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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.
A cottage food production operation is a person who, in that person's home, produces food items that are not potentially hazardous foods, such as bakery products, jams, jellies, candy and fruit butters, limited to the products listed by rule of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). 'Home' means the primary residence occupied by the residence's owner, containing only one stove or oven used for cooking (a double oven is allowed), designed for common residence use and not commercial use, operated in an ordinary kitchen within the residence. A cottage food production operation needs no licence and is not inspected; a home bakery is a separate status for home-produced baked goods that ARE potentially hazardous (cheesecake, cream pie, pumpkin pie, fry pies, filled donuts, cream cheese frosting, pepperoni rolls), and it requires a registration from ODA obtained after passing an inspection of the kitchen. The same physical-home conditions (owner-occupied primary residence, single ordinary stove or oven) apply to the home bakery status, so the difference is the food, not the building.
Allowed:
Not allowed under the program:
No cap. No annual sales or revenue limit appears in the ODA cottage food fact sheet (Feb. 2023), in O.A.C. 901:3-20 (rules 901:3-20-01 through -05), or in the OSU Extension law bulletin summary of O.R.C. 3715.01/.021/.022/.023/.025; the Ohio limits are on the food type and on out-of-state sales, not on dollars.
Ohio requires no state permit or registration for a cottage food operation.
Fee: None for a cottage food production operation. By contrast, the separate home bakery registration carries a $10 fee (OSU Extension law bulletin, Jan. 2023).
Renewal: None for a cottage food production operation. The home bakery registration must be renewed by September 30 each year (OSU Extension law bulletin, Jan. 2023).
No training, food handler certificate or food safety course is required of a cottage food production operation. None is mentioned in the ODA cottage food fact sheet or in O.A.C. 901:3-20.
A cottage food production operation is exempt from inspection and licensing by ODA, which is what the mandatory statement 'This product is home produced.' signals to buyers. ODA retains sampling authority: all cottage food products are subject to food sampling by the director of agriculture or an authorized representative to determine whether a product is misbranded or adulterated, with analyses under O.R.C. Chapter 3715 (O.A.C. 901:3-20-03). Sampling may be random in the marketplace or targeted after a complaint, and refusing to allow samples to be taken is itself a prohibited act (O.A.C. 901:3-20-05). Selling adulterated or misbranded cottage food is prohibited. A home bakery, unlike a cottage food operation, is inspected by ODA against the Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code (O.A.C. Chapter 3717-1) before registration.
Ohio's cottage food law is administered by ODA, not by local health districts, and no local permit is described for cottage food production itself. Two local layers still apply in practice: local zoning may restrict home-based retail sales, and a home bakery (not a cottage food operation) needs a Retail Food Establishment licence from the local health department to sell at a farmers market. What additional conditions an individual local health district may impose was not confirmed from a primary source.
Program sources: Ohio Department of Agriculture, Division of Food Safety, Fact Sheet: 'Cottage Food Production Operation', updated February 2023 (PDF copy hosted by Lucas County Health Department; agri.ohio.gov copies returned 404) — https://lucascountyhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CottageFoodFactSheet-2-2023.pdf · Ohio Admin. Code 901:3-20-01, Criteria and definitions for cottage food operations (Cornell LII reproduction) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-901-3-20-01 · Ohio Admin. Code 901:3-20-02, Cottage food labeling (Cornell LII reproduction) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-901-3-20-02 · Ohio Admin. Code 901:3-20-03, Cottage food products sampling (Cornell LII reproduction) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-901-3-20-03 · Ohio Admin. Code 901:3-20-04, Cottage food products allowed (Cornell LII reproduction) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-901-3-20-04 · Ohio Admin. Code 901:3-20-05, Prohibitions on cottage food operations (Cornell LII reproduction) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-901-3-20-05 · Peggy Kirk Hall & Emily Marrison, 'Ohio's Cottage Food Law', OSU Extension Agricultural & Resource Law Program Law Bulletin, March 2023 — https://farmoffice.osu.edu/sites/aglaw/files/site-library/LawBulletins/CottageFoodLaw.pdf · Peggy Kirk Hall & Emily Marrison, 'The Home Bakery Registration Law in Ohio', OSU Extension Agricultural & Resource Law Program Law Bulletin, January 2023 — https://farmoffice.osu.edu/sites/aglaw/files/site-library/LawBulletins/HomeBakeryRegistrationLaw.pdf
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.
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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. Ohio requires no state cottage food permit or registration. None for a cottage food production operation. By contrast, the separate home bakery registration carries a $10 fee (OSU Extension law bulletin, Jan. 2023).
Allowed: Non-potentially hazardous bakery products (cookies, breads, brownies, cakes, fruit pies, cobblers); Jams and jellies (not freezer or sugar-free versions); Fruit butters; Fruit chutneys; Candy, not including fresh fruit dipped, covered or otherwise incorporated with candy; Granola, granola bars, and granola bars dipped in candy (fruit used must be commercially dried); Popped popcorn, flavored popcorn, kettle corn, popcorn balls, caramel corn (not un-popped popping corn); Unfilled baked donuts; Waffle cones, including candy-dipped waffle cones; Pizzelles; Dry cereal and nut snack mixes with seasonings; Roasted coffee, whole bean or ground.
No cap. No annual sales or revenue limit appears in the ODA cottage food fact sheet (Feb. 2023), in O.A.C. 901:3-20 (rules 901:3-20-01 through -05), or in the OSU Extension law bulletin summary of O.R.C. 3715.01/.021/.022/.023/.025; the Ohio limits are on the food type and on out-of-state sales, 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: 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.