NYS Cottage Food Laws: Allowed Foods, Registration & Labeling

New York’s cottage food laws let you make and sell certain shelf-stable foods from your home kitchen without a commercial food processing license. The program, called the home processor exemption, is free to register for, has no annual sales cap, and allows both retail and wholesale sales as long as every sale stays inside New York. It’s governed by 1 CRR-NY 276.4 under Article 20-C of the Agriculture and Markets Law, and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets handles registration.¹

Foods You Can Sell

The exemption covers non-potentially hazardous foods, meaning items that are shelf-stable and don’t need refrigeration to stay safe. The Department keeps an approved list, and the restrictions inside each category are narrower than most home bakers expect.

Breads, rolls, biscuits, bagels, muffins, and scones. High-acid fruits, commercially dried fruits, and commercially dried herbs are allowed as ingredients. Vegetables of any kind are not.
Cookies, brownies, and biscotti. Biscotti cannot be topped with chocolate or candy melts.
Cakes and cupcakes. Homemade buttercream and cream cheese frostings are not allowed.
Cake pops, without chocolate or candy melt coatings.
Doughnuts, without cream fillings.
Double-crust fruit pies only. Single-crust pies, custard pies, nut pies, meat pies, and any pie needing refrigeration are excluded.
Fruit jams, jellies, and marmalades made from high-acid fruits such as apples, berries, cherries, citrus, peaches, pears, plums, or rhubarb.
Candy limited to fudge and peanut brittle made with commercially roasted nuts.
Snacks including popcorn, caramel corn, Rice Krispies treats, granola, trail mix, and granola bars. None may be topped with chocolate or candy melts, and any nuts must be commercially roasted.
Repackaged commercially dried spices, herbs, dried vegetables, dried fruit, dried soup mixes, roasted coffee beans or grounds, dried pasta, and dry baking mixes. You cannot roast, grind, or dry these products yourself.
Seasoning salt and baklava, both on the list without further restrictions.

The frosting and coating rules are what most often push a product outside the exemption. Store-bought frosting on cupcakes may be fine; a homemade cream cheese frosting takes the same cupcakes off the approved list. If a product isn’t on the list, it can’t be sold under this registration.

Foods That Don’t Qualify

Anything requiring refrigeration or temperature control is excluded, because home kitchens lack the monitoring equipment to keep those foods safe at production scale.

Low-acid canned foods, including pickles, canned vegetables, and salsas.
Cream and custard items such as cheesecakes, cream-filled pastries, and custard pies.
Meat products, including meat-filled pastries and jerky.
Fresh or cooked vegetable dishes, vegetable-based sauces, and oils.
Homemade chocolate or candy melt coatings on otherwise approved snacks and baked goods.

Some lines are counterintuitive. A double-crust apple pie is allowed; a single-crust apple pie is not. You can repackage commercially dried herbs, but you cannot dry herbs yourself and sell them.

How to Register

Registration goes through the Department of Agriculture and Markets and costs nothing.² The Home Processor Registration form asks for:

The production address, which must be your primary residence.
A detailed product list, including the ingredients in each item.
A recent water potability test showing no coliform bacteria, if your home is on a private well rather than a municipal water system.

You can submit through the Department’s online portal or by mail, and approval typically takes about two weeks.² Once approved, the registration does not expire and has no renewal requirement, but it is tied to the address on file. If you move, you register again for the new location.³ The registration also becomes void if you sell foods not on the approved list or if you open a separately inspected food business.

Labeling Your Products

Every item you sell must carry a label with four pieces of information, per 1 CRR-NY 276.4:¹

Your name and full address.
The common name of the food (for example, “Blueberry Muffins,” not a brand name alone).
A complete ingredient list in descending order by weight. Spices, flavorings, and colorings may be listed generically.
Net weight, volume, or count.

All nine major food allergens must be clearly identified in your ingredient statement: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, soybeans, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, and sesame.³ Sesame was added as the ninth major allergen under the federal FASTER Act, effective January 1, 2023.⁴ If the common name of an ingredient already identifies the allergen (like “whey” for milk), that satisfies the rule. Otherwise, add a parenthetical such as “lecithin (soy).”

The Department also recommends a home-kitchen statement on your label, such as “Made in a Home Kitchen” or “Made in the Home Kitchen of [Your Name].”³

One packaging detail catches jam makers off guard: jams, jellies, marmalades, and similar products sold in glass containers must have rigid metal lids.¹ Plastic or cork closures don’t comply.

Where You Can Sell

New York is more permissive on sales channels than most states. You can sell retail directly to consumers at farmers’ markets, craft fairs, flea markets, and farm stands, and you can sell wholesale to stores or restaurants that want to resell your products.³ Home delivery and internet orders are both allowed. There is no annual revenue cap.

The hard limit is geographic. Every sale must happen within New York State. Interstate shipping is not permitted, and any online orders must be fulfilled by in-state delivery.³

Sales Tax and Income Tax

Most home-processed foods qualify for New York’s sales tax exemption on food sold for off-premises consumption. Bakery items like bread, cookies, cakes, and pies are generally exempt when sold unheated and not plated for immediate eating.⁵ Candy and confectionary are taxable, so fudge, peanut brittle, and caramel corn will typically require you to collect and remit sales tax.⁶

On the federal side, income from home food sales is self-employment income. If your net earnings reach $400 or more in a tax year, you file Schedule SE and pay self-employment tax.⁷ The rate is 15.3%, covering Social Security (12.4% on net earnings up to $184,500 in 2026) and Medicare (2.9% with no cap).⁸ Income and expenses go on Schedule C of your personal return.

Deductible expenses include ingredients, packaging, labels, market booth fees, and mileage to sales venues. The IRS simplified home office method allows $5 per square foot of space used exclusively for the business, capped at $1,500 for 300 square feet.⁹ Your kitchen usually won’t qualify because it isn’t used exclusively for the business, but a dedicated storage or packaging area might.

Zoning, Liability, and Insurance

Your state registration does not override local zoning. The Department specifically advises checking with your local zoning officials before starting a home-based food business.³ Many municipalities require a home occupation permit and may restrict customer traffic, signage, parking, deliveries, or the share of your home devoted to the business. Rules vary widely across New York’s cities, towns, and villages, so call your local zoning office or building department before you start selling.

Selling as a sole proprietor is the default, and it leaves your personal assets exposed if someone claims your product caused an illness. Forming a limited liability company puts a legal barrier between a business claim and your personal finances, though it comes with New York filing fees and biennial reporting costs that make more sense once sales are steady.

Product liability insurance is worth considering either way. Policies aimed at cottage food businesses start around $300 per year, and typical coverage runs $1 million per occurrence with a $2 million aggregate limit. Some farmers’ markets require proof of insurance before letting you set up a booth, so the decision may not be entirely yours.

1
Cornell Law Institute. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 1 276.4 – Exemptions
2
Institute for Justice. Selling Homemade Food in New York
3
Agriculture and Markets. Home Processing
4
Food and Drug Administration. Food Allergies
5
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Food and Food Products Sold by Food Stores and Similar Establishments
6
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Listings of Taxable and Exempt Foods and Beverages Sold by Food Stores
7
Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)
8
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
9
Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction