New York Cottage Food Laws: Labeling, Registration, and Sales

New York’s cottage food laws operate through the state’s Home Processor exemption, which lets you prepare and sell certain shelf-stable foods from your home kitchen without a commercial food processing license. The Department of Agriculture and Markets administers the exemption under 1 NYCRR 276.4, waiving Article 20-C licensing as long as you make approved products, label them correctly, and sell only within New York.¹ Registration is free, there is no annual sales cap, and once you are approved your registration does not expire.

What You Can Sell

Every product has to be “non-potentially hazardous” — safe at room temperature without refrigeration. In practice, that means dry or high-sugar items with low moisture.¹ The approved list covers:

Baked goods: breads, cookies, muffins, brownies, doughnuts, cakes, cupcakes, biscotti, and cake pops. Cakes and cupcakes cannot use homemade buttercream or cream cheese frostings, and doughnuts cannot have cream fillings.
Fruit jams, jellies, and marmalades made from high-acid fruits such as apples, blueberries, cherries, peaches, and strawberries. Glass containers need rigid metal covers.²
Fudge and peanut brittle made with commercially roasted nuts. You can repack non-chocolate candy, but melting or repacking exposed chocolate is not allowed.
Repackaged or blended commercially dried spices and herbs, and repackaged commercially produced dried pasta. You cannot manufacture or dry pasta yourself.
Snack mixes and popcorn, including caramel corn.

The chocolate rules catch a lot of new home processors. You cannot melt chocolate or candy melts for dipping, coating, or drizzling on anything. That rules out cocoa bombs, chocolate-covered fruit, chocolate-topped biscotti and cake pops, and candy-melt decorations on pretzels or Rice Krispies treats.¹

What You Cannot Sell

Anything that needs refrigeration to stay safe is off-limits. The regulation defines “potentially hazardous food” as any perishable item containing milk, eggs, poultry, fish, shellfish, or other ingredients that support rapid microbial growth.² Prohibited categories include:

Meat, poultry, and fish products of any kind
Dairy-based items such as cheesecakes, custard-filled pastries, and cream-filled doughnuts
Acidified foods including pickles, relishes, salsas, and hot sauces, which need laboratory pH testing
Vacuum-packaged items, because oxygen-free environments create a botulism risk
Tempered chocolate and candy melts used for dipping, coating, or drizzling
Homemade pasta (repackaged commercial dried pasta is fine)

The acidified-food line is where people slip most often. Homemade salsa and pickled vegetables look harmless, but without verified pH testing the botulism risk is too high for an uninspected kitchen. Pet treats also fall outside the exemption; it covers human food only.

How To Label Your Products

Every item must be pre-packaged in your home and labeled before it reaches a customer. Five elements are required on every label:³

The common or usual name of the food (for example, “Blueberry Muffins”)
All ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight. Spices, flavorings, and colorings can be grouped under those general terms.
Net weight, standard measure, or numerical count
Your name and full home address
A home kitchen statement such as “Made in a Home Kitchen” or “Made at Home by [Your Name],” in a font size of at least 1/16th inch¹

You also need to identify all major food allergens clearly. Federal law now recognizes nine: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Sesame was added as the ninth major allergen under the FASTER Act, effective January 1, 2023.⁴ Tahini, sesame oil, and sesame seeds all trigger that disclosure.

A “best by” or expiration date is not required, though adding one voluntarily is a straightforward way to build customer trust on baked goods with a short shelf life.¹

How To Register as a Home Processor

The Home Processor Registration Request form is on the Department of Agriculture and Markets website. It asks for your name, trade name, street address, county, phone, email, and a list of every product you plan to sell, up to ten initially. You also indicate whether your home uses a public water supply or a private well. If it is a private well, attach a recent acceptable water analysis dated no more than three months old.⁵

There is no fee.¹ Approved registrations do not expire, but the exemption is tied to your specific address. If you move, you resubmit at the new location. Adding products after your initial registration requires separate approval.

Check with your local zoning office before you register. The Department’s guidance tells applicants to consult local zoning officials for approval before starting any home-based business.¹ Some municipalities require a home occupation permit or restrict business activity in residential zones, and the rules vary by town, city, and county.

Where and How You Can Sell

Everything you sell under the exemption has to stay within New York State. No shipping across state lines, and no common carriers to out-of-state customers, regardless of how the order was placed.¹

Inside the state, your options are broad. You can sell at farmers’ markets, farm stands, green markets, craft fairs, and flea markets. You can sell directly from your home. You can advertise and take orders online, as long as delivery or pickup happens in New York. You can also sell wholesale to restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores located in the state.¹

New York does not impose an annual revenue cap. You can grow sales as high as the market allows without losing your exemption, as long as you keep following the other rules.

Taxes and Insurance

Home-processed food sales are taxable income. Sole proprietors report business income and deductible expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040) at the federal level.⁶ Ingredients, packaging, and booth fees are generally deductible. For New York State sales tax questions, the Department of Agriculture and Markets directs home processors to the Department of Taxation and Finance, since taxability depends on the specific product.¹

Insurance is easy to overlook. Standard homeowners policies typically exclude claims arising from business activities, which leaves you personally exposed if a customer gets sick. A product liability policy built for cottage food businesses generally runs a few hundred dollars a year and covers injury claims, property damage, and legal defense costs. That expense is worth weighing once you start selling at public venues or supplying wholesale accounts.

1
Agriculture and Markets. Home Processing
2
The National Agricultural Law Center. 1 NY Comp. Codes Rules and Regs. 276.3 and 276.4
3
Legal Information Institute. NY Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 1 276.4
4
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FASTER Act: Sesame Is the Ninth Major Food Allergen
5
Agriculture and Markets. Home Processor Registration Request Form
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040)