The Nebraska cottage food law lets you make food in your home kitchen and sell it directly to consumers without a commercial food establishment license, and the state puts no cap on your annual sales. If you sell only shelf-stable items at a farmers market, the rules are light. For everything else — online orders, home pickup, delivery, fairs, festivals, or anything requiring refrigeration — you need to register with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, complete a food safety course, label your products, and post a consumer notification. The requirements split sharply between foods that need temperature control and those that don’t, so start by figuring out which category your product belongs to.
What You Can Sell
Nebraska sorts cottage foods into two groups. Non-TCS foods (not time/temperature control for safety) are shelf-stable items like cookies, breads, fruit pies without custard fillings, jams and jellies made with pectin, candy, granola, and dried herb and spice blends. These carry the lightest rules.
TCS foods need refrigeration or careful temperature control. Nebraska allows cheesecake, ice cream, pudding, and baked goods made with store-bought dairy or eggs from a licensed source such as a grocery store. A cake made with raw eggs is fine once fully baked. You can use milk products as ingredients in your finished goods.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
What You Cannot Sell
The statute bans several categories from cottage food production regardless of how you prepare them:
- Meat, poultry, fish, and animal by-products
- Raw milk, fluid milk products, raw eggs, and unpasteurized juice
- Infused oils and infused honey
- Sprouts of any kind
- Low-acid canned food and hermetically sealed acidified food, including pressure-canned vegetables and sealed jars of salsa with a pH above 4.6
- Tofu, tempeh, and similar meat substitutes
- Kimchi, kombucha, and similar fermented foods
The hermetically sealed acidified food rule catches people planning to produce pickles or preserved salsas. You can sell an open-refrigerated salsa as a TCS food, but you cannot can it in a sealed jar and sell it shelf-stable.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
The Farmers Market Shortcut
If you only sell non-TCS foods directly to consumers at a farmers market, you do not need to complete a food safety course and you do not need to register with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. You still have to label your products with your name and address, and you still have to post the consumer disclaimer at your booth, but the training and registration steps are waived for that narrow scenario.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
The moment you sell non-TCS food anywhere else, or sell any TCS food at all, the full set of requirements kicks in. That covers fairs, festivals, craft shows, roadside stands, online orders, and home pickup. Most producers end up here.
Complete a Food Safety Course
Before your first sale outside a farmers market, you need a food safety certificate. Nebraska accepts three types: a nationally accredited course covering food safety and safe-environment techniques, a certified course from a culinary school or one your local government requires for a food handler permit, or a course specifically approved by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
Online courses that meet the standard typically run $20 to $25 and take a few hours. Certificates are valid for two years in Lancaster County (Lincoln) and three years in the rest of the state. When yours expires, retake the course and pass the exam again. Keep the certificate handy because you need the course name and completion date for your registration.
Test Your Well Water
If your home kitchen runs on a private well instead of municipal water, the statute requires you to test for nitrate and bacteria contamination before you register and before you produce any food for sale. You submit proof of that testing with your registration paperwork.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy recommends annual testing for private wells even though the statute only mandates it at registration.2Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. All About DWEE Sample Private Drinking Water Wells Lab testing typically costs $20 to $100 depending on the lab and the panel. If you are on municipal water, skip this step entirely.
Register With the Nebraska Department of Agriculture
Registration is free and done online through the Department’s cottage food producer portal. The form asks for your name, address, and phone number; the name of your food safety course and completion date; and proof of well water testing if applicable.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
After you submit, it can take up to ten days for your name to appear on the public list of registered producers. If your contact information changes later, email the Department’s food safety office to update your registration instead of filing a new one.3Nebraska Department of Agriculture. Nebraska Cottage Food Registration
Label Every Product and Post the Consumer Notice
Every cottage food product, TCS or non-TCS, needs a label with your name and the physical address where you prepared it.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
TCS foods also need an ingredient list on the label, arranged in descending order by weight. Non-TCS foods like cookies or bread do not legally require an ingredient list under state law, though adding one is good practice for customers with allergies.3Nebraska Department of Agriculture. Nebraska Cottage Food Registration
You also have to provide a visible consumer notification with two statements: that the food was prepared in a kitchen not subject to regulation or inspection by a regulatory authority, and that the food may contain allergens. At a farmers market, fair, or festival, post it at your booth. For online sales, home pickup, or delivery, the notification needs to appear at your home, on your website, and in any advertising you run.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statute 81-2,280
The state requires only a generic “may contain allergens” statement, not a breakdown of specific allergens. Listing them anyway protects your customers and reduces your liability exposure.
Where You Can Sell and How You Deliver
Registered producers can sell directly to consumers at farmers markets, fairs, festivals, craft shows, roadside stands, and from their own homes. Online sales are allowed for orders fulfilled within Nebraska. You cannot sell to restaurants, retail stores, grocery outlets, or any wholesale channel.4Justia Law. Nebraska Code 81-2,245.01 – Food Establishment, Defined
Delivery rules split along the TCS line. Non-TCS foods can be shipped through USPS, UPS, or FedEx, which makes online sales workable. TCS foods must be delivered in person by the producer directly to the customer, kept at 41°F or colder during transport, and delivered within two hours of leaving your kitchen.3Nebraska Department of Agriculture. Nebraska Cottage Food Registration
That two-hour window effectively limits TCS sales to customers within driving distance. If cheesecakes or ice cream are your product, map your realistic service area before you build the business.
Shipping Out of State
The FDA does not recognize cottage food exemptions. The moment your product crosses a state line, you are treated as an unlicensed food manufacturer under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Nebraska’s law technically allows you to mail non-TCS items by USPS or commercial carrier, but keeping shipments inside the state is the safe approach. Selling into another state also means complying with that state’s cottage food law, which may not permit out-of-state producers at all.
Insurance, Taxes, and Zoning
Three things catch new producers off guard.
Insurance. Standard homeowners policies contain a business pursuits exclusion that denies coverage for any liability from a business activity run from the home. The activity does not need to be your primary income, and it does not need to be profitable. If a customer has an allergic reaction to your food or trips at your home during pickup, your homeowners policy will almost certainly deny the claim. Dedicated cottage food liability policies start around $300 per year as of 2026, with the final premium depending on revenue and location. Many farmers markets and event venues require proof of liability insurance before letting you vend.
Taxes. Cottage food income is self-employment income reported on Schedule C of your federal return, where you can deduct ingredients, packaging, the food safety course fee, insurance premiums, and a portion of home utilities used in production. If your net profit exceeds $400 for the year, you owe self-employment tax on top of income tax. For Nebraska sales tax, food sold for off-premises consumption is generally taxable, but whether you need to collect and remit depends on your product and sales channel. Contact the Nebraska Department of Revenue before you start — getting this wrong means back taxes plus interest.
Zoning. State law permits cottage food production, but your city or county zoning code can add restrictions on home-based businesses: limits on customer traffic, signage prohibitions, parking rules, noise or odor standards. Some jurisdictions require a home occupation permit with an application fee. Check with your local planning or zoning office before you start. A state cottage food registration does not override a municipal zoning violation.