Cottage Food Label Requirements in Maryland (2026)

Cottage food rules in Maryland — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Maryland

Maryland runs a pure exemption, not a permit programme. Md. Code, Health-General 21-301(b-1) defines a 'cottage food business' as a business that (1) produces or packages cottage food products in a residential kitchen, (2) sells them in accordance with Health-General 21-330.1 and the Department's regulations, and (3) has annual revenues from the sale of cottage food products not exceeding the statutory ceiling. COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-1) states the same test in regulatory form, adding that the residential kitchen must be in Maryland. Health-General 21-330.1 then provides that the owner of a cottage food business who complies with the section may operate without being licensed by the Maryland Department of Health, and the Office of Food Protection confirms in its Cottage Food FAQ (question 1, last updated 11/2025) that 'by law, cottage food businesses do not require a retail food service facility license'. There is no state application, no state permit, no plan review and no state fee for the ordinary direct-to-consumer operator. Three elements do the real work of the definition. First, the kitchen: production and packaging must happen in a residential kitchen, which the regulations do not define in isolation but which MDH treats throughout its guidance as the primary residential kitchen of the operator's home; FAQ 32 makes the point sharply by refusing to let a vendor pop and bag kettle corn on site at a farmer's market, because 'cottage food must be produced, packaged, and labeled in the residence'. Second, the product: COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-2) defines a 'cottage food product' as a non-potentially hazardous food, as specified in COMAR 10.15.03.27, offered for sale directly to a consumer from a residence, by personal delivery, by mail delivery, at a farmer's market or at a public event, or to a retail food store if the product remains in its original packaging, and that is not offered for sale through interstate commerce. 'Potentially hazardous food' carries the technical meaning in COMAR 10.15.03.02B(55): a food requiring temperature control because it can support rapid growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms, the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum, or the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis in raw shell eggs. The exclusions are the operator's friend: a food with a water activity of 0.85 or less, or a pH of 4.6 or below measured at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, is outside the definition, and MDH's guidance repeatedly turns on those two numbers. Third, the revenue ceiling, which is part of the definition itself rather than a separate rule: a business over the ceiling is simply no longer a cottage food business and needs a food service facility licence from the local health department or a food processing licence from MDH. Because the whole scheme is an exemption from licensing rather than a registration, eligibility is self-assessed. The only moments the state actually looks at an operator are two: a request for a unique identification number to use on labels instead of a home address, and a request for permission to sell into retail food stores, both handled through the same MDH Cottage Food Business Request Form. Everything else is compliance on the operator's own responsibility, backed by the Department's inspection and enforcement powers if a complaint or illness is reported.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Non-potentially hazardous baked goods generally (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(4)): breads, bagels, biscuits, brownies, cookies, cupcakes and cakes without perishable icing or filling, granola bars, muffins, pastries, tortillas, buns (MDH Guidelines for Cottage Food Businesses, Appendix A, updated 3/2025)
• Sourdough bread, rolls and similar sourdough products — the single fermented product MDH allows (FAQ 25)
• Cookies, brownies, breads and muffins baked from a commercially prepared mix, without perishable icings or fillings (Appendix A)
• Pies, turnovers and fruit tarts made from fruits with a natural pH of 4.6 or below (MDH Guidelines, Allowable Foods)
• Non-potentially hazardous hot-filled canned acid fruit jellies, jams, preserves and butters, unadulterated, properly packaged and labelled in accordance with COMAR 10.15.03.12 (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(1))
• Fruit butters from apple, apricot, grape, peach, plum, prune and quince only (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(2); FAQ 21 explains that pumpkin, pear and other fruit butters are excluded for insufficient acidity and pectin)
• Jams, preserves and jellies from listed acid fruits and fruit leathers: apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, cranberries, grapes, nectarines, oranges, peaches, prunes, quince, raspberries, red currants, strawberries, tangerines, or any other fruit with a natural pH of 4.6 or below (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(3); Appendix A)
• Non-potentially hazardous candy (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(6)): brittles, gummy bears, lollipops, hard candies such as peppermints, toffee, marshmallows made with non-potentially hazardous ingredients (Appendix A; FAQ 27)
• Chocolate confections and candies made from commercially manufactured chocolate, or from commercial non-potentially hazardous ingredients such as cocoa powder, coconut oil and honey — chocolate peanut butter cups, chocolate covered dried fruit, caramels, marshmallows, nuts and pretzels, provided every filling comes from a commercial source and is non-potentially hazardous (Appendix A)
• Freeze-dried non-potentially hazardous commercially manufactured candies, for example Skittles (Appendix A; FAQ 20, which permits this and nothing else freeze-dried)
• Whole roasted coffee beans — roasting and selling whole beans is allowed, grinding and brewing are not (Appendix A; FAQ 17)
• Repackaged commercial ingredients: seasoning blends, spice blends and tea blends made from commercially sourced components (Appendix A)
• Non-perishable snacks: kettle corn, popcorn, popcorn balls, nuts (Appendix A)
• Snack mixes assembled from commercial sources: cereal mixes, granola mixes, trail mixes (Appendix A)
• Dry bread mixes and 'instant' bread mixes (FAQ 30)
• Baked doughnuts and churros with non-potentially hazardous toppings or fillings — fried doughnuts are not allowed (FAQ 31)
• Wedding cakes and specialty cakes with shelf-stable, non-potentially hazardous fillings and icings, provided the finished cake is prepackaged with a complete label affixed to the box or packaging; if it cannot be prepackaged, it cannot be sold as cottage food (FAQ 38)
• Frostings and icings made with oils such as shortening or lard and other non-potentially hazardous ingredients, and commercially prepared icings that are not labelled 'keep refrigerated' or 'refrigerate after opening', provided no water is added to the recipe (FAQ 36)
• Baked goods with alcohol added before baking — no additional testing applies because the alcohol cooks off; alcohol added after baking, or to an icing or glaze, requires third-party laboratory determination of alcohol percentage and, above one-half of one percent by volume, compliance with Health-General 21-214 (FAQ 34)
• Foods manufactured on farms by persons holding an on-farm home processing licence (COMAR 10.15.03.27B(5)) and, under COMAR 10.15.03.27B(7), all other non-potentially hazardous foods produced by licensed entities
• CONDITIONAL, on laboratory evidence: moist quick breads made with low-acid fruits or vegetables (banana, pumpkin, zucchini and similar, natural pH above 4.6) require water activity testing by a third-party analytical laboratory, and are allowable only at a water activity of 0.85 or below, per recipe (MDH Guidelines; FAQ 28)
• CONDITIONAL, on laboratory evidence: icings, frostings, glazes and drizzles containing added water or perishable ingredients such as cream cheese, milk or butter require third-party pH and water activity results, and qualify only at a water activity of 0.85 or below or a pH of 4.6 or below; re-testing is required whenever the recipe or ingredients change (FAQ 35, 37)
• CONDITIONAL: any food the operator believes to be non-potentially hazardous but which is not on MDH's list may be laboratory-tested and, if the results fall inside the non-potentially hazardous parameters, sold as a cottage food (MDH Guidelines, Allowable Foods)

Not allowed under the program:

• Any potentially hazardous food, by operation of COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-2) and 10.15.03.27B — the categories below are MDH's worked examples in the Guidelines (updated 3/2025), Appendix B
• Baked goods requiring refrigeration: cheesecakes, cream and custard pies, meringue pies and meringue cookies, pumpkin pies, pecan pies, sweet potato pies
• Baked goods with perishable icings and fillings, including butter-based buttercream, cream cheese icing and royal icing made with reconstituted meringue powder, unless laboratory results prove them non-potentially hazardous (FAQ 35)
• Royal icing made with egg whites from unpasteurized shell eggs — categorically excluded, because the product is not heat treated to kill Salmonella (FAQ 35)
• Macarons, waffles, and focaccia-style breads with vegetables or cheeses
• Banana, pumpkin and zucchini breads, cakes and muffins with a water activity above 0.85 (Appendix B)
• Low-acid canned foods, and acidified or pickled products: corn relish, pepper jelly, pickled beets, pumpkin butter, salsa
• Condiments and sauces: barbecue sauce, hot sauce, ketchup, mustard; also tomato and spaghetti sauces (FAQ 15)
• Fermented foods other than sourdough bread: kimchi, kombucha, pickles, sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt (FAQ 25)
• Beverages of any kind, including apple cider, brewed or ground coffee, and flavoured coffee (Appendix B; FAQ 17, 22)
• Fish or shellfish products of any kind
• Meat and poultry products of any kind, including fresh meat and poultry, jerky and other dried or dehydrated meat, egg rolls and meat pies (FAQ 19)
• Milk and dairy products: butter, cottage cheese, gelato, hard and soft cheeses, ice cream, kefir, yogurt
• Freeze-dried products of any kind, except non-potentially hazardous commercially prepared candy; the operator may not freeze-dry or freeze any other food (FAQ 20)
• Dehydrating or drying done by the operator: dehydrated herbs, vegetables and vegetable chips, dehydrated fruit, dehydrated pasta (FAQ 18)
• Fruit and fruit products: baked goods made with low-acid fruits with a natural pH above 4.6, chocolate or candy-covered fresh or canned fruit, fresh cut fruit, and fresh cut fruit added as an unbaked topping
• Vegetables and vegetable products: foods containing cooked vegetables, foods containing fresh-cut vegetables, fresh cut vegetables, and garlic or vegetable in oil mixtures
• Raw seed sprouts: alfalfa, bean, garbanzo bean, mung bean, snow pea and any other raw seed sprout
• Homemade nut butters (almond, hazelnut, peanut, pecan and others) and seed butters (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower and others)
• Soft candies made at home: homemade caramels, homemade fudge and other soft candies
• Chocolate confections made from raw cocoa beans, chocolates with homemade fillings, and chocolates with potentially hazardous filling ingredients
• Raw dough and no-bake items: cookie dough, pizza dough, unbaked energy or protein balls and bites, and other raw combined-ingredient recipes
• Fresh or refrigerated pasta
• Syrups and extracts of every kind: blueberry, elderberry and maple syrup, and any extract (FAQ 24 sets out the licensing paths for elderberry syrup instead)
• Sugar-free fruit butters, jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves and syrups
• Prepared foods such as pizza, which must be held above 135 degrees or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit (FAQ 26)
• Maple syrup and flavoured honey, which need an on-farm home processing or processing licence; unflavoured honey including creamed honey is a raw agricultural product and outside the cottage food scheme altogether (FAQ 23)
• Pet food and dog treats — the guidance applies to human food only; the Maryland Department of Agriculture State Chemist handles animal food (FAQ 33)
• Cannabis-infused and cannabis-derived products, including CBD; only hulled hemp seed, hemp seed protein and hemp seed oil, which contain no CBD and are GRAS, may be used as ingredients (FAQ 16)

How much you may sell

$50,000 in annual revenue from the sale of cottage food products today, rising to $100,000 on 1 October 2026. The ceiling is written into the definition rather than into a separate operating rule: Health-General 21-301(b-1)(3) requires that the business have 'annual revenues from the sale of cottage food products in an amount not exceeding $50,000', and COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-1)(b) repeats the same figure. The consequence of exceeding it is therefore structural rather than penal — the operation stops being a cottage food business and falls back into the ordinary licensing regime, needing a food service facility licence from the local health department for retail and up to 49 percent wholesale sales, or a food processing licence from MDH where sales are primarily wholesale (MDH Guidelines, Appendices C and D; FAQ 24). The figure changed twice in recent memory. It was $25,000 in the original regulation, and MDH's older county-hosted copies of the Guidelines still show that number; the current state-published Guidelines (updated 3/2025) quote COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-1) at $50,000. It is about to change again: Chapter 320 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland, House Bill 535, 'Food Establishments – Cottage Food Businesses – Maximum Annual Revenue', approved by Governor Wes Moore on 28 April 2026, repeals and reenacts Health-General 21-301(b-1) with the figure struck from [$50,000] and replaced by $100,000, and Section 2 of the Act provides that it 'shall take effect October 1, 2026'. The chaptered text was read on 16 August 2026. Two practical warnings follow. Until 1 October 2026 the operative ceiling is $50,000, and an operator who plans against $100,000 is planning against a law that has not yet commenced. After 1 October 2026 the statute will read $100,000 while COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-1) will still read $50,000 until MDH amends the regulation; the statute prevails, but MDH's website, Guidelines and FAQ may lag for months. No rule found here prorates the ceiling for a business that starts mid-year, and no rule found here requires the operator to file or retain sales records with any agency — the ceiling is self-policed, which is a large part of why the state does not license the activity.

Where you may sell

• Directly to a consumer from a residence — the operator's own home (Health-General 21-301(b-2)(1); COMAR 10.15.03.27A)
• At a farmer's market (COMAR 10.15.03.27A(2)(a))
• At a bake sale, but only one held in conjunction with a fundraising event; MDH states that a bake sale does not include a place where a person sells baked goods for individual profit, so setting up in front of a florist on Valentine's Day or outside one's own apartment building is not a bake sale and is not allowed (COMAR 10.15.03.27A(2)(b); FAQ 43)
• At a public event such as a fair or festival (COMAR 10.15.03.27A(2)(c))
• By personal delivery, including customer pick-up, within Maryland (COMAR 10.15.03.27A(2)(d); MDH Guidelines, Appendix C)
• By mail order and mail delivery, but only within the State of Maryland (COMAR 10.15.03.27A(2)(e); FAQ 40)
• Online, in the limited sense that products may be advertised and ordered over the internet provided the sale itself is confined to Maryland — 'you may advertise your cottage food products online but sales are restricted to Maryland only' (FAQ 39)
• To a retail food store, including a grocery store, convenience store, retail market, retail bakery or food cooperative, in the original packaging — but only after MDH review and receipt of a written compliance letter (Health-General 21-301(b-2)(2); COMAR 10.15.03.02B(68-1)(a)-(b); COMAR 10.15.03.27C(6)-(7); FAQ 4, 41)
• Prohibited: any sale outside Maryland or through interstate commerce, including shipping across state lines (COMAR 10.15.03.02B(17-2)(b); FAQ 39, 40)
• Prohibited: sale to a restaurant, mobile food service facility, coffee shop, cafeteria, short order cafe, luncheonette, tavern sandwich shop, produce stand offering only whole uncut produce, or an establishment offering only prepackaged non-potentially hazardous food — none of these is a 'retail food store' under COMAR 10.15.03.02B(68-1)(c)
• Prohibited: sale from an unlicensed retail premises the operator occupies, such as an antique shop or gift shop, even the operator's own (FAQ 42)
• Prohibited: wholesale distribution generally; the retail food store route under COMAR 10.15.03.27C(6)-(7) is the only business-to-business channel open to a cottage food business (FAQ 41)
• Prohibited: producing, cooking, portioning or bagging product on site at a farmer's market or public event — everything must be produced, packaged and labelled in the residence; on-site production needs a temporary retail food service facility licence from the local health department (FAQ 32)
• All product must be prepackaged and labelled before it leaves the home, with the name and address of the business (no post office box) or an MDH-issued unique identification number plus the business phone number, the product name, ingredients and sub-ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight, volume or count, allergen information to federal standards, nutrition information if a health or nutrition claim is made, and, in 10 point or larger type in clear contrast to the background, the exact sentence 'Made by a cottage food business that is not subject to Maryland's food safety regulations' (COMAR 10.15.03.27C(1); Health-General 21-330.1; FAQ 12). Retail-store labels must add the business phone number, email address and the date the product was made. All labels must be in English (MDH Guidelines)
• Sampling is permitted: samples must be prepackaged in the home kitchen — bread may be cut and individually wrapped at home but not cut at the market — the sample need not carry its own individual label provided the products on display are properly labelled, and the sample may not be prepared in a way that makes it potentially hazardous, such as adding a dry dip mix to sour cream (MDH Guidelines, Sampling of Cottage Foods)
• At public events, a vendor selling any product that qualified through laboratory testing must carry copies of the third-party laboratory results for inspection by the local health department (FAQ 28)

Permit, registration and fees

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

1. There is no state registration, application, permit or licence for an ordinary direct-to-consumer cottage food business in Maryland. Health-General 21-330.1 lets the owner operate without being licensed by the Department if the section's requirements are met, and MDH states it plainly in FAQ 1: 'Do I need a license for my cottage food business? No.' The steps below are therefore compliance steps, not an application process, except where flagged.
2. Step 1 — Confirm the product qualifies. Check the food against the allowable list in Appendix A and the not-allowed list in Appendix B of the MDH Guidelines for Cottage Food Businesses (updated 3/2025), and walk the decision tools in Appendices C and D. If the product is not listed and the operator believes it is non-potentially hazardous, arrange third-party laboratory testing for water activity and pH; a water activity of 0.85 or below or a pH of 4.6 or below brings it inside COMAR 10.15.03.02B(55)'s exclusions. Testing is per recipe, must be repeated when the recipe changes, and MDH does not maintain a list of laboratories or pay for the work.
3. Step 2 — Confirm the kitchen and the venue. Production, packaging and labelling must all take place in the residential kitchen; nothing may be made or bagged at the market (FAQ 32). Confirm the intended venues are among those in Health-General 21-301(b-2) and COMAR 10.15.03.27A, and that all sales stay inside Maryland.
4. Step 3 — Deal with local government before selling. MDH's own decision tools carry the instruction in bold at the top of Appendices C and D: 'Cottage food businesses are not licensed but must comply with all applicable county and municipal laws and ordinances regulating the preparation, processing, storage, and sale of cottage food products. Contact your local permits, licensing and zoning department to inquire about specific requirements.' FAQ 8 goes further: a city or town within Maryland may simply not allow home food production. MDH also directs operators to contact the local health department in advance of participating in a farmers' market or public event for additional requirements.
5. Step 4 — Handle business formalities separately. Business licence questions go to the Circuit Clerk's Office in the operator's jurisdiction or Maryland Business Express; sales tax questions go to the Comptroller of Maryland (FAQ 2). None of these is administered by MDH and none of them is the cottage food exemption.
6. Step 5 — Build a compliant label before the first sale. Use the physical address of the home kitchen (a post office box is not acceptable) or an MDH-issued unique identification number together with the business phone number, and include every element listed in COMAR 10.15.03.27C(1). The disclaimer must be worded exactly as the regulation words it, in 10 point or larger type in clear contrast to the background.
7. OPTIONAL PROCESS A — Unique identification number. An operator who does not want a home address printed on every package may request an identification number from MDH under COMAR 10.15.03.27C(2) by submitting the Cottage Food Business Request Form (hosted on Cognito Forms and linked from the MDH cottage foods page). The number is issued in a compliance letter and replaces the address on the label, provided the phone number is added (FAQ 3, 11).
8. MANDATORY PROCESS B — Selling to a retail food store. Before offering any product to a grocery store, convenience store, retail market, retail bakery or food cooperative, the operator must submit through the Cottage Food Business Request Form: (i) the label that will be affixed to the product, including the retail-specific elements — phone number, email address and a designated place for the date made; and (ii) documentation of the owner's successful completion, within the past three years, of a basic food safety course approved by the Department and accredited by the American National Standards Institute covering basic food safety, cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, pest control and prevention, and receiving, storing, preparing and serving food. COMAR 10.15.03.27C(7) forbids any sale or offer for sale to a retail food store until the Department notifies the owner in writing that the requirements are satisfactorily met; MDH calls that notice the compliance letter (FAQ 4, 41).
9. Step 6 — Stay reachable. COMAR 10.15.03.27C(8)-(9) requires that any phone number given allow the Department to make contact within 24 hours and any email address within 48 hours.
10. Step 7 — Watch the ceiling and the calendar. Track cottage food revenue against the $50,000 definition ceiling, and note that Chapter 320 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland raises it to $100,000 on 1 October 2026.

Fee: $0. No state fee of any kind was found for the cottage food exemption. The MDH decision tool for allowable products states of the direct-to-consumer route: 'No license or health department review needed', and of the retail food store route: 'No fee for review and no license is required.' The unique identification number and the retail compliance letter are likewise issued without a stated charge. Costs that do arise are external to the exemption: third-party laboratory testing where a recipe needs a water activity or pH result, the ANSI-accredited food safety course required before retail-store sales, and any local business licence, permit or temporary event fee a county or municipality imposes — MDH notes that food licence 'fees vary depending on jurisdiction' for those who fall outside cottage foods.

Renewal: None. There is nothing to renew because there is nothing to obtain: no permit, no registration and no expiry date appears in Health-General 21-330.1 or COMAR 10.15.03.27. Two continuing obligations behave like renewals in practice. First, a compliance letter authorising retail food store sales is tied to what was reviewed: MDH's decision tool states that 'changes in products/business location/labeling/sales locations must receive prior approval', so a new product or a new label sends the operator back through the Cottage Food Business Request Form. Second, the food safety course underpinning retail sales must have been completed within the past three years (COMAR 10.15.03.27C(7); MDH Guidelines), which functions as a three-year refresh for anyone selling into stores.

Food safety training

No, for the ordinary operator; yes, for anyone selling into retail food stores. Nothing in Health-General 21-330.1 or COMAR 10.15.03.27 requires food safety training of a cottage food business selling directly to consumers from a residence, at a farmer's market, at a bake sale, at a public event, by personal delivery or by mail within Maryland. MDH confirms the boundary in FAQ 5: 'When do I need to take food safety training? If you plan to sell cottage food products to a retail food store, you must complete a basic food safety training course approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).' COMAR 10.15.03.27C(7) sets the substance: before selling to a retail food store the owner must submit documentation of successful completion, within the past three years, of a basic food safety course approved by the Department, covering at a minimum basic food safety, cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, pest control and prevention, and receiving, storing, preparing and serving food. MDH adds a practical warning that some training companies sell both ANSI-accredited and non-accredited versions of the same course and that only the accredited one counts. No examination score, no state-issued food handler card and no continuing education requirement beyond the three-year recency window was found. The Department names no specific provider and charges nothing for the review; the course fee is the operator's own cost. The University of Maryland Extension publishes cottage food business education, but no primary source read here makes any Extension course mandatory.

Inspection

No routine inspection, but a real right of entry on complaint. MDH is unambiguous in FAQ 6: 'Does my kitchen need to be inspected? No. A cottage food business doesn't require a preliminary or routine inspection.' There is no pre-opening inspection, no annual inspection and no inspection fee, and MDH explains the logic in FAQ 14 — because cottage food businesses are not licensed or inspected, the allowable product list has to be confined to low-risk, non-potentially hazardous foods. That is the trade the statute makes. The exemption is not, however, an immunity. Health-General 21-330.1 and COMAR 10.15.03.27C(4)-(5) authorise the Department to investigate complaints, inspect the premises where cottage food products are produced or packaged, and collect samples of product, and forbid the owner to deny access or interfere with the investigation. MDH restates the duty twice, in FAQ 6 and FAQ 7: if a consumer complaint or an illness is reported, the home kitchen may be inspected by the local health department, and 'the operator of the cottage food business must provide the Maryland Department of Health access to the home kitchen for such investigations.' The practical shape of enforcement is therefore local: the county health department is the body most likely to arrive at the door. Under COMAR 10.15.03.27D the Department may act against misbranded or adulterated food in accordance with Health-General 21-211, 21-253 and 21-254, and may prohibit an individual who violates the regulation from producing and selling home-prepared foods as cottage foods — the sanction that replaces permit revocation in a programme with no permits. Two document-keeping duties function as a paper inspection. A vendor at a public event who relies on laboratory testing to qualify a moist quick bread, an icing or a drizzle must have copies of the third-party laboratory results readily available for review by the local health department (FAQ 28). And a business selling into retail food stores holds a compliance letter that the store, and the Department, can ask to see.

What your city or county may add

This is the part of Maryland's programme an operator is most likely to get wrong, because the state deliberately leaves it open. Health-General 21-330.1 provides that 'the owner of a cottage food business shall comply with all applicable county and municipal laws and ordinances regulating the preparation, processing, storage, and sale of cottage food products', and COMAR 10.15.03.27C(3) repeats the duty verbatim. MDH prints the same sentence as a banner across both of its decision tools, with the instruction to 'contact your local permits, licensing and zoning department to inquire about specific requirements'. The state exemption is an exemption from state licensing only; it pre-empts nothing at county or municipal level. FAQ 8 states the worst case explicitly: 'it is possible in a state with a cottage food law (including Maryland) that a local city or town government within the state may not allow home food/cottage food production.' A Maryland cottage food operator can therefore be perfectly lawful under Health-General 21-301 and still be barred by a home-occupation ordinance in their own town. Local bodies carry four concrete roles found in the primary sources. (1) Zoning and permits — the operator must clear home occupation and zoning rules with the county or municipal zoning department before selling. (2) Farmers markets and public events — MDH's decision tool directs the operator to 'contact the local health department jurisdiction in advance of participating in a farmers' market or public event for additional requirements', and FAQ 9 confirms that although no retail food service facility licence may be demanded of a cottage food business by law, 'some jurisdictions may have local laws or ordinances that are more restrictive'. A market operator who insists on a licence is a question for the local health department, not for MDH. (3) Complaint investigation and inspection of the home kitchen, as described above. (4) Licensing for everything the exemption does not cover: a temporary retail food service facility licence if the operator wants to cook or bag on site at an event (FAQ 32), a food service facility licence for retail plus up to 49 percent wholesale sales, with fees that MDH says 'vary depending on jurisdiction'. Two household questions also route to the county. On private wells, MDH says water used to produce food products should be from a potable source and refers concerns to the local health department; no testing frequency or standard is prescribed for cottage food operators in the material read (FAQ 44). On septic systems, MDH warns that bakery wastewater increases both the volume and the organic strength discharged to a drain field and can accelerate system failure, again referring the operator to the local health department (FAQ 45). What could not be confirmed here: no county or municipal ordinance was read line by line for this record. Frederick County's health department page was fetched and confirms the state position — no local notification or licence for direct sales, MDH request form for retail sales — but sets out no Frederick-specific zoning rule, market permit or fee. Maryland has 24 local jurisdictions, each with its own health department, zoning code and municipal layer beneath it, and no statewide inventory of their cottage food positions exists in any primary source found. Baltimore City, Montgomery County, Prince George's County and the rest were not checked. Treat the local step as mandatory research for every individual operator, not as boilerplate.

Program sources: Md. Code, Health-General 21-301, Definitions — 'cottage food business' at (b-1) including the $50,000 annual revenue element, and 'cottage food product' at (b-2) including the venue list (Maryland General Assembly) — https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ghg&section=21-301&enactments=false · Md. Code, Health-General 21-330.1, Cottage food businesses — operation without Department licensing, labeling content, duty to comply with county and municipal law, Department power to investigate complaints, inspect and sample (Maryland General Assembly) — https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ghg&section=21-330.1&enactments=false · 2026 Laws of Maryland, Chapter 320 (House Bill 535), 'Food Establishments – Cottage Food Businesses – Maximum Annual Revenue' — chaptered text repealing and reenacting Health-General 21-301(b-1) with [$50,000] struck and $100,000 inserted, Section 2 effective 1 October 2026, approved by the Governor 28 April 2026 (PDF, converted to text locally) — https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_320_hb0535t.pdf · House Bill 535 (2026 Regular Session) bill detail page — synopsis, House 136-0 and Senate 42-0 votes, Governor approval 28 April 2026, Chapter 320, effective 1 October 2026 (Maryland General Assembly) — https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0535?ys=2026RS · COMAR 10.15.03.02, Definitions — B(17-1) cottage food business with the $50,000 figure, B(17-2) cottage food product, B(55) potentially hazardous food with the 0.85 water activity and 4.6 pH exclusions, B(68-1) retail food store (Maryland Division of State Documents, official COMAR) — https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/10.15.03.02 · COMAR 10.15.03.27, Farmer's Market, Bake Sales, and Cottage Food Business — A (venues), B(1)-(7) (allowable foods), C(1) (label content and the required disclaimer), C(2) (unique identification number), C(3) (county and municipal compliance), C(4)-(5) (investigation, inspection, sampling, no interference), C(6)-(7) (retail food store review, ANSI food safety course, written approval before sale), C(8)-(9) (24-hour phone and 48-hour email contactability), D (misbranding and adulteration action, prohibition on selling as cottage food) — https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/10.15.03.27 · COMAR 10.15.03.27 amendment history, read via Cornell LII mirror — permanently amended effective 28 April 2025 (52:8 Md. R. 358), emergency amendment effective 27 November 2024 (51:26 Md. R. 1185), earlier amendments 2023, 2021, 2020, 2016, 2013, 2012, 2010, adopted 17 December 2007 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/maryland/COMAR-10-15-03-27 · Maryland Department of Health, Office of Food Protection, 'Guidelines for Cottage Food Businesses', updated 3/2025 — allowable and prohibited foods, laboratory testing thresholds, full labeling rules and sample labels, sampling rules, retail food store process, definitions, Appendix A allowable foods, Appendix B foods not allowed, Appendices C and D decision tools including the 'no license or health department review needed' and 'no fee for review' statements (PDF, converted to text locally) — https://health.maryland.gov/qahealth/environmental-health/Documents/MDH%20Cottage%20Food%20Businesses%20Guidelines.pdf · Maryland Department of Health, Office of Food Protection, 'Cottage Food Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)', last updated 11/2025 — 45 questions covering licensing (Q1), business licence and sales tax (Q2), identification number (Q3), retail store request (Q4), ANSI training (Q5), inspection (Q6-Q7), zoning and local ordinances (Q8), farmers market licence demands (Q9), labeling (Q10-Q13), product rulings (Q14-Q34), icings and cakes (Q35-Q38), sales locations including internet, mail, wholesale and bake sales (Q39-Q43), wells and septic (Q44-Q45) (PDF, converted to text locally) — https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/OEHFP/OFPCHS/Documents/Copy%20of%20CF%20FAQs%20Updated%20Revised_September_2025_FINAL_SBed09242025.docx%20(1).pdf · Maryland Department of Health, Office of Food Protection, Cottage Foods page — Office of Food Protection contact (6 St. Paul Street, Suite 1301, Baltimore MD 21202; (410) 767-8400), page last updated 19 November 2025; body content did not render on fetch — https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/OEHFP/OFPCHS/pages/cottagefoods.aspx · Frederick County Health Department, Cottage Food Business page — one local jurisdiction's confirmation that no local licence is required for direct sales and that retail-store sales go through the MDH Cottage Food Business Request Form; county contact (301) 600-1029 — https://health.frederickcountymd.gov/681/Cottage-Food-Business · Maryland Department of Health rulemaking notice for COMAR 10.15.03 (.02, .06, .09, .15, .25, .27, .40) — Notice of Proposed Action, Maryland Register 46:12 (7 June 2019), which expanded 'cottage food product' to add personal delivery and mail delivery and expanded Regulation .27 venues to farmer's market, bake sale, public event, personal delivery and mail order — https://health.maryland.gov/regs/Pages/10-15-03-0607-7348.aspx