Colorado Cottage Food Act: Labeling, Sales Limits, and Training

The Colorado Cottage Food Act lets you sell certain homemade, shelf-stable foods directly to customers without a commercial kitchen, a license, or routine inspection, as long as you complete a food safety course, label your products correctly, sell only within Colorado, and keep net sales under $10,000 per calendar year for each distinct product. The law is codified at C.R.S. 25-4-1614 and has been in effect since 2012.¹

What You Can Sell

The act covers foods classified as “nonpotentially hazardous,” meaning they stay safe at room temperature. The statute names specific categories:

Baked goods such as breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, fruit pies, candies, fruit empanadas, and tortillas, provided they don’t contain fillings or toppings that need refrigeration (no custard, cream cheese, or meringue).
Jams, jellies, preserves, and fruit butters.
Pickled fruits and vegetables with a finished pH of 4.6 or below. You need to test the first batch of each recipe to confirm it meets that threshold.
Spices, teas, flour, dehydrated produce including fruit leathers and dried herbs, nuts, and seeds.
Honey and whole eggs, with an egg cap of 250 dozen per month.

The statute closes with a catch-all for “other nonpotentially hazardous foods,” but the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) reads that phrase narrowly in practice. If a product needs refrigeration to stay safe, it doesn’t qualify.¹

What’s Not Allowed

Meat products of any kind are prohibited, including jerky and bacon, whether sold on their own or baked into something else. Sauces are also out: barbecue sauce, hot sauce, pasta sauce, and salad dressings. Salsa trips up a lot of new producers, but fresh salsa requires refrigeration and isn’t allowed.²

Baked goods with cream, custard, or meringue fillings fall outside the nonpotentially hazardous category, and so do cheesecakes and anything iced with cream cheese. When a recipe sits on the line, contact the CDPHE or your local health department before you sell it.

Food Safety Training

You have to finish a food safety course before you sell anything. The statute requires training in basic food handling comparable to the courses offered through the Colorado State University Extension Service or a state, county, or district public health agency.¹ Nationally accredited food handler programs, including those accredited through the ANSI National Accreditation Board, meet the requirement as long as the content covers food handling fundamentals.

Your certificate is good for three years from completion, and you’re expected to stay in good standing with whatever renewal rules the course provider imposes.² There’s no routine state inspection, but if a complaint is filed, a health department representative may ask to see proof of training. Keep the certificate somewhere you can find it quickly.

How to Label Your Products

Every package needs a label in English with the following:

The product name (for example, “Blueberry Muffin” or “Pickled Jalapeños”).
Your full name, the address where the food was prepared, and a current phone number or email.
The date the food was made.
A complete ingredient list in descending order by weight.
The statutory disclaimer, word for word: “This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection and that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish. This product is not intended for resale.”

The disclaimer has to be legible to an average customer.¹ One gap to be aware of: the statutory text lists eight allergens but doesn’t include sesame, which became the ninth federally recognized major allergen under the FASTER Act effective January 1, 2023.³ Colorado hasn’t amended its disclaimer language, but if your products contain sesame, add it voluntarily.

A nutrition facts panel is not required. The FDA’s small business nutrition labeling exemption covers businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees that sell fewer than 10,000 units of a product annually, which fits essentially every cottage food operation.⁴ The exemption falls away if you make nutrient content claims like “sugar free” on the label, so skip that kind of marketing language.

Where You Can Sell and to Whom

Sales have to be direct to the person who will eat the food. That includes your home, a roadside stand, a farmers’ market, a community-supported agriculture organization, and similar venues. Online sales are permitted as long as you deliver or mail the product yourself. Every transaction has to happen within Colorado; interstate sales are prohibited.¹

You cannot sell to grocery stores, restaurants, or any retailer for resale, and consignment arrangements are not allowed. At a farmers’ market booth, either you or someone who can answer questions about the ingredients and preparation needs to be there in person.

If you ship through USPS, the product must be shelf-stable and packaged well enough to arrive in good condition within normal transit time. Cottage food is already required to be nonpotentially hazardous, so most products qualify for mailing, but any deterioration in transit is on you.

The $10,000 Per-Product Revenue Limit

Net sales for each distinct food product cannot exceed $10,000 per calendar year. The cap is per product, not per business. Three different jams means three separate $10,000 limits, and each flavor or variety counts as its own product.¹ Cross the cap on any single product and that product moves into commercial territory, which means a food establishment license and standard health department oversight.

Taxes and Business Registration

Cottage food income is subject to Colorado sales tax and state income tax. The CDPHE directs producers to register at mybiz.colorado.gov and file Colorado Retail Sales Tax Returns through the state’s Revenue Online portal.² If you only sell at occasional events like farmers’ markets, a Special Event Tax license may be an option instead of a standard sales tax license. Colorado’s state, county, and municipal rates stack, and some home-rule cities run their own sales tax systems, so check the state’s DR 1002 publication and your city or county clerk for local rates and any local business license requirement.

Federally, cottage food income is self-employment income. Report it on Schedule C. Ingredient costs, packaging, booth fees, and your food safety course fee are deductible business expenses. If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for the business, you may qualify for the home office deduction.⁵

Insurance

Standard homeowners policies usually exclude or sharply limit coverage for home-based business activity. If a customer gets sick and files a claim, your homeowners insurer will likely deny it. Product liability policies written for food businesses fill the gap, with coverage from food-specific insurers generally starting around $300 per year for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, with no deductible. Some farmers’ markets require proof of product liability insurance before they’ll give you a booth, so price this in before you commit to a season.

Complaints and Enforcement

The state does not inspect cottage food kitchens proactively under current law. Enforcement is complaint-driven. If someone reports a problem, the CDPHE or your local health department may contact you, investigate, and evaluate your operation. If they find you’re producing foods not permitted under the act, you’ll be required to stop making and distributing those products immediately. Repeated or serious violations can shut you down entirely.

Most enforcement actions start when a producer quietly drifts outside the permitted food list. Stick to allowed products, keep your training certificate current, label everything correctly, and stay inside the revenue cap. When you want to add something new, ask the CDPHE first.

Proposed Changes Under HB 26-1033

House Bill 26-1033, introduced in the 2026 legislative session, would reshape the act substantially if it passes. The bill would:

Allow foods that require refrigeration and foods containing meat, both currently banned.
Raise the per-product revenue cap from $10,000 to $150,000 per calendar year, adjusted annually for inflation.
Require producers to register with the CDPHE before selling, with the department issuing registration numbers and maintaining a public registry.
Give the CDPHE and local health agencies authority to conduct random inspections of home kitchens and impose fines for violations.
Require additional food safety training on time and temperature management for producers selling temperature-controlled foods.

The bill also includes a sunset provision scheduling the Cottage Food Act for repeal on September 1, 2028, subject to legislative review.⁶ Until the bill passes, the current rules above are what applies. Track the bill’s status on the Colorado General Assembly website.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Code Title 25 – Section 25-4-1614
2
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Cottage Foods Act
3
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Allergies
4
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Small Business Nutrition Labeling Exemption Guidance
5
Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction
6
Colorado General Assembly. HB26-1033 Expanding the Colorado Cottage Foods Act