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Selling homemade food in New Mexico means your label has to follow the New Mexico Homemade Food Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5 (label content in § 25-12-3(C)); enforced by the NM Environment Department (NMED) Food Safety Bureau. Here is exactly what that label must show in 2026 — the required fields, the allergen rule, and the verbatim disclaimer and its font size — sourced to the statute and dated.
Print this statement on the label, word for word:
§ 25-12-3(C)(4) prescribes this statement word-for-word and sets NO minimum font size under the Homemade Food Act. Per § 25-12-3(B), the required information (including the disclaimer) is provided: (1) on a label affixed to the package when the package is the unit of sale; (2) on a label on the container for bulk sales; (3) on a placard at the point of sale when neither packaged nor bulk; or (4) on the webpage where the item is offered for sale. For telephone or custom orders, § 25-12-3(B)(5) requires NO label, but the seller must still disclose to the consumer that the item is produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection and may contain allergens. Separately, net weight is NOT required by the Act (only a non-statutory best practice). NOTE: the bold conspicuous 12-point 'home produced' type requirement comes from the DIFFERENT program — NMAC 7.6.2.15(D), the NMED home-based food processing PERMIT rule — and does NOT apply to the Homemade Food Act exemption; do not conflate the two. Confirm with the NMED Food Safety Bureau if operating under the permit rule instead of the exemption.
New Mexico runs a true exemption, not a permit program. The Homemade Food Act (2021 House Bill 177, HAWC/HB 177/a, enacted as Sections 1 through 5 of a new Chapter 25 NMSA 1978 article, codified at NMSA 1978 §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5, effective July 1, 2021) provides that the production and sale of homemade food items 'shall be regulated pursuant to the provisions of the Homemade Food Act and are exempt from other requirements pursuant to the Food Service Sanitation Act and the New Mexico Food Act', subject to six conditions. A 'homemade food item' is a food item or non-alcoholic beverage produced at the private farm, ranch or residence of a processor, including items packaged there; 'to produce' means to prepare by baking, cooking, cutting, dehydrating, drying, fermenting, growing, mixing, preserving, raising or other process designated by the Environmental Improvement Board by rule. The six statutory conditions are: (1) the food items are not-time-and-temperature-control (non-TCS) items; (2) the seller sells directly to consumers within the state; (3) the seller completes a food handler certification course approved by the department; (4) the seller maintains a sanitary kitchen, practices good hygiene, protects the kitchen from rodents and pests and keeps pets and children out of the kitchen while producing food; (5) food is transported in a sanitary manner, protected from pets, children and other hazards; and (6) the seller labels or otherwise provides the consumer the information required by § 25-12-3(C). The Act is enforced by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED); where a class A county and a home rule municipality have established a combined local health department under the Joint Powers Agreements Act, that combined local department is 'the department' for the Act, which is how Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque run their own food safety program. IMPORTANT CORRECTION TO THE ASSUMPTION THAT NEW MEXICO REQUIRES A FOOD PROCESSING PERMIT: it no longer does for these foods. NMED's Homemade Food Act FAQ states that 'beginning July 1st, NMED will no longer issue Homebased Food Processor permits' and that existing Homebased Processor permits were valid to expiry and not renewed. The older permit rule, 7.6.2.15 NMAC ('No person shall operate a home-based food processing operation without a permit', effective 12/1/2018), remains printed in the current 7.6.2 NMAC part on srca.nm.gov, but the statute now exempts Homemade Food Act items from the Food Service Sanitation Act and the New Mexico Food Act under which that rule was adopted, and NMED has stopped issuing the permit. A homemade food operation in New Mexico today needs a food handler card, not a permit.
Allowed:
Not allowed under the program:
No cap. NMSA 1978 §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5, read in full from the enacted bill text, contain no annual sales, revenue, volume or per-transaction limit, and NMED's Homemade Food Act FAQ and program page state none. The New Mexico limits are on the food (non-TCS only), on the buyer (direct to consumers in state only) and on training and labeling — not on dollars.
New Mexico requires no state permit or registration for a cottage food operation.
Fee: No state fee for the exemption itself: the Homemade Food Act creates no application, registration or permit fee, and none appears in §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5. The only unavoidable cost is the food handler card, which is bought from a private accredited training program; the price is set by the vendor and NO fee amount was found on any official New Mexico source read, so no dollar figure is asserted here. Any fee attaching to the § 25-12-3(E) voluntary state permit or to a § 25-12-3(F) local permit system was not found in the sources read and is not asserted.
Renewal: Not applicable to the exemption — there is nothing to renew at state level, because there is no registration. Food handler card validity periods are set by the accredited program and NMED's food handler page as read does not state a term; no renewal interval is asserted. Producers who still hold a pre-2021 NMED Homebased Food Processor permit should note NMED's statement that such permits were valid until their expiration date and were not renewed after it.
Mandatory, and it is the single hard prerequisite. § 25-12-3(A)(3) conditions the exemption on the seller completing 'a food handler certification course approved by the department', and NMED's FAQ Q7 answers 'Yes. You must obtain a Food Handler Card from an approved food handler card program before beginning production.' Note the interaction with NMED's general food handler rules: NMED's Food Handler & Food Manager Training page says a food handler card is not needed by someone who 'only handle[s] non-Time and Temperature Control for Safety Foods', but that exemption belongs to the permitted-establishment framework — the Homemade Food Act imposes the card by statute on homemade food sellers even though their products are by definition non-TCS. No Certified Food Protection Manager credential is required of a homemade food seller; NMED requires that only at permitted food establishments. Course length, approved-vendor list and card validity term were not captured from an official page in this pass.
No routine inspection, and that is stated on the label itself. The Act exempts homemade food items from licensing, permitting and inspection under the Food Service Sanitation Act and the New Mexico Food Act (Sections 6, 7 and 8 of HB 177 add matching exemptions to those Acts and to Chapter 57, Article 17 NMSA 1978), and the mandatory disclaimer sentence tells the consumer the product 'is exempt from state licensing and inspection.' What remains is complaint-driven and outbreak-driven enforcement: § 25-12-3(G) directs the department to enforce the Act and permits it to investigate any suspected food-borne illness or stop the sale of any suspected contaminated foods, provided it first issues a written warning regarding any violation before imposing a fine; failure to comply with a written warning is a misdemeanor, and upon conviction the violator is subject to a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per violation. The exemptions in the Food Service Sanitation Act and the New Mexico Food Act are expressly carved back for enforcement actions under NMSA 1978 § 25-1-10 and actions under § 25-2-6 respectively. NMED's FAQ describes the practical regime: on a complaint that a product is not labeled properly, NMED will require immediate correction or fine, and NMED (possibly with the New Mexico Department of Health) may investigate foodborne illness complaints. § 25-12-4(A) preserves the producer's right to ASK NMED for assistance, consultation or inspection voluntarily.
New Mexico preempts local regulation, with one carve-out. § 25-12-5 provides that, except as otherwise provided in the Act, a political subdivision of the state, including a home rule municipality, or an institution of the state shall not adopt a law, policy or resolution that regulates or attempts to regulate the production or sale of homemade food items. The carve-out is § 25-12-3(F): a class A county and a home rule municipality that have established a combined local health department under the Joint Powers Agreements Act may operate a mandatory or voluntary permit system for the sale of homemade food items in their jurisdictions, provided the permit system allows the sale of all food items at all locations authorized by the Act. In practice this is the Bernalillo County / City of Albuquerque combined program: NMED states its Food Safety Program 'does not have jurisdiction in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque, as they have their own food safety programs', and Albuquerque's Environmental Health page nonetheless describes the same no-permit, food-handler-card, direct-to-consumer, in-state-only regime. Albuquerque-area producers should confirm with the Consumer Health Protection Division (505-768-2738) whether a local permit is currently required. Outside that carve-out: § 25-12-4(C) preserves regulation of other goods and services sold alongside homemade food, § 25-12-4(D) preserves business registration and tax obligations, § 25-12-4(E) leaves private markets free to refuse homemade food, and § 25-12-4(F) preserves federal law. Preemption of health regulation does not by its terms settle private restrictions such as an HOA covenant or a lease.
Program sources: New Mexico Laws 2021, HB 177 as enacted (HAWC/HB 177/a) — 'AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD; ENACTING THE HOMEMADE FOOD ACT...', full 8-page text: short title, definitions, § 3 conditions/labeling/voluntary permit/enforcement and $100 fine cap, § 4 interpretation, § 5 state preemption, conforming exemptions to the Food Service Sanitation Act, the New Mexico Food Act and Chapter 57 Article 17, effective July 1, 2021 — downloaded from official state server and read as text: https://www.env.nm.gov/foodprogram/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2025/06/Home-made-food-act-HB_177_Approved.pdf · New Mexico Environment Department, 'Homemade Food Act' FAQ, updated August 16, 2021 (11 questions; non-TCS and TCS example lists; cessation of Homebased Food Processor permits; no resale by grocery stores or permitted facilities; food handler card required before production; production, storage and transport conditions; label content; complaint-driven enforcement) — read as text: https://www.env.nm.gov/foodprogram/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2025/06/Homemade-Food-Act-FAQ.pdf · New Mexico Environment Department, 'HomeMade Food Act' program page (no NMED permit required from July 1, 2021; no jurisdiction in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque) — https://www.env.nm.gov/foodprogram/homemade-food-act/ · New Mexico Environment Department, 'Food Handler & Food Manager Training' page (food handler card from an accredited program; exemptions including handling only non-TCS foods; Certified Food Protection Manager required at permitted establishments) — read as text: https://www.env.nm.gov/foodprogram/food-handler-and-food-manager-training/ · 7.6.2 NMAC, Food Service and Food Processing, current codified part on the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives site, including 7.6.2.15 NMAC HOME-BASED FOOD PROCESSING ('No person shall operate a home-based food processing operation without a permit', effective 12/1/2018) and the part's history of repealed material — https://www.srca.nm.gov/parts/title07/07.006.0002.html · N.M. Admin. Code § 7.6.2.15 (home-based food processing: permit requirement, direct-to-consumer venues, 'home produced' in bold conspicuous 12-point type on the principal display panel; adopted New Mexico Register Vol. XXIX Issue 21, 11/13/2018, effective 12/1/2018), Cornell LII reproduction used to corroborate the srca text — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-mexico/7-6-2-15-NMAC · City of Albuquerque, Environmental Health Department, 'New Mexico Homemade Food Act' (no permit needed; non-TCS foods; food handler card required; label content and verbatim disclaimer; direct in-state sales only, no restaurants/wholesalers/out-of-state; Consumer Health Protection Division 505-768-2738) — https://www.cabq.gov/environmentalhealth/food-safety/new-mexico-homemade-food-act
New Mexico's mandated disclaimer is unusual — it declares the product 'home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection' rather than the 'made in a home/cottage kitchen' wording most states use, and § 25-12-3(C)(4) fixes it word-for-word. The real gate to selling is not a permit (there is none) but a department-approved food handler certification course, which the seller must complete first (§ 25-12-3(A)(3)). NMED may run a purely VOLUNTARY permit system (§ 25-12-3(E)), but it is optional and does NOT let a seller hide or replace the mandatory home-contact block. New Mexico is also one of the few cottage-food regimes that require the processor's EMAIL address on the label alongside name, home address, and phone.
§ 25-12-3(C)(1) requires the processor's name, HOME address, telephone number, AND email address. There is no statutory way to swap this contact block for a permit or identification number — the optional NMED permit under § 25-12-3(E) does not replace it. A business PO box in place of the home address is not what the statute calls for.
§ 25-12-3(C)(3) requires only 'the ingredients of the food item in descending order of predominance.' The Act does NOT mandate FDA-style sub-ingredient breakout (e.g. 'butter (cream (milk), salt)'), a separate 'Contains:' allergen line, or a net-weight statement — the allergen warning is delivered by the required disclaimer sentence. Those federal-style elements are good practice but are not conditions of the Act's protection.
The bold conspicuous 12-point 'home produced' type requirement is from NMAC 7.6.2.15(D), the separate home-based food processing PERMIT program — not the Homemade Food Act exemption. Using it does no harm, but assuming the exemption mandates it (or that any permit is required at all) is a common mix-up.
Many online cottage-food templates carry 'Made in a home kitchen' or 'This product was produced in a private residence...' phrasing borrowed from other states. New Mexico requires the codified sentence exactly: 'This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.' Substituting near-synonyms risks losing the Act's exemption.
Timeline: No permit and no waiting period under the exemption. You may begin selling as soon as you (1) complete a food handler certification course approved by the department (§ 25-12-3(A)(3)) and (2) have compliant labels/placards ready. The Act itself sets no course-validity or renewal interval — confirm the card's validity period (commonly ~3 years) with your provider or NMED. NMED's permit system (§ 25-12-3(E)) is voluntary and not needed to start.
Cost: $0 — no permit required under the Homemade Food Act. The only realistic out-of-pocket cost is the department-approved food handler certification course (roughly $0–$25 depending on provider) plus label/placard printing.
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Make my New Mexico label →New Mexico requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.” The state sets no minimum point size for it.
No. New Mexico 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 state's required disclaimer (see below); a telephone number for the operation.
No. New Mexico requires no state cottage food permit or registration. No state fee for the exemption itself: the Homemade Food Act creates no application, registration or permit fee, and none appears in §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5. The only unavoidable cost is the food handler card, which is bought from a private accredited training program; the price is set by the vendor and NO fee amount was found on any official New Mexico source read, so no dollar figure is asserted here. Any fee attaching to the § 25-12-3(E) voluntary state permit or to a § 25-12-3(F) local permit system was not found in the sources read and is not asserted.
Allowed: Any non-TCS (not time/temperature control for safety) food item or non-alcoholic beverage produced at the processor's private farm, ranch or residence — the statute sets no product list, only the non-TCS test; Non-cream-filled baked goods that do not require refrigeration: cakes, cookies, yeast breads, pies, pastries (NMED FAQ example); Candy (NMED FAQ example); Popcorn (NMED FAQ example); Chocolate-covered pretzels (NMED FAQ example); Dehydrated fruits (NMED FAQ example); Granola and dry mixes (NMED FAQ example); Roasted coffee (NMED FAQ example); Whole fruits and vegetables (NMED FAQ example); Standard high-sugar fruit jams and jellies (NMED FAQ example); Fermented, dried, cut, grown or raised items are within the statutory definition of 'to produce', but only if the finished item is non-TCS — cut produce and vegetable ferments such as sauerkraut are listed by NMED as TCS and therefore excluded.
No cap. NMSA 1978 §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5, read in full from the enacted bill text, contain no annual sales, revenue, volume or per-transaction limit, and NMED's Homemade Food Act FAQ and program page state none. The New Mexico limits are on the food (non-TCS only), on the buyer (direct to consumers in state only) and on training and labeling — not on dollars.
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: NMSA 1978 §§ 25-12-1 to 25-12-5 (Homemade Food Act), label content in § 25-12-3(C), verbatim text via National Agricultural Law Center: https://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/cottagefood/New-Mexico.pdf ; NMED Homemade Food Act page: https://www.env.nm.gov/foodprogram/homemade-food-act/ ; separate permit rule NMAC 7.6.2.15(D) Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.