Oregon Cottage Food Law: Sales Cap, Labels & Where to Sell

Oregon’s cottage food law lets you sell shelf-stable homemade foods from your residential kitchen with no license, no permit, and no fee, as long as your annual gross sales stay under roughly $50,000 and you follow the labeling and food handler rules in ORS 616.723. Senate Bill 643, effective January 1, 2024, broadened the law considerably, opening up online sales, mail order, and placement in retail stores like coffee shops.

Foods You Can Sell

The test is whether a food is “not potentially hazardous,” meaning it stays safe at room temperature without refrigeration. The statute offers examples rather than an exhaustive list:

Baked goods such as breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, and muffins without refrigeration-dependent fillings
Confections including candies and fudge
Coffee beans, teas, and powdered drink mixes
Popcorn and nut mixes
Jams, jellies, honey, syrups, and fruit butters
Repackaged freeze-dried, dried, and dehydrated foods

If a product is shelf-stable and packaged, it likely qualifies. When a specific item sits in a gray area, the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s licensing specialists can confirm whether it’s covered.¹

Foods You Cannot Sell

Anything requiring refrigeration to stay safe is out. Cheesecakes, custard-filled pastries, cream pies, and meringue-topped baked goods don’t qualify. Products built around meat, poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs as a primary ingredient that would need temperature control are also excluded.¹

Low-acid canned goods and fermented products like kombucha fall outside the cottage food framework as well. To make those at home, you’d need a Domestic Kitchen license from the ODA, which involves actual licensing and inspection.

The $50,000 Sales Cap

Cottage food producers are capped at $50,000 in annual gross sales. The figure isn’t static. The statute requires annual adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, West Region, rounded to the nearest $100, so the real cap for 2026 may run slightly above $50,000.¹

If you outgrow the cap, the next step is a Domestic Kitchen license from the ODA, with fees that scale with sales volume.²

Where and How You Can Sell

The 2024 expansion opened up almost every channel a small food business would want:

Direct pickup from your home
Online orders through a website or social media
Shipping by mail
Farmers markets, craft fairs, and roadside stands
Retail stores such as coffee shops, provided they store and display your products separately and clearly indicate the items are homemade and not from an inspected facility

The statute defines “retailer” to include coffee shops but specifically excludes restaurants. You also cannot sell to caterers, schools, day care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, or correctional facilities.¹

What Has to Be on the Label

Every package must carry this disclosure statement: “This product is homemade, is not prepared in an inspected food establishment and must be stored and displayed separately if merchandised by a retailer.” The ODA can adopt alternative wording if needed to comply with federal requirements, but that’s the default language.¹

Your label also needs:

Your name and phone number
The address of the food establishment, or a unique identification number from the ODA (added by SB 643 so you don’t have to publish your home address)
The product name
All ingredients listed in descending order by weight
The net weight or net volume
Allergen warnings required under federal food labeling law
A disclosure of any pets in the home and the potential for pet allergens

If your label makes any nutrient content or health claims, you’ll also need full nutritional information under federal labeling rules. Most cottage food producers avoid this by not making health claims at all.

Food Handler Certificates

Everyone involved in preparing food for sale under the exemption must hold a valid food handler certificate issued under ORS 624.570. That includes a family member who helps with production, not just the primary baker.¹

The certificate comes from completing an approved food handler training program. Multiple online providers offer it in Oregon, usually for under $15, and the course covers temperature control, cross-contamination, and handwashing. Most people finish in a couple of hours.

No License, but the ODA Can Still Step In

There’s no application, no fee, and no permit. If you meet the requirements of ORS 616.723, you can start selling.¹ The food establishment must be in a residential dwelling, meaning your home rather than a rented commercial kitchen or separate production facility. The statute doesn’t limit helpers to household or family members, but every person who handles food needs their own certificate.

The ODA does not inspect your kitchen before you start. There’s no pre-operational walkthrough. The agency does retain authority to intervene later. According to Oregon State University’s Extension Service, the ODA can require you to obtain a full license if your products don’t meet the exemption, if you fail to make records available, or if you refuse access for inspections the department deems necessary to protect public health.

Enforcement is largely complaint-driven in practice. Keep your kitchen sanitary, your labels accurate, and your records organized, and the ODA is unlikely to turn up. Cutting corners on labeling or selling products that actually need refrigeration is a fast way to lose the exemption.

Local Zoning and Business Registration

The state exemption handles food safety, but your city or county may regulate running a business from home. Portland, for instance, splits home occupations into two categories, with the more restrictive one requiring a permit when employees or customers come to the site.³ Selling exclusively online or at farmers markets usually falls into the least restrictive bucket. Plan on foot traffic to your door and you should check your local code first. Many municipalities also require a general business license regardless of the type of business, so call your city or county clerk.

If you’ll operate under a business name other than your own legal name, you may need to register that name with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Business Registry. Sole proprietors using their own name can skip this step. The office also provides a name availability search tool.⁴

Insurance and Taxes

Oregon does not require cottage food producers to carry product liability insurance. If a customer gets sick from something you sold, though, you’re personally on the hook. Homeowners insurance policies typically exclude business activities, so a foodborne illness claim could leave you uninsured. Specialty policies for home food businesses are available from several providers and generally run a few hundred dollars a year.

Income from cottage food sales is taxable. Oregon has no sales tax, so you won’t collect or remit one, but you’ll owe state and federal income tax on net profit. Track revenue and expenses (ingredients, packaging, insurance, market booth fees) so you can report accurately and claim legitimate deductions.

If You Grow Your Own Ingredients

A separate pathway may also be open to you. Oregon’s Farm Direct Marketing Law (ORS 616.683) lets farmers process and sell low-risk, value-added products made from what they grow (jams, pickles, dried herbs, flour, roasted nuts) directly to consumers without a food processing license.⁵ The critical difference is sourcing: Farm Direct products must come from ingredients the farmer grew, while a cottage food producer can buy flour and sugar at the grocery store.

Some producers qualify under both laws at once. If you grow berries and also bake cookies with store-bought ingredients, the berries can move through Farm Direct while the cookies fall under the cottage food exemption.

1
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 616.723 – Exemption From ORS 616.695 to 616.755 for Establishments in Residential Dwellings
2
Oregon Department of Agriculture. Fee Schedules
3
Portland.gov. Home Occupation Permits – Running a Business Out of Your Home
4
Oregon Secretary of State. Register, Renew or Reinstate a Business
5
Oregon State University Extension Service. Oregon’s Farm Direct Marketing Law: Producer-Processed Value-Added Products