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Selling homemade food in Massachusetts means your label has to follow the Massachusetts has no cottage food statute and no state permit. A home kitchen selling direct to consumers is a Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen, permitted as a « Cottage Food Operation » by the LOCAL board of health in the city or town where the kitchen is (105 CMR 590.010(F)(2)(a)), under 105 CMR 590.000 — the Massachusetts Retail Food Code. Fees, renewal cycles, training requirements and plan review are therefore set by your town, not by Boston. Only non-TCS foods qualify — baked goods, jams, jellies and other foods safely held at room temperature — though TCS ingredients such as milk, cream and eggs may be used provided the finished product is not TCS. « Direct to the consumer » expressly includes farmers markets, craft fairs, and sales by internet or mail. Selling to a shop or restaurant that re-sells is wholesale, and needs a Department of Public Health licence under 105 CMR 500.015 instead. Acidification, hot fill, thermal processing in hermetically-sealed containers, vacuum packaging and curing or smoking are prohibited, with a single exception for jams and jellies. There is no income cap. Here is exactly what that label must show in 2026 — the required fields, the allergen rule, and why no “home kitchen” disclaimer applies — sourced to the statute and dated.
No. There is no required disclaimer at all, and no minimum type size, so neither a sentence nor a point value is claimed — the six label items must simply be printed in English. That absence is the rule, not an omission: the local board of health inspected and permitted the kitchen, so there is nothing to disclaim. The « prepared in a kitchen that is not subject to regulation and inspection » placard that people copy from other guides belongs to the UNPERMITTED charitable bake sale under M.G.L. c. 94 § 328, and it is a placard at the point of sale, never a line on the package. Heads-up on the ingredient list: sub-ingredients must be broken out — the state’s own example is that « soy sauce » is not acceptable where « soy sauce (wheat, soybeans, salt) » is. There is no permit number to print, and no state fee to quote: ask your board of health for the fee, the renewal cycle, whether food protection manager certification and allergen awareness training are required, and what the inspection covers.
Massachusetts is a trap for sellers who expect a "cottage food law": there isn't one, and the rules split by sales channel. Sell direct to consumers (retail) and you are a retail food establishment permitted by your LOCAL board of health under 105 CMR 590.000. Sell to stores for resale (wholesale) and you run a licensed "Residential Kitchen" under 105 CMR 500.000 with a STATE DPH license. Either way your label must meet the SAME federal + state standard as a factory product. The upside for a label generator: there is no goofy home-kitchen disclaimer or oddball state font rule to get wrong — you just have to nail the standard federal elements (identity, ingredients, allergens, net weight, name+address) plus the one Massachusetts add-on: an open date for products with a shelf life under 90 days.
Because MA has no cottage-food disclaimer, sellers wrongly assume home-kitchen products are lightly regulated. The opposite is true: full federal-style labeling (ingredients in weight order, net quantity, name/address, FALCPA allergens) is mandatory on every prepackaged product, whether sold retail or wholesale.
If the product is perishable or semi-perishable — estimated shelf life under 90 days (per 105 CMR 500.003: perishable = 60 days or less, semi-perishable = 60 to 90 days) — a "sell by," "best by," or "use by" date is REQUIRED. Long shelf-life foods (90+ days) are optional. This Massachusetts add-on is omitted by most out-of-state templates. Products under 1 1/2 oz net weight are exempt.
There is no single statewide cottage-food registration. For RETAIL (direct-to-consumer, farmers markets) you get a permit/inspection from your municipal board of health under 105 CMR 590.000. For WHOLESALE (selling to stores) you need a state DPH Residential Kitchen license under 105 CMR 500.000. The permit/license number does NOT go on the label, but you cannot sell without it. (The original record incorrectly cited 105 CMR 500.004/500.014 for retail — retail is 590.000.)
Tree nuts must be named by specific type (almond, walnut) and fish/shellfish by species (cod, shrimp) in the Contains statement — a generic "tree nuts" is non-compliant under FALCPA as MA enforces it.
Timeline: Plan several weeks. For retail: contact your local board of health, schedule a residential-kitchen/retail inspection, and obtain the permit before selling. For wholesale: apply for a state DPH Residential Kitchen license and inspection. Label design itself can be finalized immediately once the standard federal elements and any open date are set.
Cost: Label content itself: $0. A local retail permit/inspection fee is set by each municipal board of health (commonly tens to a few hundred dollars per year); a state DPH wholesale Residential Kitchen license carries its own fee. Confirm exact amounts with your town's board of health and the MA DPH Food Protection Program.
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Make my Massachusetts label →Massachusetts does not require a “made in a home kitchen” disclaimer. Your label still has to meet the standard federal FDA labeling rules (product name, ingredients by weight, allergens, net weight, and your name and address).
No. Massachusetts does not require a permit or registration number printed on the label.
At minimum: product name — the common name of the food; your business / producer name; the address of the cottage food operation; a complete ingredient list, in descending order by weight (sub-ingredients included); an allergen declaration — the 9 major FDA allergens, in the ingredient list or a “Contains:” line; net weight, in US customary and metric units; the date the food was made.
No. CottageCompliance gives general information based on each state's published rules, dated to when we last verified them. Always confirm with your state or local agency before selling.
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Food Protection, « Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens », 1 April 2019, issued under 105 CMR 590.009(E) (the six label items and the kitchen standards), and « Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers », April 2019 (permitting authority, allowed and prohibited foods, prohibited processes, wholesale route, bake-sale exemption). Referenced source: 105 CMR 590.000, State Sanitary Code Chapter X. Reconfirm on mass.gov/lists/retail-food and with your local board of health. Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.