Virginia Cottage Food Law: Permits, Labels, and Sales Rules

Virginia’s cottage food law lets you make and sell certain foods from your home kitchen without a commercial license or state inspection. The exemption, set out in Virginia Code § 3.2-5130, covers three categories: shelf-stable low-risk foods like baked goods and candies, acidified foods like pickles and salsas, and honey from your own hives. If you want to sell products that need refrigeration or reach grocery stores and restaurants, you’ll need a home food processing permit instead. A 2026 amendment, HB402, has also opened up online and phone sales for the first time.

What You Can Sell Without a Permit

The broadest exemption covers foods that stay safe at room temperature. The statute lists these products specifically, and if a food isn’t on the list, it doesn’t qualify:¹

Baked goods that don’t need refrigeration after baking — breads, cookies, cakes, fruit pies. A loaf of banana bread qualifies; a cream-filled eclair does not.
Candies such as fudge, brittles, and hard candy.
Jams and jellies, as long as they are not low-acid or acidified low-acid. Traditional high-sugar preserves and fruit butters are fine.
Dried goods: dried fruits, dry herbs and seasonings, dry mixtures, dried pasta, dry baking mixes, cereals, trail mixes, and granola.
Nuts, coated or uncoated.
Popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy.
Roasted coffee, dried tea, vinegars, and flavored vinegars.

The common thread is that none of these products require time or temperature control after preparation. If yours does, it falls outside the exemption. There is no annual sales cap on this low-risk category, which makes it the most flexible piece of the law.

Pickles, Salsas, and Other Acidified Foods

Home producers can also sell certain acidified foods without inspection, under a separate exemption in subdivision C.4 of the same statute. Pickles, salsas, chow-chow, relishes, and similar acidified vegetables all qualify, but only if the finished product has an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower. That threshold exists because the bacteria that cause botulism cannot grow in sufficiently acidic conditions.¹

Acidified products carry an annual revenue ceiling that the low-risk category does not. Combined gross sales of all acidified foods cannot exceed $9,000 per calendar year, and VDACS expects producers to keep sales records in case the agency asks to see them.²

Getting the pH right isn’t something you can eyeball. VDACS strongly recommends buying an electronic pH meter and testing every batch. The agency also encourages producers to have their process reviewed by a qualified process authority and to complete a Better Process Control School course, though neither is technically required.²

Honey From Your Own Hives

Beekeepers get their own exemption for processing and selling honey. The cap is 250 gallons per year, and the beekeeper cannot sell food products outside what the low-risk and acidified exemptions already allow. Honey also requires an extra warning on the label: “PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION. WARNING: Do Not Feed Honey to Infants Under One Year Old.”¹

Where and How You Can Sell

Until recently, cottage food producers could only sell in person at their home, at farmers markets, or at temporary events lasting no more than 14 consecutive days. Online sales were prohibited, and so was shipping.²

HB402, enacted as Chapter 605 in the 2026 session, changed that. Exempt producers can now sell at any location in Virginia, through the internet, or by phone, and products can be delivered in person, by mail, or by delivery service. The buyer still has to be an individual in Virginia purchasing for personal consumption, not for resale or consignment.³

Two hard limits stayed in place. You cannot sell cottage food products to restaurants, grocery stores, or other retail food establishments for use in their operations. And all sales must stay within Virginia’s borders; shipping across state lines puts your products into federal jurisdiction, which requires a licensed facility.¹

Because HB402 is newly enacted, VDACS guidance documents may still describe the old restrictions. If the agency’s FAQ says internet sales are banned, the statute now overrides that. Check the effective date on the bill before you launch an online storefront.

How to Label Your Products

Every exempt product must carry a label on the front panel. If the packaging is too small, you can instead post a sign at the point of sale showing the same information. The statute requires:¹

The full name of the person who prepared the food.
A physical residential address. Under HB402, a P.O. box number is also acceptable.
Your telephone number.
The date the food was made.
The disclaimer: “NOT FOR RESALE — PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION.”

That disclaimer is the most important piece of text on your packaging. Missing it, or rewording it, can get your products pulled from sale.

The statute does not explicitly require an ingredient list or net weight statement for exempt products. Virginia’s general food labeling regulations, though, do require ingredients in descending order by weight and allergen declarations for food sold to consumers. As a practical matter, a full ingredient list protects you if a customer has an allergy, and most farmers market organizers expect one anyway.

When You Need a Home Food Processing Permit Instead

The cottage food exemption works for producers selling shelf-stable goods directly to consumers. If you want to sell foods that need refrigeration, or sell to grocery stores and restaurants, you need a home food processing permit from VDACS. This is the inspected pathway, and it turns your kitchen into a licensed food establishment.

A permitted operation can sell both retail and wholesale. The application specifically asks what percentage of sales will go to each channel and lists local grocery stores as a distribution option. That flexibility is why some producers choose the permit route over the exemption.⁴

The tradeoff is real oversight. Your kitchen must be inspected before you can sell, and it must meet the standards of the Virginia Food Laws on an ongoing basis. You are running a food business in the eyes of the state, with the record-keeping and sanitation obligations that go with it.

What the Application Requires

The application package takes more preparation than most people expect. Before filling out the form, gather:⁴

Water test results if your home uses a private well, showing coliform bacteria were absent. Homes on municipal water can skip this.
Written zoning approval from your local zoning office confirming that a home food processing business is permitted on your property.
A kitchen diagram (hand-drawn is fine) showing preparation, storage, handwashing, and equipment-washing areas.
A full product list with ingredient sources and planned distribution methods.
Written sanitation procedures covering cleaning schedules, contamination prevention, and allergen cross-contact.
Copies of proposed labels for VDACS review.

After VDACS reviews your application, a food safety specialist contacts you to schedule a pre-operational inspection. You cannot begin selling until you pass that inspection and receive your permit.

Taxes, Zoning, and Insurance

Income from cottage food sales is self-employment income to the IRS, whether or not you registered a formal business. You report revenue and expenses on Schedule C with your federal Form 1040.

If your net profit reaches $400 or more in a tax year, you owe self-employment tax at 15.3 percent on that profit, covering Social Security and Medicare. Below $400, you still report the income but don’t owe the self-employment piece.⁵ If you expect to owe more than $1,000 in total federal tax for the year, the IRS requires quarterly estimated payments to avoid underpayment penalties. All income counts, including cash, Venmo, and Cash App payments. Ingredient costs, packaging, equipment, and farmers market fees are deductible on Schedule C.

Your local government may add requirements on top of anything VDACS asks for. Some localities require a home occupation permit or business license for commercial activity from a residence, with fees that vary widely. Checking with your local zoning office is worthwhile even if you plan to stay under the cottage food exemption and skip the VDACS permit.⁴

Liability insurance is not required by Virginia’s cottage food law, but skipping it is a gamble. If a customer gets sick and blames your product, your homeowner’s policy almost certainly won’t cover it, because home policies typically exclude business activity. Product liability policies for cottage food operations start at roughly $300 per year depending on revenue, location, and claims history. Cheap, relative to the cost of defending even a frivolous lawsuit.

Keep your records thorough from day one. Track each batch with production date, ingredients, and where it was sold. For acidified foods, log pH readings for every batch. If VDACS asks questions, organized documentation makes everything easier, and clean income and expense records will save you time at tax season.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 3.2-5130 – Inspections Required to Operate Food Establishment
2
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Virginia’s Home Kitchen Food Processing Exemptions
3
Virginia State Legislative Information System. HB402 – 2026 Regular Session
4
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Permit Application – Home Food Processing Operation
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1402 – Definitions