Cottage Food Label Requirements in New Hampshire (2026)

Cottage food rules in New Hampshire — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has a homestead food law, not a cottage food law, and the vocabulary matters because every form and phone call at the Food Protection Section uses it. The chapter is RSA 143-A (Food Service Licensure), homestead subdivision at RSA 143-A:12 and :13. It is NOT RSA 143:1-a; RSA 143 is the older general food and drug chapter and contains no homestead scheme. RSA 143-A:12, I(a): 'Homestead food operation' means a person who produces homestead food products, excluding potentially hazardous food, only in the home kitchen of that person's primary residence in New Hampshire. I(b) defines potentially hazardous food as food requiring temperature control for safety 'because they are capable of supporting the rapid growth of pathogenic or toxigenic microorganisms, and the growth of toxin production of clostridium botulinum', and adds that it 'also include low acid canned foods'. I(c) defines homestead food products as all food except potentially hazardous food, and as defined in rule by the commissioner under RSA 143-A:13. Read (a) slowly: it is the strictest sentence in the scheme, and it is not a dollar test. Production must happen in a HOME KITCHEN — a rented commissary, church hall, shared commercial kitchen or a friend's licensed bakery does not qualify, and nothing made there qualifies. It must be the kitchen of your PRIMARY residence — not a seasonal camp, second home, a rental you do not live in, or a relative's house. That residence must be IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. The word 'only' forecloses splitting production between the home kitchen and anywhere else. Note what the definition does NOT require, and here New Hampshire is unusually permissive: no sole-operator rule, no employee ban, no square footage, no separate kitchen. He-P 2311.06(h), which exempt operations must also follow via He-P 2310.01(e), says 'The kitchen shall not be required to be separated from any living area or sleeping area by complete partitioning or solid, self-closing doors.' New Hampshire runs TWO tiers off that one definition, and — the point most out-of-state guidance gets wrong — the tiers are not divided by money. They are divided by WHERE and TO WHOM you sell. TIER 1, the exempt homestead food operation. RSA 143-A:5, VII, as amended in 2025, exempts from the licensure requirement of RSA 143-A:4: 'Homestead food operations selling food, excluding potentially hazardous food as defined in RSA 143-A:12, I(b), from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores.' RSA 143-A:12, II says the same from the other direction: such operations 'are exempt from licensure and departmental inspection under this subdivision, except that the department may inspect when the department has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard as defined in RSA 143-A:3, IV-b.' No application, registration, notification, fee or waiting period. You may legally start today. The governing rule is one section: He-P 2310.01. TIER 2, the licensed operation — a 'Class H' food service licence, category H-1, which DHHS calls a Homestead License. RSA 143-A:12, III: operations 'that wish to sell food products, excluding potentially hazardous food, to restaurants or other retail food establishments, over the Internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell the homestead product shall be licensed'. RSA 143-A:12, IV, added in 2025, puts a second and quite different trigger in the same tier: 'Homestead food operations processing and selling freeze dried foods, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:4. For the purposes of this section, freeze dried foods means fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy products.' Freeze-drying is the one activity that pulls you into the licensed tier even if you never leave the exempt venue list. Rules: He-P 2311.01 to .06; fee $150 a year. Decision tree. Potentially hazardous food? Neither tier is available. Freeze-drying fruit, vegetables or commercially prepared dairy? Class H, regardless of channel. Selling to a restaurant, shipping, selling online, or going through a broker or distributor? Class H. Otherwise — home, your own farm stand, farmers' markets, retail food stores — you are exempt and need no permission at state level. One asymmetry costs people money: selling to a RETAIL FOOD STORE (a grocer or co-op reselling your jam) is EXEMPT, while selling to a 'food establishment' such as a restaurant or caterer is LICENSED. DHHS states this plainly through UNH Extension — a licence is required to sell 'To food establishments (not including retail food stores - for these, no license is needed to sell homestead foods)'. Many producers buy a licence they do not need.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• The exempt list is a CLOSED list — the sharpest difference between the tiers. He-P 2310.01(b): 'Only the following food products shall be produced and sold from exempt homestead food operations' — six categories, with no residual 'and similar foods' clause
• Baked items, including breads, rolls, muffins, cookies, brownies, and cakes — He-P 2310.01(b)(1)
• Double-crusted fruit pies — He-P 2310.01(b)(2). The qualifier is real: single-crust custard, pumpkin, cream and chiffon pies are potentially hazardous and excluded, and DHHS lists 'pumpkin pies' and 'custards' among its examples of what an exempt operator cannot make
• Candy and fudge — He-P 2310.01(b)(3)
• Packaged dry products, which include spices and herbs — He-P 2310.01(b)(4). This category carries dry mixes, granola, dried herbs and roasted coffee
• Acid foods, including vinegars and mustards — He-P 2310.01(b)(5). An ACID food (naturally below pH 4.6) is permitted; an ACIDIFIED food (a low-acid food brought below 4.6 by adding acid) is a processed food DHHS expects to be made in a commercial kitchen, and telling the two apart is what a process review is for
• Jams and jellies — He-P 2310.01(b)(6). DHHS treats jams and jellies made from the exact recipes, jars and process published by the National Center for Home Food Preservation as pre-cleared; anything else, including a family recipe or an NCHFP recipe you 'tweaked', needs a process review before sale
• The licensed list is the same six categories drafted OPEN, a genuine advantage of the licence beyond channel access. He-P 2311.02: 'Baked items, including, but not limited to...'; 'Packaged dry products, which include, but are not limited to, spices and herbs'; 'Acid foods, including, but not limited to, vinegars and mustards'. The phrase appears three times in He-P 2311.02 and never in He-P 2310.01
• Freeze dried fruits, vegetables and commercially prepared dairy — permitted ONLY in the licensed tier, per RSA 143-A:12, IV (2025 N.H. Laws ch. 193, eff. November 12, 2025). The same paragraph declares freeze-dried food 'shall not be considered potentially hazardous food', which is what lets the licensed tier carry it
• NOT CONFIRMED as read text, and a live risk: the expansive product lists on commercial cottage-food websites (tortillas, marshmallows, kettle corn, fruit leathers, nut butters, ketchup, pasta, dried fruit, cereals, tea leaves) are not in He-P 2310.01(b). Some fit 'packaged dry products'; others fit no category. DHHS's instruction is to ask first: 'Questions about foods or licensing? Call 603-271-4589'

Not allowed under the program:

• Any potentially hazardous food, in both tiers, no exception. RSA 143-A:12, I(a) writes the exclusion into the definition of the operation itself, so a homestead operation making a TCS food is not an over-reaching homestead operation — it is an unlicensed food establishment
• The statutory test is a capability test, not a list: food 'capable of supporting the rapid growth of pathogenic or toxigenic microorganisms, and the growth of toxin production of clostridium botulinum' — RSA 143-A:12, I(b)
• Low acid canned foods — named in the statutory definition itself, prohibited in both tiers
• IMPORTANT AND RECENT: 'processed acidified' foods were removed from the statutory definition of potentially hazardous food by 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 77 (HB 1565), effective August 13, 2024. The RULE was not conformed: He-P 2310.01(c) still reads 'potentially hazardous foods, including any food which requires refrigeration or processed acidified and low acid canned foods.' Statute and rule now disagree about acidified food. Do not resolve this yourself — call Food Protection at 603-271-4589 before selling an acidified product
• Anything requiring refrigeration — He-P 2310.01(c) and He-P 2311.03; the DHHS homestead page repeats it for the licensed tier
• DHHS's own examples of what an exempt operator cannot make: cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, custards, soups, sandwiches, and low acid foods 'such as canned gravies or some canned vegetables'
• Meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk and dairy — excluded as TCS. New Hampshire's separate uninspected bison/elk/red deer scheme at RSA 143-A:18 to :20 is a farm exemption unrelated to homestead kitchens
• Cut fruit and vegetables, baked potatoes, cooked rice and pasta, garlic-in-oil, sprouts and cooked mushroom products — standard TCS foods under the capability test
• Kombucha and cold brew coffee — excluded not as TCS but by a different licence: DHHS guidance says kombucha 'cannot be made under the Homestead Act; making it for sale requires a beverage license if the alcohol content is .5% or less. Over that limit, a liquor license is required.'
• Buttercream and cream cheese frostings — not banned, but DHHS requires laboratory pH AND water activity results before a Class H licence issues; the working thresholds are pH below 4.6 or water activity below 0.85
• Baked goods made with banana, pumpkin, zucchini or other fruit or vegetable — not banned, but water activity results are required with a Class H application, because added moisture can push the product into TCS territory
• Freeze dried foods in the EXEMPT tier. An exempt operator who buys a home freeze-dryer has, by that act alone, become a person who must be licensed
• Pickles, salsa and relish — commonly assumed jam-adjacent and not. They are the classic acidified/low-acid canning products, precisely the zone the 2024 amendment disturbed. Confirm with DHHS
• Any food outside the six categories of He-P 2310.01(b), in the exempt tier, whether or not it is shelf stable. The list is closed; shelf stability alone is not a permission
• Anything produced outside the home kitchen of your primary New Hampshire residence, in either tier — a prohibition on the PLACE, which voids the classification of the food regardless of what the food is

How much you may sell

There is NO sales cap in New Hampshire, in either tier, and this is the single fact most published guidance still gets wrong. The cap existed and was repealed. Until 2023, RSA 143-A:5, VII exempted 'Homestead food operations selling less than a maximum annual gross sales of $35,000 of food, excluding potentially hazardous food...' — a figure itself raised from $20,000 the year before. 2023 N.H. Laws ch. 180 (HB 119-FN, approved August 4, 2023) struck it: § 180:1 deletes the bracketed words 'less than a maximum annual gross sales of $35,000 of', leaving 'Homestead food operations selling food, excluding potentially hazardous food as defined in RSA 143-A:12, I(b)...'. The enrolled bill's note reads 'Remainder effective October 3, 2023'. From that date, revenue has been irrelevant to whether a New Hampshire homestead operation needs a licence. The repeal was deliberate. The House Environment and Agriculture Committee reported that it 'heard in testimony that the current annual gross sales threshold is not even tracked or reported by DHHS Food Safety Division, and there is no violation penalty for going over the current threshold, so there is no real reason to have it in current statute.' The bill as introduced would merely have doubled the ceiling to $70,000; the House struck it entirely and the Senate concurred. The repeal left a dangling cross-reference for nearly two years, which is why stale summaries survived: RSA 143-A:12, II and III still spoke of 'the maximum annual gross sales of food as defined in RSA 143-A:5, VII' — a threshold that no longer existed. Cleanup came with 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 28 (approved May 14, 2025, effective July 13, 2025): § 28:3 struck the cap language from both paragraphs and § 28:4 struck the matching phrase from the rulemaking mandate at RSA 143-A:13, III. There is now no dollar figure anywhere in the homestead subdivision. Two consequences. An exempt New Hampshire baker can sell an unlimited amount of shelf-stable product without ever registering, taking a course, paying a fee or being inspected, provided she sells only from her residence, her own farm stand, farmers' markets and retail food stores — one of the most permissive positions in the United States. And because money no longer triggers the licence, the ONLY triggers are channel and freeze-drying. Any source that caps you at $35,000, $20,000 or $10,000 is describing a regime that ended on October 3, 2023, or earlier. Keep records anyway: no state reporting requirement attached to the repealed cap, and New Hampshire has no general sales tax or income tax on earned income, so the numbers are for the IRS and your pricing, not for DHHS.

Where you may sell

• EXEMPT TIER, four venues, exhaustive — RSA 143-A:5, VII and RSA 143-A:12, II: from the homestead residence; at the owner's own farm stand; at farmers' markets; at retail food stores. Anything else requires the Class H licence
• 'The homestead residence' covers direct-to-consumer sale at your own house: pickup at the door, a roadside table on your property. The 2025 amendment (ch. 28, § 2) inserted 'own' before 'farm stand' in RSA 143-A:5, VII — YOUR farm stand, not somebody else's
• Farmers' markets are squarely exempt, and no market-specific permit appears in RSA 143-A:12 or He-P 2310. Markets impose their own vendor rules and may ask for product liability insurance; that is a contract question, not a licensing one
• Retail food stores are in the EXEMPT tier — New Hampshire's most valuable and least-known provision. 'Retail food stores' was added to RSA 143-A:5, VII by 2025 ch. 28, § 2, closing a gap where RSA 143-A:12, II already listed stores but the exemption section did not. DHHS guidance is explicit that a licence is required to sell to food establishments 'not including retail food stores - for these, no license is needed'. An unlicensed New Hampshire baker may legally put product on a grocer's shelf
• LICENSED TIER (Class H) unlocks exactly five things, per RSA 143-A:12, III: restaurants; other retail food establishments; over the Internet; by mail order; and wholesalers, brokers or other food distributors who will resell. Note the drafting oddity — as amended by 2025 ch. 28, § 3, paragraph III now says such operations 'shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:13', the RULEMAKING section; the pre-2025 text said RSA 143-A:4, and RSA 143-A:12, IV (added later by ch. 193) still says RSA 143-A:4. Read it as a scrivener's error for RSA 143-A:4; DHHS administers it that way
• Internet and mail order are the sharpest line for a modern producer: taking online orders and SHIPPING is licensed-tier activity. Whether an online order COLLECTED at your own residence stays inside the exempt 'from the homestead residence' venue is NOT resolved on the face of the statute — flagged as a genuine unknown. DHHS labelling guidance contemplates a 'direct to consumer' exempt mode, which suggests order-online/collect-at-home is treated as a home sale, but that answer was not obtained in writing
• Out-of-state sale is not addressed by RSA 143-A at all. Shipping across a state line is mail order (licensed tier here) and independently exposes you to the destination state's law; the New Hampshire exemption buys nothing outside New Hampshire

Permit, registration and fees

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

1. Step zero: decide which tier you are in. The answer is free and the wrong answer is expensive. If you sell only from your residence, your own farm stand, farmers' markets and retail food stores, and you do not freeze-dry, stop here. There is nothing to file.
2. Check your town before your state. Fifteen self-inspecting cities and towns run their own food licensing through local health officers, and DHHS warns that in these communities 'you must check with them to see if a license is needed'. UNH Extension adds that some 'may require additional requirements for Homestead licensing or don't allow homestead operations'.
3. If you need the licence: obtain the form 'Application for New Homestead Food Operation License' (HAPP February 2024). That exact name and revision are prescribed by He-P 2304.01(a), so replace an older downloaded PDF.
4. Assemble the attachments. He-P 2311.01(b)(3) requires two items unique to homestead applicants: 'A copy of one finished product label which meets the requirements of He-P 2311.04' and 'A list of all products to be manufactured'. DHHS adds water test results for bacteria, nitrates and nitrites if you are on a private well (waived on municipal water), written process review results, and laboratory pH and water activity results for homemade buttercream or cream cheese frostings and for baked goods made with banana, pumpkin, zucchini or other fruit or vegetable.
5. Get process reviews done BEFORE applying — they gate the application. He-P 2311.05(a)(1): 'A process review shall be conducted by a food processing authority on each product prior to its being produced by the license holder. If the food processing authority declares in writing that there are no biological concerns with the food after evaluating the scheduled process, the food shall be allowed to be produced.' Required for jams, jellies, acid foods (vinegars, mustards, BBQ sauces) and acidified foods on your own recipe, or where you altered an NCHFP recipe; He-P 2311.05(a)(3) requires a fresh review if ingredients or process change. Directory: afdo.org/directories/fpa.
6. Know what you need NOT submit. He-P 2311.01(b)(1) exempts homestead applicants from the plan review application of He-P 2304.01(a)(5) and from the wastewater items of He-P 2304.01(a)(4) and He-P 2304.07; He-P 2304.01(b)(3)(n) lists 'Class H, Category H-1, non-exempt homestead food operations' among categories needing no wastewater documentation — so no $75 plan review fee either.
7. Pay $150. He-P 2304.05(a)(8) sets 'Class H: $150'; the DHHS page repeats it. Fees are non-transferable and non-refundable (He-P 2304.05(c)); pay to the 'Treasurer, State of New Hampshire' in the exact amount.
8. Submit online, by mail or by hand to Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Finance/Receipts Unit, Food Protection Section, 129 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301 — He-P 2304.01(c).
9. Arrange the inspection yourself. He-P 2304.01(d): new-licence applicants 'shall contact the department's food protection section to arrange for an inspection of the establishment no later than 30 days from the date of mailing or delivering the fee and application.' Nobody will chase you.
10. Expect a provisional licence first. He-P 2304.02(f)-(h), tracking RSA 143-A:6, I: a provisional licence issues on a compliant inspection and 'shall expire 90 days after the date of issuance', with the establishment required to cease operation the day after it expires if no licence follows; a departmental inspection within 45 days finding compliance converts it into a licence valid one year from the provisional licence's issue date.
11. Post it. He-P 2304.02(l): 'Licenses shall be posted at all times in an area of the food establishment that is conspicuous to patrons.' He-P 2304.02(k): licences are 'non-transferable by person or location' — move house and you re-apply.
12. Renew annually and early. He-P 2304.03(a): valid one year from issuance. He-P 2304.03(b): 'Each licensee shall apply to renew his or her license at least 30 days prior to the expiration of the current license', with the fee and water documentation again plus any changes. DHHS asks homestead renewal applicants to request an invoice at dhhs.foodprotection@dhhs.nh.gov or 603-271-4589.

Fee: $0.00 for the exempt tier — no filing, nothing to pay, no state record of your existence. $150.00 per year for the Class H Homestead licence (He-P 2304.05(a)(8), confirmed on the DHHS homestead page), non-transferable and non-refundable (He-P 2304.05(c)). No plan review fee applies, because He-P 2311.01(b)(1) removes homestead applicants from the plan review requirement that triggers the $75 charge in He-P 2304.05(b). Costs outside the fee schedule and easy to underestimate: a private-well water test for bacteria, nitrates and nitrites (waived on municipal water), and process reviews by a food processing authority, priced by the reviewer and required per product, not per application.

Renewal: Exempt tier: none, ever — no annual filing, no re-attestation, no expiry, because there was no registration. Class H tier: annual. The licence runs one year from issuance, or one year from the first day of the month after issuance for an initial licence (He-P 2304.03(a)), and the renewal application is due at least 30 days before expiry (He-P 2304.03(b),(d)(1)). Renewal requires the fee and water documentation of He-P 2304.01(b)(1)-(2), any changes to previously supplied information, and, where deficiencies were cited at the last licensing inspection, a corrective action plan accepted by the department and implemented by the licensee (He-P 2304.03(d)(2)). A late renewal is not a grace period: an expired licence is no licence.

Food safety training

New Hampshire requires NO food safety training for a homestead food operation, in either tier. This is a real answer, not a gap in the research, and worth stating plainly because most cottage food states now require a course. He-P 2310.01, the entire rule governing exempt operations, has five paragraphs — the exemption, the six permitted products, the prohibition on potentially hazardous foods, the eight label elements, and the cross-reference to sanitation standards. There is no training paragraph. He-P 2311.01 to .06, governing licensed operations, contain application requirements, approved and prohibited products, labelling, process review and facility standards — and no training requirement. RSA 143-A:13, listing what the commissioner shall write rules about, names foods, labelling, licensing requirements, forms and fees, and not training. The Certified Food Protection Manager requirement New Hampshire imposes on food service establishments under the Food Code does not reach here, for a structural reason: He-P 2310.01(e) says exempt homestead operations 'shall be exempt from the requirements of the food code', and He-P 2311.06(a) says the same of non-exempt ones — 'Non-exempt homestead food operations shall be exempt from the requirements of the Food Code, and shall instead comply with the requirements of He-P 2309.03 and the requirements in this section.' Both tiers are carved out of the Food Code, and with it out of the CFPM regime. What replaces training is a set of directly-binding conduct rules most producers never read. He-P 2310.01(e) makes exempt operators follow He-P 2309.03(b) through (t) — the food processing plant standards — and He-P 2311.06(b) through (i). That imports: all food from an approved source; food in original or labelled closed containers; TCS food at 41 degrees F or lower or 135 degrees F or higher; floors, walls, ceilings, utensils and equipment thoroughly clean; food contact surfaces non-toxic, smooth, nonabsorbent and free of cracks or open seams; protection against insects and rodents, with the flat sentence 'No dogs, cats, or other pets shall be allowed in the room where food is prepared or stored'; employees free from contagious disease, sores or infected wounds, hair covered and restrained; no smoking in food preparation or storage areas; hot and cold potable water under pressure from an approved source; conveniently located hand sinks; adequate lighting and ventilation; and toxic materials stored where they cannot contaminate food or utensils. The pet rule and the well-water rule bite hardest in an actual New Hampshire farmhouse kitchen, and neither is a suggestion. Practically: no course, no certificate, no exam, no renewal training, no cost. If you want training anyway, UNH Cooperative Extension publishes the 'Selling Homemade Food Products in NH - The Basics' fact sheets, developed from Food Protection Section guidance, and the National Center for Home Food Preservation is the source DHHS itself points to for pre-cleared jam, jelly and pickling processes. Neither is mandatory.

Inspection

EXEMPT TIER: no routine inspection, with one trapdoor. RSA 143-A:12, II exempts these operations 'from licensure and departmental inspection under this subdivision, except that the department may inspect when the department has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard as defined in RSA 143-A:3, IV-b.' Nobody visits on a schedule; nobody approves your kitchen before you start; there is no pre-operational inspection because there is no application to trigger one. But exemption from INSPECTION is not exemption from the STANDARDS. He-P 2310.01(e): 'Exempt homestead food operations shall follow the standards for non-exempt homestead operations as stated in He-P 2309.03(b) through (t), He-P 2311.06(b) through (i), and shall be exempt from the requirements of the food code.' An exempt operator is bound by the same sanitation, water, equipment and hygiene rules as a licensed one; what she lacks is the visit that would verify it. If a complaint or illness report gives the department reason to suspect an imminent health hazard, the inspector may come, measuring against those rules. LICENSED TIER: inspected, on homestead-scaled standards. The applicant arranges the licensing inspection within 30 days of submitting fee and application (He-P 2304.01(d)); it is conducted under He-P 2305 pursuant to RSA 143:4. A provisional licence issues on a satisfactory inspection and expires in 90 days; a second inspection within 45 days finding compliance converts it to a one-year licence (He-P 2304.02(g)-(h)). Renewal is conditioned on compliance and, where the last licensing inspection cited deficiencies, on a corrective action plan accepted by the department and implemented by the licensee (He-P 2304.03(d)(2)). What an inspector may NOT demand of a homestead kitchen is in He-P 2311.06, the most practically reassuring rule in the scheme. (b) 'Commercial equipment shall not be required.' (c) the kitchen needs either a 2-compartment sink, or a residential dishmachine plus a one-compartment sink. (d) a food preparation sink needs no indirect wasteline. (e) no backflow device for kitchen sinks with a spray hose. (f) no coved base at the floor-wall juncture. (g) only bathrooms opening directly into the kitchen, or into a hallway leading into it, need self-closing doors and mechanical ventilation. (h) no partitioning required between the kitchen and living or sleeping areas. (i) laundry facilities are allowed in the kitchen but shall 'Not be used during processing, preparing, serving, or packaging of foods related to the business.' These concessions are what make a genuine home kitchen licensable; an inspector citing a missing coved base or a residential range is citing a requirement the rule removed. Note that He-P 2309.03(u), requiring compliance with the state plumbing code, falls outside the range imported by He-P 2310.01(e) and He-P 2311.06(a), which stop at (t). Records, licensed tier: He-P 2311.05(a)(2) requires licence holders to 'keep records of all pHs on file and available for review by the regulatory authority upon request', and (a)(5) requires process review information kept on file. There is no equivalent rule for exempt operators, but the label's batch code or manufacture date exists precisely so a recall can be traced, and it is only useful if you can match it to a production record.

What your city or county may add

New Hampshire's local layer is small in number and decisive in effect. Fifteen cities and towns are 'self-inspecting': they regulate food through local health officers rather than DHHS Food Protection, and the state homestead exemption does not settle what they require. The DHHS homestead page states it directly: 'There are 15 self-inspecting cities and towns. If you desire to manufacture and sell your product in any of these self-inspecting communities, you must check with them to see if a license is needed.' UNH Extension, writing from Food Protection guidance, is blunter: these jurisdictions 'may require additional requirements for Homestead licensing or don't allow homestead operations.' The fifteen are reported to be Bedford, Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Derry, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, Merrimack, Nashua, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rochester and Salem. NOT CONFIRMED as read text: that roster comes from search-surfaced summaries, not from the DHHS list PDF, which returned HTTP 403 to every fetch attempted. Treat the count of fifteen as solid — it is on the DHHS page — and the individual names as needing confirmation. Between them these municipalities hold a large share of the state's population, so the odds a given producer is affected are far higher than 15 out of 234 towns suggests. A self-inspecting community licenses and inspects food establishments under its own ordinance and is not bound to replicate the state exemption: a home baker in one of the fifteen may need a municipal licence to do what requires nothing in the next town. Call the local health officer, not the state. Outside those fifteen, the ordinary local questions apply and none are food-safety questions. Zoning: home occupation provisions vary town by town and are the usual constraint on customer traffic, signage, parking and on-site retail; a roadside farm stand may be separately regulated. HOA covenants can bar a home business regardless of what the town allows. On private septic and a private well, the well test for a Class H licence is the state's concern but septic loading from a scaled-up operation is the town's. A trade name is filed with the Secretary of State, unrelated to food licensing. Farmers' markets add a private layer often mistaken for a public one: market rules commonly require product liability insurance and a vendor agreement. New Hampshire law requires none of that of an exempt homestead operator — read the market's rules as a contract, not as regulation.

Program sources: 2023 N.H. Laws ch. 180 (HB 119-FN, FINAL VERSION) — § 180:1 amending RSA 143-A:5, VII to strike 'less than a maximum annual gross sales of $35,000 of'; 'Approved: August 04, 2023', 'Remainder effective October 3, 2023'. Enrolled text read in full, HTTP 200 — https://bills.nhliberty.org/bills/2023/HB119/revision/39329 · 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 77 (HB 1565-FN, FINAL VERSION) — § 77:1 striking 'processed acidified and' from RSA 143-A:12, I(b); approved June 14, 2024, effective August 13, 2024. Read in full, HTTP 200 — https://bills.nhliberty.org/bills/2024/HB1565/revision/42669 · 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 28 (HB 304, FINAL VERSION), labelling requirements for homestead kitchens — §§ 28:1-28:4 (QR-code labelling option; 'own' farm stand and 'retail food stores' added to RSA 143-A:5, VII; gross-sales cross-reference removed from RSA 143-A:12, II-III and RSA 143-A:13, III); approved May 14, 2025, effective July 13, 2025. Read in full, HTTP 200 — https://bills.nhliberty.org/bills/2025/HB304/revision/48237 · 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 193 (HB 505-FN, FINAL VERSION), freeze dried foods — § 193:1 inserting RSA 143-A:12, IV and renumbering labelling to RSA 143-A:12, V; approved July 15, 2025, effective November 12, 2025. Read in full, HTTP 200 — https://bills.nhliberty.org/bills/2025/HB505/revision/48885 · National Agricultural Law Center, 'Cottage Food Laws: New Hampshire' — verbatim pre-2023 RSA 143-A:12, RSA 143-A:13 and He-P 2310.01, used to confirm the unamended portions. PDF (HTTP 200, 231,368 bytes), read locally with pdftotext — https://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/cottagefood/New-Hampshire.pdf · N.H. Admin. Code § He-P 2310.01, Exempt Homestead Food Operations Requirements — (a) exemption; (b) closed six-product list; (c) potentially hazardous prohibition; (d)(1)-(8) label elements; (e) cross-reference to He-P 2309.03(b)-(t) and 2311.06(b)-(i) with Food Code exemption. Version effective 2/22/2024. Cornell LII, HTTP 200 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2310.01 · N.H. Admin. Code § He-P 2311.04, Labeling Requirements (non-exempt) — (a)-(i), including (f) net weight in US customary and metric, (h) 'This product is made in a residential kitchen licensed by NH DHHS' at 10 point minimum in contrasting colour, (i) product code. WARNING: Cornell flags the 8/20/2019 amended version as not yet available, so this is the 6/25/2015 text — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2311.04 · N.H. Admin. Code §§ He-P 2311.01, .02, .03, .05, .06 — application items and plan-review/wastewater carve-outs; the OPEN product list; prohibited products; process review; homestead facility concessions. Same Cornell currency warning — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2311.06 · N.H. Admin. Code § He-P 2309.03, Food Processing Plant Standards (b)-(t) — imported into BOTH tiers. Effective 8/20/2019. Cornell LII, HTTP 200 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2309.03 · N.H. Admin. Code § He-P 2304.01 — the form 'Application for New Homestead Food Operation License' (HAPP February 2024); (b)(3)(n) wastewater exemption for Class H category H-1; (c) filing address; (d) 30-day duty to arrange inspection — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2304.01 · N.H. Admin. Code § He-P 2304.05, Fees — (a)(8) 'Class H: $150'; (b) $75 plan review fee; (c) non-transferable, non-refundable. Cornell LII, HTTP 200 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2304.05 · N.H. Admin. Code §§ He-P 2304.02 and 2304.03 — 90-day provisional licence, 45-day conversion inspection, non-transferability, posting, one-year term, renewal 30 days before expiry with corrective action plan — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-P-2304.03 · NH DHHS, 'Homestead Food Operations' — exempt/licensed split, prohibited food examples, 'a Class H Homestead license, which has a fee of $150', process review triggers, the '15 self-inspecting cities and towns' warning, and contact details DHHS.foodprotection@dhhs.nh.gov / (603) 271-4589. HTML page read in full through a browser session; every DHHS PDF linked from it returned HTTP 403 — https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/environmental-health-and-you/food-protection/homestead-food-operations · UNH Cooperative Extension, 'Selling Homemade Food Products in NH - The Basics - Part Two [Fact Sheet]', from NH Food Protection Section guidance — the retail-food-store carve-out, application attachments, the kombucha/cold brew beverage-licence point, the pH 4.6 / water activity 0.85 thresholds, the AFDO food processing authority directory, and the QR-code label alternative. HTTP 200 — https://extension.unh.edu/resource/selling-homemade-food-products-nh-basics-part-two-fact-sheet · Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, 'Legislators remove sales cap for home-based food operations' (June 29, 2023) — legislative history of HB 119 including the quoted committee report. Secondary source, intent only — https://jbartlett.org/2023/06/legislators-remove-sales-cap-for-home-based-food-operations/ · New Hampshire General Court, RSA 143-A:12 and RSA 143-A:5 — the authoritative codified text. NOT READ: gc.nh.gov and www.gencourt.state.nh.us were unreachable from every route attempted. Cited so the reader knows where to verify — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/X/143-A/143-A-12.htm