Cottage Food Label Requirements in Tennessee (2026)

Cottage food rules in Tennessee — the whole program

Who can sell homemade food in Tennessee

Tennessee no longer runs a permit-based cottage food or 'domestic kitchen' programme. Since the Tennessee Food Freedom Act (2022 Public Chapter 862, codified at Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118, amended by 2025 Public Chapter 431 effective July 1, 2025), 'the production and sale of homemade food items under this chapter are exempt from all licensing, permitting, inspecting, packaging, and labeling laws of this state, except when the department of health is investigating a reported foodborne illness.' The gateway is the definition added to Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-102: a 'homemade food item' is a food item, including a non-alcoholic beverage, which is produced and, if packaged, packaged at the private residence of the producer. Producing in a community kitchen, church, school, restaurant or other commercial space falls outside the exemption and requires a food manufacturing licence from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. 'Produce' is defined broadly — cooking, baking, drying, mixing, cutting, fermenting, preserving, dehydrating, growing or raising. Since July 1, 2025 the exemption covers both non-time/temperature control for safety (non-TCS, shelf-stable) items and TCS (perishable) items, but the two categories carry different rules: non-TCS items may be sold in person or remotely and through third-party vendors, while TCS items must be sold in person only, must not contain unpasteurised milk, alcoholic beverages, fish, shellfish products, meat, meat byproducts or meat food products, and may include poultry only under the federal exemptions at 9 CFR 381.10. The exemption applies to intrastate sales made within Tennessee only, and it preempts county, municipal and other political jurisdictions from prohibiting or regulating the production and sale of homemade food items. The old domestic kitchen regime — Rules of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Chapter 0080-04-11, which required a Regulatory Services Permit, inspection of the home kitchen, a food safety certification course and a ceiling of 100 units of sale per week — has been repealed and no longer applies.

What you may and may not sell

Allowed:

• Baked goods that are shelf-stable: breads, cookies, cakes, brownies, pastries, muffins
• Candy and confectionery: chocolate, fudge, hard candy, caramels, peanut brittle, pralines, gummies
• Jams, jellies, preserves, syrups and canned fruit made shelf-stable by low pH and a proper canning process
• Acidified canned foods: pickles, salsas, relishes, chow chow, barbecue sauce, with pH below 4.6
• Low-acid canned foods such as canned vegetables, beans and pepper jelly, when a proper pressure-canning process is used
• Fermented foods: sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha
• Dry goods: pasta, rice, spice and seasoning blends, granola, nuts
• Roasted coffee, whole bean or ground, and dry tea blends
• Air-dried and freeze-dried fruits, vegetables and candy
• Bottled condiments: mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, marinades, when heat-processed and shelf-stable
• Non-alcoholic beverages that are acidified and canned, or pasteurised and bottled, such as teas and fruit drinks
• Hard aged cheeses and butter, treated as shelf-stable by low water activity or low pH
• Perishable (TCS) homemade items since July 1, 2025 — for example refrigerated baked goods with cream filling, or dishes containing pasteurised dairy — subject to the in-person sales rule and the ingredient exclusions
• Poultry and poultry food products in a TCS homemade item, where the producer keeps fewer than 1,000 poultry and uses only exempted poultry products under 9 CFR 381.10(c), or complies with 9 CFR 381.10(d) using only federally or state-inspected poultry bearing the official mark of inspection

Not allowed under the program:

• Unpasteurised (raw) milk, and any homemade food item containing it
• Alcoholic beverages and food products that are, or contain, alcoholic beverages
• Fish and shellfish products
• Meat, meat byproducts and meat food products — beef, pork and lamb items, including dried meats and jerky
• Any food not produced at the private residence of the producer (community, church, school or commercial kitchen output is outside the exemption)
• Any homemade food item sold outside Tennessee — the exemption applies to intrastate sales only
• Perishable (TCS) homemade items sold remotely, shipped, or sold through a grocery store or other third-party vendor — those channels are open to shelf-stable items only
• Poultry items that do not meet a federal exemption under 9 CFR 381.10
• Foods whose pH and water activity combination requires a process authority assessment, until that assessment establishes them as shelf-stable
• Homemade food items used as ingredients or served by restaurants, food trucks and catering services, which must source from approved, inspected suppliers under the retail food code

How much you may sell

No cap. Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118 as enacted by 2022 Public Chapter 862 and amended by 2025 Public Chapter 431 sets no annual sales limit, no revenue ceiling and no unit limit. The former 100-units-of-sale-per-week ceiling came from Rule 0080-04-11-.03 of the domestic kitchen regulations, and that chapter is listed as repealed in the Tennessee Secretary of State rules index.

Where you may sell

• Shelf-stable (non-TCS) items may be sold by the producer directly to the consumer, in person or remotely, including by telephone or internet
• Shelf-stable items may also be sold by an agent of the producer or by a third-party vendor such as a retail shop or grocery store
• Shelf-stable items may be delivered by the producer, by an agent of the producer, by a third-party vendor, or by a third-party carrier to the consumer
• Perishable (TCS) items may be sold only in person: by the producer to the consumer, or by an agent of the producer in person, such as a farm stand located on the property where the food was prepared
• Farmers markets, roadside stands, home pick-up and in-state online orders are all open to shelf-stable items; the statute names no venue restriction beyond the in-person rule for perishable items
• Intrastate sales only — the section does not apply to sales other than intrastate sales made within Tennessee, so shipping or selling across state lines is outside the exemption
• Counties, municipalities and other political jurisdictions are preempted from prohibiting or regulating the production and sale of homemade food items

Permit, registration and fees

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

1. No application, registration, permit or licence is filed with any state agency before selling
2. Produce and, if packaged, package the food at your own private residence — this is the condition that defines a homemade food item
3. Confirm whether the item is shelf-stable (non-TCS) or perishable (TCS), because the sales channels and the ingredient exclusions differ; where pH and water activity fall in a borderline range, have a process authority assess the product
4. Keep unpasteurised milk, alcoholic beverages, fish, shellfish, meat, meat byproducts and meat food products out of perishable items; use poultry only under a 9 CFR 381.10 exemption
5. Label each item with the producer's name, home address and telephone number; the common or usual name of the food; and the ingredients in descending order of predominance
6. Add the exact statutory statement: 'This product was produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.'
7. Place that information on a label affixed to the package; on a label affixed to the bulk container if sold from bulk; on a placard at the point of sale if the item is neither packaged nor sold from bulk; or on the webpage where the item is offered, if it is offered for sale only on the internet
8. For telephone or custom orders, disclose to the consumer that the item is produced at a private residence exempt from state licensing and inspection and may contain allergens, and keep the producer contact details, product name and ingredient list readily available on request
9. Sell only within Tennessee, and comply with applicable tax law — the exemption does not touch tax obligations
10. If you want to produce outside your private residence, or to ship out of state, apply instead for a food manufacturing licence from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Fee: None. No fee is created by Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118, and TDA issues no permit or licence for homemade food items.

Renewal: None. There is nothing to renew because there is no permit, licence or registration.

Food safety training

No food safety training, certificate or course is required. The training requirement that existed under the repealed domestic kitchen rules — Rule 0080-04-11-.04(3) required successful completion of the Tennessee Food Safety Certification Course from the University of Tennessee Department of Food Science and Technology or an equivalent accepted by TDA — disappeared with that chapter. The University of Tennessee Extension publishes educational material on the Act and runs a voluntary course for home-based producers, but nothing in the statute conditions the exemption on training.

Inspection

There is no routine inspection. Homemade food items produced under the Act are exempt from state inspecting laws, and TDA confirms it does not conduct inspections for products made under this law. Two limits remain. First, the exemption expressly does not apply when the Department of Health is investigating a reported foodborne illness, and the Act does not impede the Department of Health in such an investigation, so a producer can expect access to the home food processing and storage areas in that situation. Second, TDA keeps its general enforcement powers: if it finds homemade food products in the marketplace that do not fall within the exemption, it may take enforcement action under Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-201 et seq. Producing outside the exemption — in a shared or commercial kitchen, or selling across state lines — puts the operation back under the food manufacturing licensing and inspection regime of the Tennessee Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

What your city or county may add

Tennessee is one of the states where local government is expressly cut out. Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118(d) provides that the section preempts county, municipal and other political jurisdictions from prohibiting and regulating the production and sale of homemade food items, so a county health department or city cannot impose its own permit or ban on this activity. Three things the section does not displace: it does not exempt producers or sellers from any applicable tax law; it does not change the regulation of other goods and services sold where homemade food items are also produced or sold; and it does not preclude the production or sale of food items otherwise authorised by law. Whether general zoning and business-licence rules that are not aimed at homemade food production still apply to a home business was not resolved from the statutory text read here.

Program sources: Tennessee Public Chapter No. 862 (Senate Bill 693 / House Bill 813), the 'Tennessee Food Freedom Act', passed March 28, 2022, effective July 1, 2022 — full signed text read, including the § 53-1-102 definitions and the new section codified as Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118 — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/112/pub/pc0862.pdf · Tennessee Public Chapter No. 431 (Senate Bill 484 / House Bill 130), amending Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118, passed April 21, 2025, effective July 1, 2025 — full signed text read, including the new subdivision (b)(3) on time/temperature control for safety items, the ingredient exclusions, the 9 CFR 381.10 poultry conditions and the in-person sales rule — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/114/pub/pc0431.pdf · Tennessee Department of Agriculture, 'Tennessee Food Freedom Act' — official page stating TDA does not issue permits or licences and does not conduct inspections under this law, and citing its enforcement authority at Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-201 et seq. — https://www.tn.gov/agriculture/consumers/food-safety/tennessee-food-freedom-act.html · Rules of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Regulatory Services Division, Chapter 0080-4-11, 'Regulations for Establishments Utilizing Domestic Kitchen Facilities for Bakery and Other Non-Potentially Hazardous Foods Intended for Sale' — full text read (permit requirement, 100 units of sale per week, food safety certification course, facility and labelling rules); this chapter is listed as Repealed in the Secretary of State rules index — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0080/0080-04/0080-04-11.pdf · Tennessee Secretary of State, rules index for Title 0080 (Department of Agriculture), showing chapter 0080-04-11 as 'Repealed' — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0080/0080.htm · Kyla Adkins, Mark Morgan & Megan Leffew, 'Tennessee's Food Freedom Act — 2022 Homemade Foods Allowed under the Cottage Food Laws', University of Tennessee Extension publication PB1909 — https://foodscience.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2022/08/PB-1909_FoodFreedomAc-web.pdf · Mark Morgan & Damla Dag Ertop, 'Tennessee Food Freedom Act 2025', University of Tennessee Department of Food Science Extension presentation — https://foodscience.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2026/03/Food-Freedom-Act-2025.pdf