Cottage Food Label Requirements in Kentucky (2026)

Cottage food rules in Kentucky — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Kentucky

Kentucky runs two distinct home-production programs, and which one applies is decided by the food, not by the seller's preference. A 'home-based processor' is defined at KRS 217.015(56) as a person who, in his or her home, produces or processes pork lard or tallow-based cosmetic products or nonpotentially hazardous foods, and who has a gross income of no more than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) annually from the sale of the products. A 'home-based microprocessor' is defined at KRS 217.015(57) as a FARMER who, in the farmer's home or certified or permitted kitchen, produces or processes foods including acid foods, formulated acid food products, acidified food products or low-acid canned foods, and who likewise has a gross income of no more than $60,000 annually from the sale of the product. 'Farmer' at KRS 217.015(59) means a Kentucky resident who owns or rents agricultural land under KRS 132.010(9) or horticultural land under KRS 132.010(10), and for the purposes of KRS 217.136 to 217.139 also any Kentucky resident who has grown the primary horticultural and agronomic ingredients used in the home-based microprocessed products they produced. The own-harvest condition therefore attaches to the MICROPROCESSOR track, not to the plain home-based processor track: 902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(6) states expressly that a home-based processor 'shall not be required to have grown a primary ingredient for each of their products produced', while Section 5(9)(a) requires that the primary ingredients used in home-based MICROPROCESSED products 'shall have been grown by the microprocessor'. A home-based processor doing business in the state shall be a resident of Kentucky (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(2)). A home-based processor meeting the conditions of KRS 217.136(1) is exempt from KRS 217.035, 217.037 and 217.095 — the state food-manufacturing permit and fair packaging and labeling provisions — but is not exempt from registration: KRS 217.136(11) requires registration with the cabinet, and 902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(7) has made that a paid annual registration since January 1, 2020. Neither definition is an establishment definition: KRS 217.015(20) excludes home-based processors and home-based microprocessors from 'food processing establishment', and KRS 217.015(40) excludes home-based processors from 'retail food store'. KRS 217.136 was amended by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 2 and KRS 217.015 by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 1, both effective July 15, 2026; the text quoted here is the current post-amendment text read from the Legislative Research Commission.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Home-based processor: the nonpotentially hazardous foods enumerated at KRS 217.015(56), 'including but not limited to' dried herbs, spices, nuts, candy, dried grains, whole fruit and vegetables, mixed-greens, jams, jellies, sweet sorghum syrup, preserves, fruit butter, bread, fruit pies, cakes, or cookies — the statutory list is open-ended, not exhaustive
• Home-based processor: pork lard or tallow-based cosmetic products (the same statute and the same label rules cover cosmetics, not only food)
• Home-based processor: dried or freeze dried whole fruits or vegetables (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(b))
• Home-based processor: candy, which shall be produced without added alcohol and made with no bare-hand contact (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(c))
• Home-based processor: maple syrup (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(d))
• Home-based processor: pecan pies (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(e))
• Home-based processor: granola, which may be made with dried grains (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(f))
• Home-based processor: trail or snack mix, which may be made with dried fruit, nuts, or seeds (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(g))
• Home-based processor: popcorn, plain or with added seasonings (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1)(h))
• Home-based processor: jams and jellies, subject to 902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(5) — a jam or jelly processed in less than ten (10) minutes shall be filled into a sterile empty jar, sterilised by submerging in boiling water for at least ten minutes below 1,000 feet of altitude plus one additional minute per additional 1,000 feet
• Home-based MICROPROCESSOR only (certified farmer): foods authorised by KRS 217.015(57), including acid foods, formulated acid food products, acidified food products and low-acid canned foods — the pickles, salsas, sauces and pressure-canned goods that a plain home-based processor is forbidden to make
• Home-based processor: no testing burden — KRS 217.136(6) provides that food products identified in KRS 217.015(56) and labelled per subsection (3) shall not be required to be tested in determining whether the product is an acid food, acidified food product, formulated acid food product, or low-acid food
• Both tracks: products may be used in preparing and serving food (KRS 217.136(5) and KRS 217.137(2))

Not allowed under the program:

• Home-based processor: acid foods, acidified food products, formulated acid food products, and low-acid canned foods — flatly barred by KRS 217.136(2). These require the home-based microprocessor track, which in turn requires being a farmer, growing the primary ingredients, and holding certification
• Both tracks (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(3)): crème filled pies; custard; custard pies; pies with meringue topping; cheesecake; cream, custard, or meringue pastries; raw seed sprouts; garlic-in-oil products; pureed baby foods
• Anything outside 'nonpotentially hazardous' for the processor track: 902 KAR 45:090 Section 1(9) defines potentially hazardous food as food requiring temperature control because it can support rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms, growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum, or in raw shell eggs the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis, and includes animal food raw or heat-treated, food of plant origin that is heat-treated or consists of raw seed sprouts, cut melons, and garlic-in-oil mixtures not modified to be nonpotentially hazardous
• Vacuum packaging of food in any container other than a mason-type jar (902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(4))
• Home-based microprocessor equipment prohibitions that operate as product limits: boiling water canners for low-acid canned foods; open-kettle canning; processing freshly-filled jars in a conventional oven, microwave oven or dishwasher; pressure saucepans under sixteen (16) quart capacity; pressure canners manufactured before 2000; mayonnaise-type jars, jars with wire bails and glass caps, and one-piece zinc porcelain-lined caps (902 KAR 45:090 Section 5(11)(a))
• Home-based microprocessed products may not be used or offered for consumption in a retail food establishment or through interstate commerce (902 KAR 45:090 Section 5(8))

How much you may sell

$60,000 in gross income annually from the sale of the products. Unusually, the cap is not written as a program limit but INSIDE the definitions: KRS 217.015(56) defines a home-based processor as a person 'who has a gross income of no more than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) annually from the sale of the products', and KRS 217.015(57) uses the same $60,000 figure for the home-based microprocessor. The practical consequence is that exceeding $60,000 does not trigger a penalty clause — it removes the person from the definition, and with it the KRS 217.136(1) exemption from KRS 217.035, 217.037 and 217.095, so the operation would need a food-manufacturing permit going forward. Both figures are gross income from sales, not profit. Neither statute read states how the two caps interact for someone registered as a processor and certified as a microprocessor; a combined single $60,000 ceiling is asserted by secondary sources but was NOT found in the statutory text read here, so it is treated as unconfirmed.

Where you may sell

• Home-based processor: direct to consumers within this state only — KRS 217.136(5) allows sale 'directly to consumers within this state, including from the home-based processor's home, whether by pick-up or delivery, at a market, roadside stand, community event, or online'
• Home-based processor: advertising and taking orders and payments in person, electronically, or via the internet or phone is expressly permitted (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(3))
• Home-based processor: physical delivery channels listed in the regulation are pick-up, delivery, flea markets, farmers markets, festivals, county fairs, craft fairs, non-profit charity events, and a roadside stand (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(4)), and the food must be provided direct to the consumer
• Home-based processor: no wholesale and no sale to or through retail stores or restaurants — KRS 217.136(5) confines sales to direct-to-consumer, and KRS 217.015(40) excludes a home-based processor from the retail food store definition
• Home-based processor: no out-of-state sales — the statutory words are 'directly to consumers within this state'. The statute permits 'online' sales but says nothing about shipping by common carrier; the regulation's channel list at Section 3(4) is pick-up, delivery and in-person events, so out-of-state shipping is outside the exemption while in-state fulfilment of an online order is inside it
• Home-based MICROPROCESSOR: narrower, not broader — KRS 217.137(2) allows those products to 'only be offered for sale by farmers markets, certified roadside stands, or on the processor's farm'. 902 KAR 45:090 Section 1(2) defines a certified roadside stand as a physical location listed with the Kentucky Farm Bureau
• Home-based MICROPROCESSOR: products shall only be marketed by the certificate holder that processed them (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(5)(c)), and are barred from retail food establishments and from interstate commerce (Section 5(8))

Permit, registration and fees

Registration is handled by Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Public Health, Food Safety Branch (275 East Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, per the incorporation-by-reference clause of 902 KAR 45:090 Section 10(2)). The microprocessor training and the technical review of recipes sit outside the cabinet: the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service runs the microprocessing program under KRS 217.138(1), and the 'processing authority' that approves scheduled processes is defined at 902 KAR 45:090 Section 1(11) as the Food Science Professionals of the University of Kentucky, Department of Agriculture, or a qualified entity under 21 C.F.R. 113.83 and 114.83. The cabinet, not the Extension Service, issues the certification (KRS 217.138(2))..

1. HOME-BASED PROCESSOR — Confirm the products are within KRS 217.015(56) and 902 KAR 45:090 Section 2(1), and that none is an acid, acidified, formulated acid or low-acid canned food barred by KRS 217.136(2)
2. HOME-BASED PROCESSOR — Obtain the DFS-250, Application for Home-based Processor (edition 03/19, incorporated by reference at 902 KAR 45:090 Section 10(1)(a)), available from the Kentucky Food Safety Branch or at a University of Kentucky Extension Service Office
3. HOME-BASED PROCESSOR — Submit the DFS-250 with a fifty (50) dollar registration fee to the Department for Public Health, Food Safety Branch (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(7))
4. HOME-BASED PROCESSOR — Include in the registration the information KRS 217.136(11) requires: the name of the home-based processor and the physical address where production or processing will occur, and a listing of the food or cosmetic products to be produced or processed
5. HOME-BASED PROCESSOR — Label every product to KRS 217.136(3) before sale, and carry allergen information as specified by 21 U.S.C. 343(w) (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(5)). Sources read state no pre-approval of the processor's label by the cabinet; that requirement is written for microprocessors only
6. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Establish farmer status under KRS 217.015(59) and grow the primary ingredients, since 902 KAR 45:090 Section 5(9)(a) requires the primary ingredients to have been grown by the microprocessor
7. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Attend and successfully complete the Food Processing School provided by the University of Kentucky Extension Office per KRS 217.015(58)(a), or a food processing school approved under 21 C.F.R. 114.10, and keep the verification of attendance and completion
8. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Obtain from the processing authority a written established scheduled process for EACH food item, with adequate process times and pressures for the jar size, style of pack and kind of food; any recipe change is a deviation requiring a new review and approval before processing, and each additional product needs its own scheduled process (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(2)(g))
9. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Document the water source (constructed, maintained and operated per 401 KAR Chapter 8) and the sewage disposal (public sewer, or a private system per 902 KAR Chapter 10 and 401 KAR Chapter 5)
10. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Submit the DFS-251, Application for Home-based Microprocessor (edition 05/18) to the cabinet with the farmland physical address and acreage, the property owner's name and address if the land is not owned by the farmer, the primary residence address, the water and sewage information, the product list, the school verification and the scheduled processes — with the water source approval, and BEFORE marketing (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(2) and 4(3)(a))
11. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Submit draft copies of ALL product labels to the cabinet for review prior to labeling and marketing (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(4))
12. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — Wait for the cabinet's approval or denial; marketing may begin only if approved. A denial comes in writing with reasons and may be appealed under Section 9(5), which routes to 902 KAR 1:400
13. HOME-BASED MICROPROCESSOR — On certification, post the certificate conspicuously in the processing establishment and post a copy at the point of sale (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(5)(b)); the certificate is issued only for the premises and person named and is nontransferable

Fee: $50 per year, on both tracks. 902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(7)(b) sets a fifty (50) dollar registration fee for the home-based processor and Section 3(8) sets the same fifty dollars for annual renewal; Section 4(6) sets an annual fee of fifty (50) dollars for the home-based microprocessor certification. Neither KRS 217.136 nor KRS 217.137 states a dollar figure — the fee is entirely regulatory, and KRS 217.138(3)(c) is the delegation under which the cabinet was to establish fees for certification and recertification. Costs outside the state fee were not quantified in any primary source read: the University of Kentucky Food Processing School tuition, the processing authority's scheduled-process review, and pressure-canner dial gauge verification are all required by 902 KAR 45:090 but carry no published price in the statute or the regulation.

Renewal: Annual, on a fixed calendar date rather than an anniversary. The home-based processor registration is valid for one (1) year, expires March 31 of each year, and is renewable on submission of a DFS-250 with the $50 annual fee (902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(8)). The home-based microprocessor certification is valid for one (1) year unless previously suspended or revoked, expires March 31 of each year, and is renewable annually on submission of an application with the $50 annual fee (Section 4(6)). Because both expire on March 31 regardless of when they were issued, a registration granted late in the fiscal year runs for less than twelve months. Microprocessors carry a second clock: attendance at a food processing school is required every three (3) years, and again on any change or addition of food products to be processed (Section 4(7)). Pressure canner temperature dial gauges must be verified for accuracy annually by the canner manufacturer or another qualified laboratory, with records kept and produced to the cabinet on request (Section 5(11)(a)7).

Food safety training

Split by track. For a home-based processor, no course, certificate or training hour is required by KRS 217.136 or by 902 KAR 45:090; what replaces training is a list of enforceable hygiene duties in Section 3(1) — regularly wash hands with soap and water, keep equipment and utensils clean and in good repair, wash, rinse and sanitize all food contact surfaces, equipment and utensils before each use, keep children under age twelve (12) and pets or other animals out of the kitchen during home-based processing activities, cease domestic activities such as family meal preparation, dishwashing or laundry in the kitchen during processing, and not produce, package or handle products while infected with a contagious disease or illness. For a home-based MICROPROCESSOR, training is the core of the program and it is mandatory. KRS 217.138(1) directs the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service to develop, implement and administer a program to train home-based microprocessors or personnel in compliance with 21 C.F.R. sec. 114.10, and KRS 217.138(6) provides that on completion, microprocessors and personnel are deemed certified and to have met the 21 C.F.R. 114.10 training requirements. The cabinet, not the Extension Service, evaluates and certifies those who completed the program (KRS 217.138(2)), and the certification document is made in triplicate, one copy each to the microprocessor, the Extension Service and the cabinet (KRS 217.138(5)). KRS 217.015(58) defines 'certified' as having attended the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service's microprocessing program or pilot microprocessing program and been identified by the Extension Service as having satisfactorily completed the prescribed course, or having attended some other school pursuant to 21 C.F.R. sec. 114.10. The curriculum is set by statute at KRS 217.139(1): food-handling techniques, food-protection principles, personal hygiene and plant sanitation practices, pH controls, and critical factors in acidification. Re-attendance is required every three years or on any product change (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(7)).

Inspection

No pre-opening inspection on either track, and the two tracks are then policed differently. For a home-based processor, KRS 217.136(7) says the processing facilities 'may be inspected annually by the cabinet' — permissive, not mandatory — while 902 KAR 45:090 Section 3(9) states that inspection of a home-based processor facility 'shall be made upon complaint', using the DFS-252 Home-based Processor/Microprocessor Inspection Report. KRS 217.136(8) adds that a processor is subject to product sampling and inspection if its product is determined misbranded under subsection (4) or adulterated, or if a consumer complaint has been received. KRS 217.136(9) gives the cabinet a stop-production power: where it has reason to believe an imminent health hazard exists it may invoke cessation of production until the hazardous situation has been addressed to its satisfaction. For a home-based microprocessor, 902 KAR 45:090 Section 8(1) requires the cabinet to inspect each microprocessor at least once every four (4) years, plus as many additional inspections and reinspections as are necessary for enforcement. Violations produce a written notice specifying the violations and a specific, reasonable correction period; failure to comply can lead to regulatory action up to suspension of the certificate under KRS 217.126, with appeal available on written request filed within ten days under 902 KAR 1:400 (Section 8(3)). A microprocessor certificate is suspended immediately on notice where the cabinet has reason to believe an imminent public health hazard exists or where the holder has interfered with the cabinet in performing its duties, and may be permanently revoked for serious or repeated violations (Section 9). The cabinet maintains a record of all certified microprocessors and shares it with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service Office and local health departments (Section 8(5)).

What your city or county may add

The primary sources read are silent on municipal zoning, business licensing and local health department permitting for home-based processors — no provision in KRS 217.136 to 217.139 or in 902 KAR 45:090 either preserves or preempts local requirements, and silence is not preemption. What the regulation does import is other state code: for microprocessors the water source must be constructed, maintained and operated under the applicable requirements of 401 KAR Chapter 8, and sewage including liquid waste must go to a public sewage system or, if none is available, to a private sewage disposal system designed, constructed and operated per 902 KAR Chapter 10 and 401 KAR Chapter 5 (902 KAR 45:090 Section 4(2)(c) and (d)). Local health departments appear in the scheme as enforcement partners rather than licensors: Section 8(3) refers to failure to comply with a notice 'from the cabinet or local health department', and Section 8(5) requires the cabinet to give local health departments its list of certified microprocessors. Two other local-institution hooks are structural: a 'certified roadside stand' is a physical location listed with the Kentucky Farm Bureau (Section 1(2)), and a farmers market temporary food service establishment under KRS 217.015(60) operates within a farmers market registered with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, for direct-to-consumer marketing of Kentucky-grown farm products, for no more than two (2) days per week over any consecutive six-month period in a calendar year. A separate 2026 bill, HB 756, would have exempted small farms and home-based processors from state and local regulatory, certification or licensing requirements not required by federal law and would have repealed KRS 217.136; its last recorded action was 03/04/26 'to Agriculture (H)', so it did not become law and the paid registration described above still stands.

Program sources: KRS 217.136, 'Home-based processors of food and cosmetic products -- Exemption from permit requirement and fair packaging and labeling laws -- Production, labeling, and sales of home-processed products -- Inspections -- Registration with cabinet', certified text, Effective July 15, 2026 (Amended 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 2; 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 181, sec. 1; 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 77, sec. 2; created 2003 Ky. Acts ch. 42, sec. 2) — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57382 · KRS 217.015, 'Definitions for KRS 217.005 to 217.215', certified text, Effective July 15, 2026 (Amended 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 52, sec. 1) — subsections (20) food processing establishment, (40) retail food store, (55) acid food, (56) home-based processor and the $60,000 gross income limit, (57) home-based microprocessor, (58) certified, (59) farmer, (60) farmers market temporary food service establishment — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57381 · KRS 217.137, 'Administrative regulations on home-based microprocessors', certified text, Effective March 26, 2019 — minimum regulatory standards and the farmers market / certified roadside stand / on-farm sales limitation — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=48559 · KRS 217.138, 'Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service to administer home-based microprocessor program -- Certification by cabinet', certified text, Effective June 24, 2003 — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=9297 · KRS 217.139, 'Pilot microprocessing program', certified text, Effective June 24, 2003 — statutory curriculum for the microprocessing training — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=9298 · 902 KAR 45:090, 'Home-based processors and farmers market home-based microprocessors', full text read (Sections 1 to 10, HISTORY line '30 Ky.R. 535; Am. 1239; eff. 11-19-2003; 45 Ky.R. 1130, 2136; eff. 2-21-2019; 46 Ky.R. 264; eff. 9-9-2019; Crt eff. 5-14-2026') — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/902/045/090/ · Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 217 section index (used to confirm the current section titles and identifiers for 217.135 through 217.140, and that 217.140 was repealed in 1960) — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/chapter.aspx?id=38245 · Kentucky General Assembly, 2026 Regular Session record for House Bill 756, 'AN ACT relating to small farms and home-based processors' (sponsors S. Maddox, L. Burke, J. Calloway; would define 'small farms', exempt small farms and home-based processors from state and local requirements not required by federal law, and repeal KRS 217.136; last action 03/04/26 'to Agriculture (H)' — not enacted) — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26rs/hb756.html · KRS 217.136 subsection (5) sales-channel wording as reproduced by FindLaw, 'Current as of January 01, 2025' — used ONLY to test whether the 'or online' language predates the 2026 amendment, not as authority for any figure — https://codes.findlaw.com/ky/title-xviii-public-health/ky-rev-st-sect-217-136/