There is no longer a cottage food license in Georgia. House Bill 398, signed by Governor Kemp in May 2025 and effective July 1, 2025, eliminated the state licensing requirement and the $100 annual fee that home-based food producers used to pay. You can make and sell non-potentially hazardous foods from your home kitchen without applying to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, but you still have to complete food safety training, label your products correctly, test your well water if you have one, and handle local business and tax obligations.
What Replaced the License
Before July 2025, starting a cottage food business meant applying through the Georgia Department of Agriculture, paying an annual fee, and passing a pre-operational kitchen inspection. All of that is gone. The GDA no longer issues cottage food licenses, collects licensing fees, or inspects home kitchens before you open.
The GDA still enforces the rules that remain. It investigates consumer complaints, reports of foodborne illness, and public health emergencies tied to cottage food products, and it retains enforcement authority under O.C.G.A. § 26-2-474. If a problem comes up, the agency can act.
The other significant change is where you can sell. Under the old law, cottage food sales were direct-to-consumer only. HB 398 opened sales to retail food establishments too, meaning grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants can now buy your products for resale. There is a catch: each Georgia city or county can pass a local ordinance blocking cottage food sales through third-party vendors within its jurisdiction. Check with your local government before pitching retailers.
What You Can Make
Cottage food production is still limited to non-potentially hazardous foods, meaning items that stay safe at room temperature without refrigeration. Georgia sets no cap on how much you can produce or how much you can earn.
Approved products include:
- Loaf breads, rolls, and biscuits
- Cakes, pastries, and cookies (except those requiring refrigeration)
- Candies and confections
- Fruit pies
- Jams, jellies, and preserves (not fruit butters)
- Dried fruits
- Dry herbs, seasonings, and mixtures
- Cereals, trail mixes, and granola
- Coated and uncoated nuts
- Vinegar and flavored vinegars
- Popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy
Anything that needs refrigeration is off-limits. That excludes products with meat, poultry, seafood, or dairy, along with low-acid canned foods, custards, cream-filled pastries, and cheesecakes.
Food Safety Training
Even without a license, you must complete a food safety training program accredited by the American National Standards Institute before you start selling. A Food Handler certificate is enough; the more advanced Certified Food Manager credential is not required.
ANSI-accredited food handler courses are available online for roughly $7 to $15. They cover safe handling temperatures, cross-contamination prevention, and personal hygiene. Keep your certificate. The GDA can ask for proof of training during any complaint investigation or enforcement action.
Labeling Your Products
Consumers have to be told that the product was made at a residential property and who made it. That notice can come through the product label, through signage and physical separation at the point of sale, or verbally.
For packaged products, labels should include:
- Business name and address. If you would rather not put your home address on every label, you can request an identification number from the GDA and use that instead. The request form is on the GDA’s cottage food webpage.
- Product name (the common name of the food).
- Ingredients, listed in descending order by weight, with sub-ingredients broken out.
- Net weight or volume.
- Allergen declarations following FDA rules for the eight major allergens.
- A cottage food statement noting the product was made in a home kitchen not subject to state food safety inspections.
If you make any nutritional claim on the package, such as “low sugar” or “high fiber,” you also have to include a nutrition facts panel. For most operators, skipping nutritional claims is the simpler path.
Private Well Water Testing
If your home uses a private well rather than a public water system, you need annual water testing for total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria. The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Non-Public Water Supply Testing Guidance sets the standards. Testing typically runs $20 to $100 depending on the lab.
If your home is on a municipal water system, this requirement does not apply, but keep something like a recent water bill on hand in case the GDA asks for proof of the connection.
Where You Can Sell
Under HB 398, you can sell cottage food products:
- Directly to consumers at your home, farmers’ markets, roadside stands, community events, and craft fairs.
- Online, through your own website or other platforms, with direct delivery to the buyer.
- By mail order.
- To retail food establishments, including grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants.
The local opt-out is worth repeating because it catches people off guard. Your city or county can pass an ordinance blocking cottage food sales through third-party retailers inside its borders. Direct-to-consumer sales stay available statewide, but retail access depends on where you operate. Call your city hall or county clerk’s office before spending time approaching stores.
Local Business and Zoning Rules
The GDA handles food safety. Your local government handles home-based business rules, and the GDA specifically advises cottage food operators to check with their city and county before starting.
Common local requirements include:
- A home occupation permit. Many Georgia municipalities require one to run a business from a residential property, and zoning codes can restrict signage, customer traffic, or non-resident employees.
- A general business license or registration, which some counties and cities require even for home operations.
- A DBA filing if you use a business name other than your legal name.
Farmers’ market boards set their own vendor rules on top of state and local law, including applications, fees, and insurance. Those sit outside GDA regulation.
Sales Tax and Income Tax
Selling food in Georgia makes you a “dealer” under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2, which means you likely need to register for a sales and use tax number with the Georgia Department of Revenue regardless of how small your operation is. Registration is required even if all your sales turn out to be exempt.
Whether your specific products are subject to sales tax collection depends on what you sell and the local rate where you sell it. Contact the Department of Revenue or a local tax professional to confirm before you start. Revenue from cottage food sales is also taxable income on your federal and state returns, and you can deduct ordinary business expenses such as ingredients, packaging, and training.
Steps to Start Selling
With no state license to apply for, the startup path is short:
- Complete ANSI-accredited food handler training and keep the certificate.
- Test your well water if you use a private well, and hold onto the results showing no total coliform or fecal coliform bacteria.
- Design compliant labels with your business name, address or GDA identifier, ingredients, net weight, allergen declarations, and the cottage food statement.
- Request a GDA identifier if you want to keep your home address off product labels.
- Check with your city and county on business licenses, zoning, home occupation permits, and DBA filings.
- Register for a sales tax number with the Georgia Department of Revenue.
- Start selling directly to consumers, online, or to retail establishments where local ordinances allow it.