Cottage Food Label Requirements in Minnesota (2026)

Cottage food rules in Minnesota — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Minnesota

Minnesota's cottage food exemption lives in a single statute, Minn. Stat. 28A.152, and it is an exemption from licensing rather than a licence of its own: subdivision 1(a) states that the licensing provisions of sections 28A.01 to 28A.16 do not apply to the two categories of home food producer it describes. The first category, 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(1), is an individual who prepares and sells food that is not potentially hazardous food as defined in Minnesota Rules, part 4626.0020, subpart 62, provided the food is labelled and a point-of-sale sign is displayed. The second, 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(2), is an individual who prepares and sells home-processed and home-canned food products, but only pickles, vegetables or fruits with an equilibrium pH value of 4.6 or lower or a water activity value of .85 or less, and only if those products are home-processed and home-canned in Minnesota. An individual qualifying under clause (2) is additionally exempt from Minn. Stat. 31.31 and 31.392 by force of 28A.152, subd. 1(b). The exemption is personal: the statute in force speaks throughout of 'an individual', and 28A.152, subd. 1(c), added by Laws 2021, chapter 28, section 7, allows that individual to organise the cottage food business as a business entity recognised by state law, which the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) reads as permitting an LLC or a DBA wrapper around one registered person rather than a multi-person operation. Registration under 28A.152, subd. 4, is required of every such individual before selling, regardless of how little is sold; MDA's law guidance page is explicit that all individuals who want to make and sell foods described in the Cottage Food Law must register before selling food. The one carve-out MDA recognises is the person who is not regularly engaged in selling food, for example an occasional bake-sale contributor to an educational, charitable or religious organisation. Production need not happen at home: MDA guidance states cottage food can be produced in a home kitchen or in a commercial kitchen so long as local ordinances are followed. Residency is not an eligibility condition either. MDA answers directly that a non-Minnesota resident can hold a Minnesota Cottage Food Producer registration and may make the food in their out-of-state home, but the food must be handed to the customer in person in Minnesota, and the home-canned acidified goods of 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(2), remain confined to Minnesota by subd. 2(c). Two things sit outside the exemption entirely. Products of the farm or garden that a person occupies and cultivates may be sold without any licence under Article XIII, Section 7 of the Minnesota Constitution, so no cottage food registration is needed for them; MDA applies this to honey and maple syrup made from hives or trees the person owns or rents with no purchased or off-land ingredients added, and says a registration or licence becomes necessary the moment a purchased flavouring is added or another producer's sap, syrup or honey is blended in. And under the version of the statute in force on 16 August 2026 there is no disqualification for holding a food handler licence; that disqualification, new 28A.152, subd. 1(d), only arrives with the 2025 amendments on 1 August 2027.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Any food that is not potentially hazardous food as defined in Minnesota Rules, part 4626.0020, subpart 62 — the statutory test in Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(1). Subpart 62, item C, excludes from 'potentially hazardous food' a food with a water activity value of 0.85 or less, a food with a pH level of 4.6 or below measured at 24 degrees C (75 degrees F), an air-cooled hard-boiled egg with shell intact, a food in an unopened hermetically sealed container commercially processed to commercial sterility, and any food for which laboratory evidence demonstrates that rapid and progressive growth of infectious and toxigenic microorganisms, or growth of Salmonella enteritidis in eggs or of Clostridium botulinum, cannot occur
• Baked goods that are shelf stable — breads, rolls, cookies, bars, cakes, brownies and similar items — named by MDA as the paradigm example of non-potentially hazardous food under the exemption
• Jams and jellies that meet the acidity or water activity test (MDA: 'certain jams and jellies')
• Home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits having an equilibrium pH value of 4.6 or lower or a water activity value of .85 or less, under Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(2)(i), provided they are home-processed and home-canned in Minnesota
• Dry, high-sugar or high-salt goods generally, on the water activity limb of subpart 62 item C(2) — the mechanism MDA describes as binding up water so that bacteria cannot grow
• Dairy ingredients used inside a baked good — butter, milk and eggs baked into a product — which MDA confirms are allowable if the finished product meets the water activity requirement, even though the dairy products themselves are not saleable as cottage foods
• Pet treats for dogs and cats only, and only baked or dehydrated ones, which must themselves be non-potentially hazardous. MDA administers these as cottage pet treats added by the 2021-2022 legislation and points to Minn. Stat. 25.391 as their governing section; ingredients toxic to the intended species, onions being MDA's example, must not be used
• Food samples at a farmers' market or community event, allowed without a licence by a separate statute, Minn. Stat. 28A.151: a portion of no more than 3 ounces including as a main ingredient a product sold by the vendor, given at no cost, with signage listing ingredients and major allergens; raw animal, poultry and fish must never be sampled and a handwashing station is required whenever open food is handled
• Unpackaged bulk product such as cupcakes brought to a market and packaged per customer order, which MDA states the law does not prohibit, subject to no bare hand contact, access to a handwashing station, protection of the food in an enclosed case or covered container, and a compliant label attached or handed over at the time of dispensing

Not allowed under the program:

• Anything that is potentially hazardous food under Minnesota Rules, part 4626.0020, subpart 62, item A — food in a form capable of supporting the rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms, the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum, or, in raw shell eggs, the growth of Salmonella enteritidis
• Foods of animal origin whether raw or heat-treated, foods of plant origin that are heat-treated, raw seed sprouts, cut melons, and garlic and oil mixtures that are not acidified or otherwise modified at a food processing plant — each named in subpart 62, item B, as included in 'potentially hazardous food'
• Meat products of any kind, and dehydrated meat or fish such as jerkies — MDA states these are potentially hazardous, are not allowable cottage foods, and require a licence
• Dairy products sold as such: cheese, yogurt, butter, ghee, and condiments like cream cheese or flavoured butters sold alongside baked goods; MDA adds that manufacturing dairy may also require a permit from MDA's Dairy programme
• Pickled eggs and pickled meats
• Tamales and egg rolls, which MDA names specifically as potentially hazardous and not producible or saleable from a home kitchen
• Chocolate-covered fresh fruit — MDA answers flatly that chocolate-covered strawberries, and chocolate-covered berries, pineapple or melon generally, are not allowed
• Charcuterie boards, because they normally contain meat and cheese, neither of which is an allowable cottage food
• Edible cannabinoid products including THC and CBD. MDA's reasoning is definitional: the exemption is an exemption from food licensing and applies to food, and edible cannabinoids are explicitly excluded from the definition of food products in Minn. Stat. 34A.01, subd. 4, so cannabinoids cannot be ingredients in cottage food
• Home-canned goods other than pickles, vegetables or fruits meeting the pH or water activity limits — the clause (2) list in Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(2)(i), is closed, so home-canned meat, low-acid vegetables not acidified, or acidified products outside that list fall outside the exemption
• Any product, otherwise allowable, that is made on site at a farmers' market or community event: MDA states cottage foods cannot be produced onsite at such an event, and a licence is likely needed to produce or dispense food or beverages there

How much you may sell

$78,000 in gross receipts in a calendar year, per registered individual. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 3, reads: 'An individual selling exempt foods under this section is limited to total sales with gross receipts of $78,000 or less in a calendar year.' That figure is the product of Laws 2021, chapter 28, section 8, which lifted the previous ceiling; the cap has been amended more than once since the exemption was created by Laws 2015, 1st Special Session, chapter 4, article 2, section 53, and MDA's own registration page describes the 2021-2022 package as 'increasing the sales cap per registered individual to $78,000'. MDA is precise about what the number counts: it is the anticipated gross annual receipts for the year being registered, the total amount for all sales as measured by the sales price, not profit. Exceeding it is not a fine, it is a change of legal regime — MDA states that a producer selling more than $78,000 needs a food licence and must meet the laws applicable under that licence. A second, lower dollar line sits inside the cap and does not change eligibility but changes cost and training: $7,665 in annual gross receipts separates Tier 1 from Tier 2. That threshold is itself an indexed figure. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 4, exempts from the registration fee 'an individual with $5,000 or less in annual gross receipts' and then directs that 'by January 1, 2022, the commissioner shall adjust the gross receipts amount of this fee exemption based on the consumer price index using 2002 as the index year for the $5,000 gross receipts exemption.' MDA has performed that adjustment and publishes the result as $7,665, describing it as 'increasing the Tier 1 sales cap (exempt from registration fee) to $7,665'. So the operative bands today are $0 to $7,665 (Tier 1) and $7,666 to $78,000 (Tier 2). The $78,000 cap itself is not yet indexed. A new indexation mechanism, 28A.152, subd. 8, added by Laws 2025, chapter 34, article 5, section 19, will require the commissioner to adjust the subdivision 3 limit every two years to the Consumer Price Index using July 2025 as the base month and year — but the Revisor's note attached to the section states that subdivision 8 is effective 1 August 2027, so no biennial adjustment is in force on 16 August 2026.

Where you may sell

• Directly to the ultimate consumer at a community event or farmers' market — Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 2(a)(1). MDA defines a farmers' market as an association of three or more persons assembling at a defined location open to the public to sell products of a farm or garden they occupy and cultivate, and a community event as an organised event with a defined start and end time in which multiple participating vendors are open to the public, held with the consent of the municipality or the property owner
• Directly from the individual's home to the ultimate consumer, to the extent allowed by local ordinance — 28A.152, subd. 2(a)(2). The deference to local ordinance is in the statute itself, not merely in guidance
• Through donation to a community event for the purpose of fundraising for an individual, or for an educational, charitable or religious organisation — 28A.152, subd. 2(a)(3). MDA confirms the producer need not be present at the fundraising event
• Over the internet — 28A.152, subd. 2(d) — but as an advertising and ordering channel only. The same subdivision requires that the statement 'These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.' be displayed on the website offering the exempt foods for purchase, and MDA asks for it in a location highly visible to the visitor
• Delivery, but only in person and only by the producer. Under the text in force, 28A.152, subd. 2(b), provides that if an exempt food product will be delivered to the ultimate consumer upon sale, the individual who prepared it must be the person who delivers it. MDA translates this as personal delivery to the customer's home or an in-person meet-up at an agreed location within Minnesota, and states expressly that human cottage food cannot be shipped or sent through the mail or a third-party shipping service
• Cottage pet treats, and only pet treats, may be shipped in the mail or by commercial delivery to the end consumer, per MDA guidance on the pet treat provisions. MDA notes the law does not specifically prohibit shipping pet treats out of state but warns that another state may require a feed licence, tonnage payment or product registration
• A structure such as a food trailer or truck is acceptable as a selling point, MDA states, provided the sale is still from home, a farmers' market or a community event and no food preparation takes place inside the structure
• An employee may conduct the sale: MDA states the cottage food producer or their employee must be physically present during product sale or delivery
• A CSA-style distribution is allowed, with customers collecting at the producer's residence or the producer delivering to theirs; product may not be left for pick-up at any third location
• NOT ALLOWED: sale from a retail store, including a pop-up table inside someone else's shop, unless a qualifying farmers' market or community event is being held at that location; and NOT ALLOWED: wholesale for resale. MDA has added a line to the registration card itself — 'This is not a license. Products cannot be resold.' — precisely to signal to retailers that they may not stock cottage foods
• NOT ALLOWED across state lines for the acidified home-canned goods: Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 2(c), states that food products exempt under subd. 1(a)(2) may not be sold outside of Minnesota. MDA's example is a registered Minnesota producer who makes pickles in Wisconsin and cannot sell them across the border. Other cottage foods such as baked goods may cross state lines subject to the destination state's own law

Permit, registration and fees

Registration is handled by Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Food and Feed Safety Division, licensing unit — 625 Robert Street North, Saint Paul, MN 55155; MDA.Licensing@state.mn.us; 651-201-6062. The statute names 'the commissioner', which under chapter 28A is the commissioner of agriculture. Note that the potentially hazardous food definition the exemption borrows, Minnesota Rules part 4626.0020, sits in a Department of Health chapter, where 'commissioner' means the commissioner of health; the borrowing is of the definition only..

1. Step 1 — Confirm eligibility. Verify that what you intend to make is non-potentially hazardous under Minnesota Rules, part 4626.0020, subpart 62, or is a home-canned pickle, vegetable or fruit at pH 4.6 or lower or water activity .85 or less under Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 1(a)(2), and check that your city, county or township has no ordinance or zoning restriction prohibiting home food sales. MDA suggests reviewing its training material at this stage as an eligibility check
2. Step 1b — If unsure whether a recipe qualifies, test it. MDA points producers to university sources for laboratory-tested recipes, to commercial food testing laboratories in Minnesota for pH and water activity analysis, and to self-testing options such as pH meters and water activity kits
3. Step 2 — Complete the training that matches your expected sales for the year, before registering. Expected sales of $7,665 or less: take MDA's free Tier 1 training (a PDF course published by MDA, current edition dated December 2025) and pass the exam. Expected sales above $7,665: take the Tier 2 safe food handling course approved by the commissioner, which MDA directs to the University of Minnesota Extension Food Safety Program, offered online or in person and charged for
4. Step 3 — File the registration through MDA's online licensing portal, choosing 'Cottage Foods Producer Registration' from the dropdown and clicking 'Apply for License'. New registrants use the APPLICATION portal; existing registrants must use the RENEWAL portal and must not file a new application. The Tier 1 exam is completed as part of the online registration flow
5. Step 3 alternative — Without computer access, request a paper application, training and exam by emailing MDA.Licensing@state.mn.us or calling 651-201-6062 with your first and last name and mailing address
6. Step 4 — Supply the required identity information: full name, address and contact information, plus your Social Security number or a Minnesota Tax ID number, optionally your cottage food business name if you operate as a DBA or other Minnesota legal entity, and a signed and dated attestation that you have taken the training and will follow the Cottage Food Law. You are asked for the most recent date on which you completed training
7. Step 5 — Pay the fee if you are in Tier 2. No fee is due in Tier 1
8. Step 6 — Wait for the registration card, which MDA mails with a unique registration number; MDA asks for roughly 3 to 4 weeks for processing and says cards are mailed within one week of processing, while the statutory deadline in subd. 4 is 30 days. You may begin selling as soon as your entry appears in MDA's Licensing Information Search with a registration number, even before the card arrives
9. Step 7 — Keep the registration card with you when selling; an inspector or market manager may ask to see it, and MDA warns that a producer whose registration cannot be verified may be asked to stop selling
10. Ongoing — Label every product with your full name or registered business name, your registration number or address, the date the food was made, the ingredient list including major allergens, and the statement 'These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.' MDA states a QR code may only supplement, never replace, that information. Display the same statement on a clearly legible sign or placard at the point of sale, and on your website if you sell online

Fee: Two tiers, and only one of them pays. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 4, sets an annual registration fee of $50 and then provides that 'an individual with $5,000 or less in annual gross receipts from the sale of exempt food under this section is not required to pay the registration fee', with a mandate to index that $5,000 to the consumer price index using 2002 as the index year by 1 January 2022. MDA publishes the indexed threshold as $7,665. Tier 1, annual gross sales of $7,665 or less: registration required, fee $0. Tier 2, annual gross sales of $7,666 to $78,000: registration required, fee $50 per year. MDA adds an administrative surcharge for paying electronically — 'there is a $2.50 processing fee for the $50 registration fee paid online for Tier 2 producers.' Fee money is not general revenue: 28A.152, subd. 7, creates a cottage foods account in the agricultural fund and appropriates the money in it, including interest, to the commissioner for the purposes of the section. From 1 August 2027 this structure disappears. Laws 2025, chapter 34, article 5, section 17, rewrites subd. 4 to read simply 'The annual registration fee is $30' with no exemption tier, and MDA's own legislative update summarises the change as 'having one registration tier, yearly fee of $30 for all'.

Renewal: Annual, on a fixed calendar rather than a rolling anniversary. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 4, requires registration 'annually'; MDA states that a registration expires each year on 31 March and that a producer wishing to continue selling must re-register by 1 April. MDA mails a renewal reminder about six weeks before expiry containing a PIN, and offers two routes: a paper renewal form, or online renewal through the RENEWAL portal using that PIN, which also collects any fee owed. Existing registrants are told not to file a new application. One trap: if your name or your address has changed since the last registration, MDA states you cannot use the online portal and must complete a fresh registration form with the updated information. Training must be current at renewal — annually for Tier 1, every three years for Tier 2 — and the renewal asks for the most recent training completion date.

Food safety training

Yes, mandatory, and it is the requirement that differs most sharply between the two tiers. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 5, in the version in force, has two paragraphs. Paragraph (a) applies to an individual 'required to pay the registration fee in subdivision 4' — Tier 2 — and requires completion of a safe food handling training course approved by the commissioner before registering; the training 'shall not exceed eight hours' and 'must be completed every three years while the individual is registered'. Paragraph (b) applies to an individual 'exempt from paying the registration fee' — Tier 1 — and requires satisfactory completion of an online course and exam approved by the commissioner before registering, with the statute directing that the commissioner offer that course and exam at no cost. In practice: Tier 1 (annual sales up to $7,665) takes MDA's own free training, published as the Cottage Food Producer Tier 1 Training PDF, and passes the exam, and must repeat it every year before registering or renewing — an annual obligation that is stricter in frequency than Tier 2's. Tier 2 (annual sales of $7,666 to $78,000) takes the commissioner-approved course, which MDA directs to the University of Minnesota Extension Food Safety Program, available online or in person, with a fee charged for both formats, and repeats it once every three years. MDA adds that a producer moving up from Tier 1 to Tier 2 must take the Tier 2 training at that point rather than waiting out a three-year cycle. A general food safety credential does not substitute. MDA answers the point directly: a certified food manager must still take the cottage-food-specific training, because the required course covers preparing food safely in a home kitchen and the requirements of the Cottage Food Law itself. Training must be completed before registering, and the registration form asks for the most recent completion date. MDA publishes Spanish and Somali translations of both the registration and the training materials. From 1 August 2027, Laws 2025, chapter 34, article 5, section 18, collapses subd. 5 into a single paragraph requiring the approved course, capped at eight hours and repeated every three years, of every registrant — what MDA calls 'advanced training will be required for all registrants'.

Inspection

There is no routine inspection, and that is the entire architecture of the programme. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 1(a), disapplies the licensing provisions of sections 28A.01 to 28A.16, so no plan review, no pre-operational visit, no periodic inspection of a home kitchen, and no water testing is imposed by the section. The consumer-facing counterweight is the disclosure the statute makes compulsory in three places: the label under subd. 1(a)(1)(i) and 1(a)(2)(iv), the point-of-sale sign or placard under subd. 1(a)(1)(ii) and 1(a)(2)(iii), and the website statement under subd. 2(d) — all carrying the identical sentence 'These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.' MDA reinforces the distinction on the artefact itself, having added to the registration card the words 'This is not a license. Products cannot be resold.', explaining that cottage foods therefore cannot be wholesaled to businesses for resale and that only properly licensed food businesses may wholesale. Verification, in place of inspection, is by identity and record. An inspector or market manager may ask to see the registration card, and MDA states a producer who cannot verify registration may be asked to stop selling. Any member of the public can check a producer through MDA's Licensing Information Search by registration number, name, city or county, selecting COTTAGE FOOD PRODUCER REGISTRATION as the licence type. Exemption from licensing is not exemption from food law. MDA grounds its handling requirements for open, unpackaged product — no bare hand contact, hand sanitiser not accepted as a substitute for handwashing, access to a handwashing station, food protected in an enclosed display case or covered container — in Minn. Stat. 31.02, Prohibited Acts, on adulteration, rather than in chapter 28A. MDA also states plainly that a producer must not make, sell or store cottage food at home if anyone in the household is sick, and expects proper hand hygiene and regular cleaning and sanitising of equipment and surfaces. Sampling at a market is regulated separately and more tightly, under Minn. Stat. 28A.151, including the 3-ounce ceiling, the no-cost condition, allergen signage at the sampling station, the ban on serving raw animal, poultry or fish, the requirement that cooked animal, poultry or fish samples be prepared onsite from USDA- or Minnesota Equal-To-inspected sources, and a handwashing station whenever open food is handled. Finally, tax is a live obligation the exemption does not touch: MDA warns that cottage food sales are subject to income tax and may be subject to sales tax, and refers producers to the Minnesota Department of Revenue at 651-556-3000.

What your city or county may add

Minnesota preserves local control expressly. Minn. Stat. 28A.152, subd. 6, states: 'This section does not preempt the application of any business licensing requirement or sanitation, public health, or zoning ordinance of a political subdivision.' Subdivision 6 was not touched by the 2025 amendments, so it reads the same before and after 1 August 2027. The deference is also built into the sales provision itself: 28A.152, subd. 2(a)(2), permits sales directly from the individual's home to the ultimate consumer only 'to the extent allowed by local ordinance'. A city, county or township ordinance can therefore lawfully shut down home-based cottage food sales without conflicting with the state exemption. MDA's guidance is unambiguous about the consequence: if the city or county has an ordinance restricting you from making or selling food in your home, 'you must comply with the ordinance and cannot produce and sell food from your home.' It also offers the workaround — depending on the ordinance, it may be possible to make and sell as a registered producer from an acceptable location such as a commercial kitchen — and lists checking with the local city, county or township on business licensing and zoning as one of the standing duties of a cottage food producer, and as part of step 1 of registration. Nothing in this record was read from any Minnesota municipal or county code; the local layer must be checked jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

Program sources: Minn. Stat. 28A.152, Cottage Foods Exemption — current Revisor page showing the 2025-amended text and the Revisor's notes deferring subdivisions 1 to 5 and 8 to 1 August 2027 — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/28A.152 · Minn. Stat. 28A.152 (2024 edition) — the text actually in force on 16 August 2026: subd. 1 eligibility and labelling, subd. 2 direct sales and personal delivery, subd. 3 the $78,000 cap, subd. 4 the $50 fee with the $5,000 indexed exemption, subd. 5 the two-paragraph training rule, subd. 6 no preemption of local ordinance, subd. 7 the cottage foods account — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/2024/cite/28A.152 · Minnesota Rules, part 4626.0020, Statement of Application and Definitions — subpart 62 'Potentially hazardous food', the definition the exemption incorporates by reference, including item C's pH 4.6 and water activity 0.85 exclusions — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/4626.0020/ · Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Cottage Food Producer Registration — the four-step registration process, the Tier 1 / Tier 2 bands at $7,665, the $50 Tier 2 fee, the labelling and delivery duties, the application and renewal portals, and the legislative update on the 2027 effective date — https://www.mda.state.mn.us/food-feed/cottage-food-producer-registration · Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Cottage Food Law Guidance — the full FAQ: registration cost and expiry on 31 March, the 'This is not a license. Products cannot be resold.' card statement, the $2.50 online processing fee, training frequency by tier, allowed and prohibited foods, cannabinoid exclusion, honey and maple syrup carve-out, sampling under 28A.151, delivery and shipping limits, retail and wholesale prohibition, local ordinance consequences — https://www.mda.state.mn.us/food-feed/cottage-food-law-guidance · University of Minnesota Extension, Cottage Food Producer Food Safety Training — the commissioner-approved Tier 2 course MDA directs producers to (URL identified from MDA's registration page; page not fetched) — https://extension.umn.edu/courses-and-events/cottage-food-producer-food-safety-training · MDA Cottage Food Producer Tier 1 Training (PDF), edition dated December 2025 — the free training and exam required of Tier 1 producers (URL identified; file not opened) — https://www.mda.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/docs/2026-03/CottageFoodTraining_2.5Dec2025.pdf · MDA Cottage Foods Fact Sheet (PDF), November 2025 (URL identified; file not opened) — https://www.mda.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/docs/2026-03/CottageFoodsFactSheet11.25.pdf