrow direct-to-consumer exempt-source carve-outs (§ 137D.1(4)(c))
• HFPE: raw milk, or any manufactured raw milk product or raw milk dairy product — an HFPE shall not advertise for sale, offer for sale, sell, otherwise distribute or use it (§ 137D.2A)
• HFPE: ready-to-eat foods containing raw or undercooked foods of animal origin (481—34.5(3)(a), 34.6(2))
• HFPE processes that are flatly barred by rule: low-acid canning such as canned vegetables; acidification to produce shelf-stable acidified foods such as salsa, pickled vegetables and hot sauce; curing such as bacon, jerky and meat sticks; and smoking food for preservation rather than flavor enhancement (481—34.6(6)(h)). The same four methods are excluded from the statutory definition of 'produce' at § 137D.1(5)
• HFPE: distribution of homemade food items for further processing by a food processing plant or by another HFPE (481—34.5(3)(b))
• Any homemade food item not listed on the HFPE licence application — it shall not be sold or distributed until added to the licensee's account (481—34.2(2))

How much you may sell

Two different answers, one per track. COTTAGE FOOD: no cap. Iowa Code § 137F.20 sets no annual sales, revenue or volume limit, and neither the § 137F.1(3) definition nor DIAL's cottage food guidance states one. The cottage food limits are on the food (non-TTCS only) and the channel (direct producer-to-consumer), not on dollars. LICENSED HFPE: a hard ceiling of less than $50,000 in gross annual sales. It is definitional, not a penalty threshold — § 137D.1(3) defines a home food processing establishment as a residence business with 'gross annual sales of less than fifty thousand dollars', so an operation at or above $50,000 is outside ch. 137D entirely and must be licensed as a food processing plant or food establishment instead. The licence holder must keep documentation of annual gross sales of homemade food items and produce it to the regulatory authority on request, in the form of a business tax return, four quarters of gross sales, a letter from an independent tax preparer, or other records; the documentation is kept confidential (481—34.2(7)).

Where you may sell

• COTTAGE FOOD, in person: sold and delivered by the producer directly to the consumer (§ 137F.20(1))
• COTTAGE FOOD, remote: § 137F.20(1) expressly allows the producer to sell to the consumer in person, remotely, by telephone, by internet, or by an agent of the producer — Iowa is one of the states where internet selling is written into the statute rather than tolerated by policy
• COTTAGE FOOD, shipping: delivery by mail is expressly permitted by § 137F.20(1), as is delivery by an agent of the producer such as an employee
• COTTAGE FOOD at farmers markets: DIAL's Cottage Foods & Farmers Markets guidance lists cottage foods among the items approved for sale at a farmers market WITHOUT a farmers market licence. A farmers market is defined at § 137F.1(7) as a seasonal marketplace operating principally as a common market for Iowa-produced farm products at retail for off-premises consumption
• COTTAGE FOOD at events: DIAL states that the only food establishment where cottage foods can be sold is a temporary food establishment, and only if that temporary establishment is operated by the producer of the food and the food is packaged and labelled as required. A temporary food establishment is one operating no more than fourteen consecutive days in conjunction with a single event (§ 137F.1(16))
• COTTAGE FOOD, not allowed: any indirect channel. Because the exemption at § 137F.20(1) is conditioned on sale and delivery by the producer directly to the consumer, sales through a third-party retailer, grocery, restaurant, co-op or consignment shelf are outside the exemption and require the licensed HFPE track
• HFPE: direct to consumers, and also sale or distribution to other businesses for resale — TTCS items sold for resale must be held at or below 41°F throughout shipping and transportation, and distribution records must be kept (481—34.5(3)(d), 34.9(4))
• HFPE: supply of its own mobile food unit, farmers market food establishment or temporary food establishment operated by the same owner, with TTCS items kept at safe temperatures in transit (481—34.5(3)(c))
• HFPE packaging rule: a homemade food item must be packaged in the home food processing establishment and fully labelled before delivery to the consumer; the only exception is an item picked up by the consumer in person at the establishment, which must still be protected from contamination and accompanied by all required label information (481—34.7(2))
• Federal caveat: § 137F.20(3) states that compliance with the cottage food exemption does not represent compliance with federal law. Interstate shipping raises FDA obligations that the Iowa exemption does not resolve

Permit, registration and fees

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

1. COTTAGE FOOD TRACK — no application, no registration, no fee, no inspection. Confirm three things instead: the food is produced at a private residence; it is not a TTCS food and is not milk, dairy, meat, poultry or unpasteurized juice; and every sale is producer-direct-to-consumer (in person, by phone, by internet, by mail, or by the producer's own agent)
2. COTTAGE FOOD TRACK — if selling home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits, buy and use a pH meter or water activity meter, measure every batch, keep the readings, and date-stamp every container with the processing and canning date
3. COTTAGE FOOD TRACK — build the label to § 137F.20(2) before the first sale, including the exact statutory sentence, and be ready to document non-TTCS status to the regulatory authority on request
4. HFPE TRACK, step 1 — the person in charge must attend a food safety training course approved by the department and provide proof of attendance BEFORE the licence can be issued (481—34.4(2)). Do this first; it gates the licence
5. HFPE TRACK, step 2 — if the residence is not on a public water system, have the water tested for nitrates and coliforms; the test must then be repeated at least annually and records kept (481—34.3(6), 34.9(5))
6. HFPE TRACK, step 3 — prepare the kitchen to 481—34.3: handwashing sink in each food processing area with hot and cold running water, soap and sanitary towels; equipment to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils; toilet facilities with a handwashing sink; thermometers in all refrigeration and hot holding units; pets and animals excluded from food preparation areas during processing or packaging; and no unnecessary persons in food processing areas while food is exposed
7. HFPE TRACK, step 4 — complete the application on DIAL's online application system at least 30 days before the anticipated opening date, giving the business name, owner name, physical address and a list of every homemade food item to be prepared. Paper applications are available only if extenuating circumstances prevent online filing (481—34.2(1))
8. HFPE TRACK, step 5 — for products needing pre-approval, submit the paperwork with or before the application: recipes for pH-controlled high-acid products go to the regulatory authority for approval, and any fermented product needs an HACCP plan validated by a recognized process authority and approved by the department before production
9. HFPE TRACK, step 6 — pay the $50 licence fee. A licence must be obtained before opening or operating; § 137D.2(1) and (2) bar selling or distributing from an unlicensed or suspended establishment
10. HFPE TRACK, step 7 — set up the records the rules require from day one: standardized recipes per item, production or batch records (product name, date of production, date of packaging), ingredient receiving records with supplier name and address, distribution records for anything sold for resale, water test records, and calibration and monitoring results for pH, water activity or temperature. Keep all of it at least six months and make it available for review or copying on request (481—34.9)
11. HFPE TRACK, ongoing — add any new homemade food item to the application through the online system before selling it, and renew before expiry

Fee: COTTAGE FOOD: $0. The § 137F.20 exemption carries no fee of any kind because it carries no licence or permit. LICENSED HFPE: $50. The figure is statutory — § 137D.2(1) states that the department 'shall collect a fee of fifty dollars for a license' — and DIAL's Home Food Processing Establishments page states the same $50 annual cost. Fees are deposited in a special fund in the state treasury and appropriated to the department to administer ch. 137D. Refunds are available only if the licence is surrendered before its effective date, and are unavailable for a new establishment once a record review has occurred; a dishonoured payment draws an additional $25 fee (481—34.2(4), 34.2(8)).

Renewal: COTTAGE FOOD: nothing to renew. LICENSED HFPE: annual. § 137D.2(1) provides that a licence expires one year from date of issue and is renewable; 481—34.2(5) measures the year from the date the application is approved by the department or a contractor, and renewal should be submitted through the department's online system with the required fee before expiry. DIAL's page states renewals may be submitted up to 90 days in advance. A delinquent licence can be renewed only within 60 days of expiry; past 60 days the operator must apply for a new licence and meet all initial-licence requirements, and an establishment that has not renewed within 60 days will be closed by the department or the contractor (481—34.2(6)). A licence is not transferable — any change of owner or location requires a new licence (481—34.2(3)).

Food safety training

This is the sharpest practical split between the two tracks. COTTAGE FOOD: no training requirement. Iowa Code § 137F.20 imposes no food handler card, food protection manager certification or course, and the exemption from state licensing and permitting leaves nothing to condition training on. LICENSED HFPE: training is mandatory and is a precondition of the licence, not a follow-up. 481—34.4(2) requires the person in charge to attend a food safety training course approved by the department and to provide proof of attendance prior to issuance of the licence; DIAL's page restates this as at least one team member completing food safety training. Beyond the course, 481—34.4(1) requires a person in charge during all hours of food processing who has a thorough understanding of food safety principles and can demonstrate control over time/temperature controls, cross contamination, major food allergens and allergen cross contact, sanitation of food contact surfaces, food handling and hygienic practices and communicable diseases, receiving and distribution, and pH and water activity where applicable. 'Demonstrate control' is defined at 481—34.1 as clear and convincing evidence of written standard processes — standardized recipes, standard operating procedures, hygiene standards, temperature monitoring, equipment calibration, batch records, sanitation records, predefined corrective actions, training documents, and distribution and receiving records. The rules also carry a mandatory exclusion list: a food handler must be kept away from food, utensils and packaging if diagnosed with a foodborne-transmissible communicable disease, if they have had diarrhea or vomiting in the past 24 hours, if jaundiced, if they have a sore throat with fever, or if they have exposed sores or infected wounds on hands or arms (481—34.4(3)). Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food is prohibited, and eating, drinking and tobacco use are barred from food processing areas while food is exposed (481—34.4(4)).

Inspection

COTTAGE FOOD: none. § 137F.20(1) exempts cottage food from all inspection laws of the state, and § 137F.1(9)(f) removes the residence from the definition of 'food establishment', so there is no routine inspection and no right of entry to the kitchen under ch. 137F for an exempt cottage food producer. The one residual obligation is documentary: DIAL requires the producer to be able to show, on request, that a food is not TTCS, and to document pH or water activity readings and canning dates for home-canned pickles, vegetables and fruits. LICENSED HFPE: yes, and the regime is real. § 137D.2(5) requires the department to provide for periodic inspection, allows the inspector to enter at any reasonable hour, and limits the inspection to areas related to preparing food for sale; § 137D.2(6) additionally allows inspection of the food itself at any place where a homemade food item is created, transported or stored for sale or resale. 481—34.12(1) states that HFPEs will be periodically inspected on a risk assessment basis, either in person or virtually using video technology — no fixed interval is published, the frequency is risk-driven. 481—34.12(2) obliges the manager or person in charge to afford free access to records and to every part of the premises where items and ingredients are stored or prepared, and to render all aid necessary for a thorough inspection. Enforcement: violations must be corrected within a period not exceeding 90 days, with a written report of the corrective action to the regulatory authority within five days of correction (481—34.10(1)); the civil penalty under § 137D.3 is $100 per violation, each day of continuing violation counting as a separate violation; remedies include civil penalty, suspension or revocation, injunction, and embargo, stop-sale or recall orders. § 137D.8 allows suspension or revocation where the establishment does not conform to the chapter or its rules, where the licensee violates them, or where the licensee is convicted of a serious misdemeanor or worse for criminal activity conducted in the establishment. § 137D.4 requires an establishment to cease operation and notify the department if an imminent health hazard exists, with no resumption until authorized. Operational shutdown triggers also exist for water and waste: a coliform-positive or unsafe-nitrate water test, a water advisory, or a waste backup each require stopping production and notifying the regulatory authority, with resumption only on approval (481—34.3(6), 34.3(10)).

What your city or county may add

Iowa's cottage food exemption is written against the STATE — § 137F.20(1) exempts cottage food from licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling laws 'of the state'. No provision read in § 137F.20, § 137F.1 or ch. 137D expressly preempts municipal zoning, home-occupation rules, nuisance ordinances or building and sewage requirements, so those remain live local questions for both tracks. Enforcement itself is partly local by design: 481—34.1 defines a 'contractor' as a municipal corporation, county or other political subdivision that contracts with DIAL to licence and inspect under ch. 137D, and § 137F.3 lets a municipal corporation take over enforcement of ch. 137F in its jurisdiction under an agreement with the director — which is why an HFPE application and inspection may be handled by a county public health department rather than by DIAL directly. § 137F.3A confirms the contracting architecture by dealing with what happens when a municipal corporation's 28E agreement lapses. § 137D.6 provides that provisions of ch. 137D and departmental HFPE standards that conflict with the state building code adopted under § 103A.7 do not apply where that code has been adopted or applies statewide. § 137D.5 makes the county attorney in each county responsible for assisting enforcement of ch. 137D. Practical consequence: verify with the city or county which authority licences HFPEs locally, and treat zoning, on-site sewage and building code as separate local approvals that the state track does not clear.

Program sources: Iowa Code § 137F.20 (Cottage food — requirements), official Iowa Code 2026 single-section PDF, read verbatim — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/137F.20.pdf · Iowa Code § 137F.1 (Definitions — 'cottage food', 'food establishment' exclusions, 'farmers market', 'temporary food establishment', 'time/temperature control for safety food'), official Iowa Code 2026 PDF — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/137F.1.pdf · Iowa Code ch. 137D (Home Food Processing Establishments — §§ 137D.1 to 137D.8: definitions and the under-$50,000 gross annual sales ceiling, $50 licence and inspections, raw milk bar, $100 per-violation civil penalty, injunction, county attorney duty, building code conflict, suspension and revocation), official Iowa Code 2026 chapter PDF read in full — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/137D.pdf · Iowa Code § 137F.3A (Municipal corporation inspections — contingent appropriation; confirms 28E enforcement agreements covering chs. 137D and 137F), official Iowa Code 2026 PDF — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/137F.3A.pdf · Iowa Admin. Code 481—ch. 34 (Home Food Processing Establishments; rules 34.1 to 34.14, ARC 7810C, IAB 4/17/24, effective 5/22/24; IAC printing 8/5/26), official chapter PDF read in full — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/481.34.pdf · Iowa Admin. Code 481—ch. 33, retrieved to check the briefing: 'Food and Beverage Vending Machines Inspections', rescinded IAB 2/10/99 effective 3/17/99 — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/481.33.pdf · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, 'Cottage Food Law' program page (definition, four criteria, temporary food establishment as the only food establishment where cottage foods may be sold, labelling list, exemption from licensing and inspection) — https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/food-establishments-hotels/cottage-food-law · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, 'COTTAGE FOODS & FARMERS MARKETS' guidance sheet (cottage food criteria, home-canned pickles conditions, full label list with major allergen enumeration, farmers market items allowed without a licence, TTCS definition; contact FCS-Licensing@dia.iowa.gov, 515.725.5342), PDF read via local text extraction — https://dial.iowa.gov/media/7351/download?inline= · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, 'Home Food Processing Establishments' program page ($50 annual fee, $50,000 gross annual sales ceiling, HFPE licence replaced the home bakery licence, item-listing duty, food safety training for at least one team member, apply at least 30 days before operating, renewal up to 90 days in advance, SAFHER launch October 2026) — https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/food-establishments-hotels/home-food-processing-establishments