NYC Cottage Food Laws: Allowed Foods, Labeling, and Registration

New York City residents can legally sell homemade food under New York’s Home Processor Exemption, and NYC cottage food laws are simply the state rules applied inside the five boroughs. The program is run by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM). Registration is free, does not expire, and carries no annual revenue cap. In exchange, you are limited to certain shelf-stable foods, you must label every package a specific way, and every sale has to happen inside New York State.

Foods You Can Sell From Your Home Kitchen

The exemption covers foods that stay safe at room temperature. NYSDAM keeps an approved list, and every product you sell has to fall inside it.¹

Baked goods: cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes, muffins, scones, bagels, biscuits, breads, rolls, and double-crust fruit pies. Frostings have to be commercially made or cooked, so homemade buttercream and cream cheese frosting are out. Vegetables cannot go into breads, muffins, biscuits, bagels, or scones.
Jams and jellies: fruit-based preserves, jams, jellies, and marmalades. Glass containers need rigid metal lids.²
Snacks and candy: popcorn, kettle corn, peanut brittle, and similar confections.
Dry goods: roasted coffee beans, dried soup mixes, spice blends, and dry baking mixes.

Every product has to appear on your registration. If you want to add something later, submit a new registration form and mark it as a supplemental request.¹

Foods That Are Off Limits

Anything that needs refrigeration is prohibited. NYSDAM uses the term “potentially hazardous food” for items containing dairy, eggs, meat, poultry, or fish that can support rapid bacterial growth.³ The banned list includes:

Cheesecake, cream pies, meringue pies, cream-filled pastries and doughnuts, and single-crust pies that need refrigeration.
Anything containing meat, fish, or poultry, plus sauces, salsas, and marinades.
Pickles, relishes, sauerkraut, and any low-acid food in sealed containers, which carry a botulism risk that home kitchens cannot safely manage.
Vegetable oils, blended oils, infused oils, and salad dressings.

Selling a prohibited item voids your registration immediately.³ There is no warning stage.

Pet treats are a different program. You can make them at home, but they require a separate registration through NYSDAM’s pet food program rather than the home processor exemption.³

Where You Can Sell

New York is unusually flexible on sales channels. Approved venues include farmers markets, green markets, craft fairs, flea markets, farm stands, and direct sales from your home. Home delivery and internet sales are permitted, and you can sell both retail and wholesale.¹

Two rules never bend. Every product has to be pre-packaged and labeled in your home kitchen before it leaves. Packaging at a market booth is not allowed.¹ And every sale has to happen inside New York State. You cannot ship to a customer in New Jersey even if they order through your website, because interstate food shipments fall under FDA jurisdiction and your home kitchen is not an FDA-registered facility.⁴

There is no annual revenue cap. You can sell as much as your kitchen can produce.

Labeling Requirements

Every package needs a label carrying all of the following.²

The common name of the product, such as “Chocolate Chip Cookies.”
An ingredient list in descending order by weight. Spices, flavorings, and colorings can be listed generically.
Net weight in both standard and metric units, for example “NET WT 1 lb (453g).”
Your full name and home address.
An allergen statement identifying any of the nine major allergens present: eggs, milk, fish, shellfish, soybeans, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, and sesame.¹
A home kitchen disclosure such as “Made in a Home Kitchen” or “Made in the Home Kitchen of [Your Name].”

The allergen rule is where first-time sellers stumble. Burying allergens in the ingredient list is not enough. They have to be called out clearly, typically in a “Contains” line right after the ingredients. Cookies made with wheat flour, butter, and eggs need a line reading something like “Contains: Wheat, Milk, Eggs.”

How to Register With NYSDAM

Registration is free and handled through NYSDAM’s Food Safety and Inspection division. You fill out the Home Processor Registration Request Form on the NYSDAM website.⁵ The form asks for:

Your name, address, county, phone number, and email.
A trade name, if you use one.
A list of every product you plan to sell, with short descriptions.
Whether your water comes from a municipal supply or a private well.

Private well users have to attach a certified lab water analysis showing negative results for both Total Coliform and E. coli, dated within three months of your application.⁵ Nearly every NYC household is on municipal water and skips this step.

Once NYSDAM sends the confirmation, the registration is good indefinitely. No renewal, no annual fee. It is tied to the address you registered from, though. Move apartments and you have to register again from the new one.¹

Sales Tax on What You Sell

Most food sold for human consumption is exempt from New York State sales tax when it is sold unheated and in the same packaging a retail store would use, which covers most cottage foods like cookies, breads, and jams. Candy and confectionery, however, are taxable.⁶ If your product line is peanut brittle, fudge, or caramel corn, expect to collect sales tax on those items. Check the state’s taxable food listings before you set your prices.

Income Tax and Self-Employment

Your NYSDAM registration handles food safety, not taxes. The IRS treats homemade food sales as self-employment income when you operate with the intent to make a profit, keep records, and put real time into the business.⁷ That means reporting income and expenses on Schedule C.

Self-employment tax applies once your net earnings pass $400 in a year. From that point you owe Social Security and Medicare taxes on your profits regardless of any day job. Track ingredient costs, packaging, market fees, and mileage from the start so you can deduct legitimate business expenses.

Keeping Your Exemption

Selling anything not on your approved list voids the registration on the spot.¹ There is also a quieter trap. Getting a Department of Health food service permit or a Department of Agriculture and Markets commercial license for any reason automatically cancels the home processor exemption. After that, everything you sell commercially has to come from the licensed facility, not your kitchen.

NYSDAM does not require liability insurance but recommends talking to an attorney or insurance broker about product liability coverage.¹ Many NYC farmers markets require vendors to carry it as a condition of renting a booth, so even without a state mandate you may need a policy to reach the venues you want.

1
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Home Processing
2
Cornell Law. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 1 276.4
3
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. New York State Home Processor Registration
4
eCFR. 21 CFR 1.227 – What Definitions Apply to This Subpart
5
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Home Processor Registration Request Form
6
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Listings of Taxable and Exempt Foods and Beverages Sold by Food Stores
7
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Hobby vs Business Income