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Selling homemade food in Ohio means your label has to follow the Ohio Cottage Food Production Operation. 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:
The statute expressly requires the statement in “ten-point type” (10 pt). Ohio has no license or registration for cottage food production operations — but the label is still mandatory. Net-weight format (US then metric) and the “Contains” allergen line follow federal 21 CFR Part 101 / OAC 901:3-20-02.
Ohio is one of the most permissive states: a 'Cottage Food Production Operation' under Ohio Revised Code 3715.01/3715.023 needs NO license, NO registration, and NO inspection to start — it is a pure statutory exemption. There is also NO annual sales cap. Because there is no license, the tradeoff is a fixed list of ODA-approved non-potentially-hazardous foods you may make (baked goods, candy, jams/jellies, fruit butters, granola, popcorn, dry cereal/trail mix, roasted coffee, dried herb/seasoning and dry baking mixes, etc.). Unlike Washington, Ohio cottage foods MAY be sold through retail — direct to consumers and to/through grocery and other stores anywhere in Ohio. Selling is intended for within Ohio; shipping across state lines pulls you under FDA jurisdiction. No food-handler card is required.
Only ODA-designated non-potentially-hazardous foods qualify. Cheesecakes, cream/custard/meringue and pumpkin pies, fresh salsas, canned low-acid vegetables or pickled goods, garlic-in-oil, and anything needing refrigeration are NOT cottage foods and require a licensed facility.
ORC 3715.025 requires the label to state that the product is home produced, in ten-point type. Leaving off that statement — or shrinking it below ten-point — is the most common labeling violation.
The label must include the business name and address, the product name, the ingredients in descending order of weight, and the net weight/volume, in addition to the home-produced statement. Hand-labeling that skips the address or net weight is a frequent miss.
The exemption covers Ohio sales. Shipping cottage foods across state lines moves the sale under federal (FDA) rules and other states' cottage food laws, which most Ohio home producers are not set up to meet.
Timeline: Effectively immediate — days, not weeks. There is no application, no registration, and no waiting period. Steps: (1) confirm your product is on ODA's approved cottage food list; (2) build a compliant label (business name/address, product name, ingredients by weight, net weight, and the ten-point 'home produced' statement); (3) start selling to consumers or to Ohio retailers. Keep in mind ODA can still sample/test product for adulteration or mislabeling after the fact.
Cost: $0 — no permit or registration required (pure statutory exemption). Your only real out-of-pocket costs are label printing and ingredients.
Cottage food laws get revised, and a new disclaimer or font size can quietly make your label non-compliant. Leave your email and we'll write to you only when Ohio's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
Enter your recipe and get a print-ready label with the exact Ohio wording, ingredients ordered by weight and allergens auto-declared. Free watermarked preview; clean PDF for $12.
Make my Ohio label →Ohio requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This product is home produced.” It must be set at a minimum of 10-point type.
No. Ohio 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 at a minimum of 10-point type (see below).
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: Ohio Revised Code §3715.023 — Ohio Dept. of Agriculture / OSU Extension Ag Law. Verified 2026-06-15. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.