Hawaii’s cottage food laws let you produce and sell certain shelf-stable foods from your home kitchen without a commercial food establishment permit. The state calls the category “homemade food products,” and a 2024 law (Act 195), implemented by the Department of Health in August 2025, opened the program to online orders, phone orders, home delivery, and wholesale sales to restaurants and shops.1Hawaii Department of Health. DOH Adopts Updates to Food Safety Code There is no revenue cap and no application to file, but before your first sale you need food safety certification, compliant labels, and a General Excise Tax license.
What You Can Make
The rule that decides almost everything: your product cannot need refrigeration or temperature control to stay safe. The Department of Health allows foods that are not “time/temperature controlled for safety,” which in practice means low-moisture or high-acid items that don’t support rapid bacterial growth.2Hawaii Department of Health. Homemade Food Products
Allowed products include:
- Baked goods such as breads, cookies, and rolls, as long as they don’t contain custard or cream fillings.
- Jams and jellies. Fruit preserves are the only products you can process through home canning.
- Pickled and fermented plant-based foods (pickles, kimchi, salsa) with a pH of 4.2 or below, or a water activity value below 0.88.
- Juice, but only sold directly to the consumer, not through a retailer.
- Other shelf-stable items like dried herbs and candies.
Dried meats, seafood products, and anything made from melons are off-limits. Vacuum packaging is prohibited entirely, and home canning is limited to jams and jellies. Anything that needs refrigeration to stay safe, like cheesecake, custard, or cream-filled pastry, falls outside the program and requires a commercial food establishment permit.2Hawaii Department of Health. Homemade Food Products
Where You Can Sell
The 2024 changes rewrote the sales rules. The old law restricted producers to in-person, direct-to-consumer sales. Now you can sell:
- In person at farmers’ markets, craft fairs, fundraisers, and roadside stands.
- Online through a website or social media.
- By phone.
- Wholesale to permitted food establishments, including restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores that will resell your product.
- Through home delivery or customer pickup at your residence.
Wholesale is the biggest shift. Under the previous rules, selling to a restaurant or shop required a commercial permit; now the buying establishment’s permit covers the resale.2Hawaii Department of Health. Homemade Food Products One carve-out: home-based honey producers still cannot wholesale and operate under separate rules in HRS § 328-79.
Hawaii sets no gross annual revenue cap. All sales must stay within the state, though. Shipping across state lines moves your product under federal FDA jurisdiction and a different set of registration and labeling requirements.
What You Need Before Your First Sale
There is no permit application and no registration with the Department of Health.2Hawaii Department of Health. Homemade Food Products You do have to meet three baseline requirements.
Food Safety Certification
Every producer must obtain food safety certification from an ANSI-accredited program.3Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 11-50-3 – Permits, Special Events, Homemade Food Products and Hand-Pounded Poi, and Exemptions The Department of Health publishes a list of approved online courses.4Hawaii Department of Health. ANSI-Accredited Food Handlers Certification Program They cover safe temperatures, cross-contamination, and handwashing. Most cost under $20 and take a few hours. Keep the certificate accessible in case an inspector asks for it.
A Handwashing Sink
Your kitchen must have a handwashing sink with soap available at all times during food preparation.3Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 11-50-3 – Permits, Special Events, Homemade Food Products and Hand-Pounded Poi, and Exemptions Most residential kitchens already meet this. The state does not require the commercial equipment or layout that licensed establishments follow.
A General Excise Tax License
This one surprises new sellers. Hawaii has no traditional sales tax. Instead the state charges a General Excise Tax (GET) on business activity, and homemade food sales count. Register with the Hawaii Department of Taxation before your first sale. The one-time fee is $20.5Hawaii Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information
The GET rate depends on whether you sell retail or wholesale and whether you’re on Oahu, which adds a county surcharge. Annual returns are due by April 20 of the following year, and the state may require periodic filings depending on your volume.5Hawaii Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information Because GET is assessed on the business rather than the consumer, you can absorb it or build it into your prices.
Labeling Every Package
Every packaged homemade food product must carry a label with four elements:6Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 11-50-35 – Food Identity, Presentation, and On-Premises Labeling
- The disclaimer “Made in a home kitchen not routinely inspected by the Department of Health.” No exceptions.
- The product’s common name, or a descriptive name if it has none.
- An ingredient list in descending order by weight, if the product has two or more ingredients.
- Your name and contact information. The rule says contact information, not a street address, so a phone number or email works.
Allergen Disclosure
Federal law identifies nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame.7U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) Sesame was added in 2023 under the FASTER Act, and current Department of Health guidance includes all nine.2Hawaii Department of Health. Homemade Food Products If any allergen appears in your product, even as part of a flavoring or additive, your label must say so. The standard format is “Contains:” followed by the applicable names, printed immediately after the ingredient list.
Federal Income Tax
Report your income on Schedule C. Ordinary business expenses are deductible: ingredients, packaging, labels, market booth fees, and the food safety course itself.
If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for food production, you may qualify for the home office deduction on IRS Form 8829, which covers a share of your mortgage or rent, utilities, and insurance based on the portion of the home used for the business.8Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home The “exclusively” test is the sticking point when a family kitchen doubles as the production space, though areas used only for the business during prep may still qualify.
Keep receipts and records for at least three years. The IRS puts the burden of proof on you, so your system needs to show income and expenses clearly.9Internal Revenue Service. Taking Care of Business: Recordkeeping for Small Businesses A spreadsheet tracking each sale, purchase, and market fee is enough for most producers.
Business Structure and Liability
By default, home food producers operate as sole proprietors. That takes no filing, but there is no legal separation between your business and your personal assets. If a customer gets sick and sues, your home and savings are exposed.
A single-member LLC creates that separation. You register with the state and keep business finances in their own accounts. If you mix funds, a court can disregard the LLC and pierce the protection.
Product liability insurance is worth considering, especially once you start selling at high-volume events or wholesaling to retailers. Policies designed for home-based food businesses commonly start around $300 a year, with pricing driven by revenue, location, and coverage. A basic policy covers general liability, product liability, and personal injury claims, which also reassures wholesale buyers.
Inspections and Enforcement
The homemade food program has no routine inspection schedule. The Department of Health can still inspect your kitchen if someone files a complaint or a foodborne illness is reported.3Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 11-50-3 – Permits, Special Events, Homemade Food Products and Hand-Pounded Poi, and Exemptions An inspector will look at your certification, your labels, your handwashing setup, and the general sanitary condition of the space.
The regulations don’t set lighter penalties for home operations. Violating any condition counts as a violation of the full food safety code. In practice, the common problems are incomplete labels and lapsed certification. Keep the label accurate, keep the certificate current, and most enforcement risk goes away. Wholesale buyers will also review your labels before putting your product on their shelves, which builds in a second check.