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Compliance · 37 min read

Georgia Cottage Food Law After HB 398: No License, No Cap, and a Wholesale Path That Just Opened to Grocers and Restaurants

Governor Kemp signed Georgia HB 398 on May 13, 2025; it took effect July 1, 2025 and rewrote the Georgia cottage food framework from the ground up. The $100 state license is gone, the pre-operational inspection is gone, and Georgia became one of the first states in the country to authorize cottage food wholesale to grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants directly under statute. This is the long version of how the new Article 19 of OCGA Chapter 26-2 actually works — what HB 398 changed, what it left alone, what the label still has to say, where the rule conflicts with older third-party guides still floating around the internet, and how the new third-party-vendor display rule operates on the retailer side.

A close-up of ripe sunlit Georgia peaches hanging in a cluster from a peach tree branch, with green serrated leaves and bright blue sky behind them in the orchard

Read the statute first. OCGA 26-2-470 (added by HB 398, signed by Governor Brian Kemp on May 13, 2025, effective July 1, 2025) defines a "cottage food production operation" as "an individual, operating out of the individual's home kitchen, who prepares, processes, packages, stores, and distributes non-potentially hazardous foods for sale directly to a person, including online and by mail order, or to any food sales establishment" — and then OCGA 26-2-472 spells out what that food sales establishment language means: "Cottage food production operations may only sell, or offer to sell, food items directly to a person, including online and by mail order, or to retail food sales establishments, including grocery stores and restaurants."

Read the old Georgia Administrative Code, still sitting at Rule 40-7-19 as of this writing in mid-2026, and you get a different story. Rule 40-7-19-.05 says cottage food operators may not engage in wholesale. Rule 40-7-19-.04 sets a $100 annual license fee. Rule 40-7-19-.06 requires a pre-operational inspection. Rule 40-7-19-.03 requires registration with proof of an ANSI-accredited food safety training certificate. None of those rules survive HB 398.

A producer reading both at the same time, in May 2026, is looking at one law on the books and a different rule on the website. The statute controls — but the GDA web pages, the third-party cottage food summary sites, and the existing producer-to-producer advice in Georgia are slow to update. This is the long version of what HB 398 actually changed, what it left alone, what the new label has to say, what the third-party-vendor display rule looks like on the retailer side, and where the most-quoted third-party summaries quietly get it wrong.

The short version. Georgia HB 398 (signed May 13, 2025, effective July 1, 2025, now codified as Article 19 of OCGA Chapter 26-2, sections 26-2-470 through 26-2-478, plus new OCGA 36-60-33) eliminated the state cottage food license and its $100 annual fee, eliminated the pre-operational kitchen inspection, eliminated registration, and authorized cottage food production operations to sell directly to consumers (in-person, online, and by in-state mail) and to retail food sales establishments — grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants — within Georgia. Federal interstate-commerce law still applies, so out-of-state shipping is not authorized under cottage food. The food list (OCGA 26-2-470(7)) covers non-potentially hazardous items: breads, rolls, biscuits, cakes (without high-moisture or refrigerated fillings); jams, jellies, and preserves; uncut fruits and vegetables; dried fruits; dry herbs, seasonings, and mixtures; cereals, trail mixes, and granola; coated and uncoated nuts; vinegars and flavored vinegars; dill pickles (Georgia is one of the only states that names them by statute); confections; fudge; dry soup mixes; roasted coffee beans; dry pasta; popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy. Hot sauce, salsa, fermented foods other than dill pickles, refrigerated baked goods, raw milk, alcoholic beverages, and cannabis-containing foods are excluded. Labels must show the operator's name plus address (or a GDA-issued ID number in lieu of address) plus telephone, plus the verbatim statement "This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens." in at least 10-point type. Third-party retailers selling cottage food must display it in a separate, conspicuously labeled section. Counties and municipalities may opt out of third-party sales by ordinance after a noticed hearing, but cannot otherwise regulate cottage food and cannot block commercial delivery of it.

How Georgia fits in the cottage food map after HB 398

Cottage food laws cluster into a handful of archetypes. The six states the Ardent Workshop blog has covered in depth — Texas, California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — each picked a different combination of revenue cap, sales channels, food list, and inspection regime. Georgia was an outlier before HB 398: a relatively high-friction direct-only state with a $100 license, an inspection, and a wholesale prohibition. After HB 398, Georgia jumped to the front of the permissive bench — joining Ohio as one of the only states in the country that combines no license, no cap, no inspection, and a wholesale path to retailers and restaurants.

Dimension Texas California Florida New York Pennsylvania Ohio Georgia (after HB 398)
Revenue cap $150,000 (SB 541, 2025) $150,000 Class B (AB 1144, 2021) $250,000 (HB 663, 2021) None None None None
State permit / registration Food handler course County registration (Class A/B) None Home Processor Exemption letter $35 Limited Food Establishment registration None None (HB 398, 2025)
Inspection None Class B only None None Yes (initial + annual) No (Home Bakery License excepted) No (complaint-based only)
Acidified foods (hot sauce, salsa) Limited Limited Excluded Excluded Permitted with pH testing Excluded Excluded (except dill pickles, by statute)
Wholesale to retailers / restaurants Vendor pathway (limited) Class B only Excluded Excluded Permitted Permitted to retail food establishments Permitted to retail food sales establishments
Interstate sales Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded Permitted (federal layer applies) Excluded Excluded (federal law preserved)
Local regulation Allowed Allowed Preempted Local layer in NYC Allowed Allowed Preempted except third-party opt-out (OCGA 36-60-33)
Address-privacy option on label None None P.O. box None None None GDA-issued ID number in lieu of address (OCGA 26-2-473)

Three things stand out in the Georgia column.

First, Georgia is one of the only major cottage food states with no state license, no cap, and a wholesale path. Ohio comes the closest among comparison states — Ohio has no license, no cap, and wholesale to retail food establishments — but Ohio's framework is administered through Ohio Department of Agriculture sampling and tightly excludes a longer list of foods (refrigerated baked goods need a separate Home Bakery License; craft fairs are not on the venue list). Pennsylvania matches Georgia on wholesale and adds acidified foods, but charges a $35 fee and requires annual inspection. After HB 398, Georgia is the lightest-touch high-ceiling cottage food state in the Southeast.

Second, Georgia is the only state on this list with a label-level address-privacy option built into the statute. OCGA 26-2-473(a)(1)(B) lets a producer use a GDA-issued identification number in lieu of an address. DC has a similar program at the agency level, but Georgia is the only state where the privacy option is named in the statute itself. For producers who do not want their home address on a label sitting on a grocery shelf, this is structurally important.

Third, Georgia preempts local regulation of cottage food except for one specific carve-out. New OCGA 36-60-33 (also added by HB 398) prohibits counties and municipalities from prohibiting or regulating cottage food items, with two narrow exceptions: the third-party-vendor opt-out at OCGA 26-2-478, and the implicit retention of general business licensing and zoning powers. Local governments cannot block commercial delivery of cottage food. This preemption is unusually clean — many cottage food states still leave a wide patchwork of local rules in place.

The trade-offs are real, and that is the rest of this guide.

Problem and solution pairs: what HB 398 actually changed

The cleanest way to read HB 398 is as a series of paired changes — old rule on the left, new statute on the right. Producers who were operating under the prior regime need to update their compliance posture on each of these axes; producers starting fresh under HB 398 need to know which third-party guidance to ignore.

Problem: the old $100 license and pre-operational inspection. Solution: gone.

Under Rule 40-7-19-.04, pre-HB-398 cottage food operators owed a $100 annual license fee ($50 if registered after June 30 of the year), submitted a registration application with proof of ANSI-accredited food handler training, and underwent a pre-operational inspection of the home kitchen before the license issued.

HB 398 eliminated all three. There is no license, no fee, no application form, and no pre-operational inspection. The Georgia Department of Agriculture has stated in its HB 398 FAQ that "GDA will use its enforcement discretion in the meantime when an old requirement is no longer supported by HB 398, like the licensing requirement." A producer who was previously licensed does not need to renew; a producer launching today does not need to apply.

The only remaining contact with GDA is the optional ID-number request (see the label section below) and the residual complaint-investigation authority at OCGA 26-2-476.

Problem: direct-to-consumer-only sales. Solution: wholesale to retailers and restaurants now authorized.

This is the single largest substantive change HB 398 made. Pre-HB-398, the Georgia cottage food framework was direct-only. The pre-HB-398 GDA FAQ — much of which is still live and unchanged on the GDA website as of mid-2026 — explicitly says: "Sale of Cottage Food Products must be to the end consumer. No distribution or wholesale allowed, including hotels, restaurants, or institutions." That FAQ no longer reflects state law.

OCGA 26-2-472 now authorizes cottage food production operations to sell to "retail food sales establishments, including grocery stores and restaurants." OCGA 26-2-470(12) defines "third-party vendor" as "a retail store, grocery store, restaurant, or other similar store." And OCGA 26-2-472 includes a structurally important sentence: "Food produced from a cottage food production operation, and in compliance with the requirements of this article, shall be considered to be from an approved source, as required of a retail food sales establishment pursuant to department regulations."

The "approved source" language is what makes the wholesale path operationally workable. Retail food establishments under Georgia food law can only buy from approved sources. Without that statutory designation, a grocery store's purchasing manager would not be able to put cottage food on the shelf even if the producer wanted to sell it. HB 398 closes that loop directly in statute.

What changes for the producer's books:

  • A Georgia cottage food operator can now invoice a grocery store on net-30 terms, sell on a per-case basis, and treat the relationship as wholesale.
  • The same operator can sell to a coffee shop or restaurant that wants to retail the product (a jar of jam on the counter, a bag of granola in a "take home" rack).
  • A coffee shop or restaurant that wants to serve the cottage food item as part of a prepared dish (granola on a yogurt parfait, jam on a scone the shop bakes) is in a grayer zone — the statute authorizes the sale, but the receiving restaurant has its own approved-source compliance obligations and may need to confirm with its local health authority how cottage food integrates into its menu.
  • Distribution through a third-party logistics company or food distributor to a grocery is not explicitly authorized — HB 398 contemplates a direct relationship between the producer and the retailer. A producer who wants to scale through a regional distributor should expect questions from the distributor's compliance counsel and may need to upgrade to a commercial food processing license.

Problem: the old "no third-party sales, full stop" rule. Solution: third-party display rule and local opt-out replace it.

HB 398 added two new compliance surfaces that did not exist under the prior regime.

The third-party display rule (OCGA 26-2-473(d)). "If the cottage food item is sold by a third-party vendor, the item shall be displayed in a separate section of the store or in a separate display case from non-cottage food items. The third-party vendor shall conspicuously label the separate section or display case as containing cottage food items that are exempt from state inspection." This obligation runs to the retailer, not the producer — but as a practical matter, every wholesale conversation with a grocery store buyer is going to include the question "where on the shelf does this go?" A producer with a one-page printable sign that reads "Cottage Food Items — Made in a Home Kitchen, Exempt from State Inspection" already prepared makes the buyer's job easier and the buyer's decision faster.

The local opt-out (OCGA 26-2-478). Counties and municipalities may, after a public hearing held 15 to 45 days after publishing notice in a local newspaper, adopt an ordinance prohibiting cottage food operators from selling cottage food items through third-party vendors within the jurisdiction. The opt-out applies only to third-party sales — local governments cannot prohibit direct-to-consumer cottage food. A producer planning to wholesale into a grocery in a particular city should check that city's ordinance code (or call the city clerk) before pitching the buyer. Most cities will not opt out, but the few that do can shut down the wholesale path inside their boundaries.

Problem: the old registration form. Solution: the optional ID-number request.

The single piece of GDA paperwork that survived HB 398 is the optional identification-number form. A producer who does not want their home address on a label that is going to sit on a grocery shelf can submit a written request to the GDA cottage food program (email cottagefoodinfo@agr.georgia.gov, phone (404) 656-3627) and receive an ID number that goes on the label in place of the address. The name and telephone number still appear; only the address is replaced.

For producers selling face-to-face at a farmers market and putting their address on a printed price card the buyer never takes home, the privacy concern is minimal. For producers wholesaling into retail or shipping by mail within Georgia, the ID number is structurally useful — a stranger looking at the jar on a grocery shelf cannot trace it back to a specific street address.

Problem: the old "where can I sell" patchwork. Solution: the OCGA 26-2-472 channel list.

HB 398 collapses the prior channel patchwork into one statutory sentence: cottage food production operations may sell "directly to a person, including online and by mail order, or to any food sales establishment." Read against the definitions in OCGA 26-2-470, this authorizes:

  • Direct sales at the producer's residence — pickup or front-yard sales.
  • Farmers markets and farm stands — the traditional cottage food venue, still authorized.
  • Online sales to in-state addresses — explicitly named.
  • Mail-order sales within Georgia — explicitly named.
  • Sales to retail food sales establishments inside Georgia — grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, bakeries, confectioneries, food sales components of larger stores, mobile vendors selling food primarily for off-premises consumption.
  • Sales at fairs and festivals lasting 120 hours or less, sponsored by a political subdivision of the state — these are already exempt from food sales establishment licensing under the parallel revision of OCGA 26-2-21 in HB 398 Section 2.
  • Commercial delivery (UPS, FedEx, courier) of any of the above — OCGA 36-60-33 prohibits local governments from blocking this.

What is not on the list:

  • Interstate sales. OCGA 26-2-477(1) explicitly preserves federal law, including federal interstate-commerce restrictions. A Georgia cottage food operator shipping a jar of jam to a customer in Tennessee is operating outside the cottage food framework and into federal jurisdiction that does not recognize state cottage food exemptions. The Forrager Georgia summary and several other third-party sites incorrectly describe Georgia as authorizing interstate sales — the statute does not, and the GDA FAQ does not. Trust the statute.
  • Distribution through a wholesale distributor. HB 398 contemplates a direct producer-to-retailer relationship. A distributor in the middle changes the legal frame.
  • Hotels and institutional food service. The old GDA FAQ named these as forbidden. HB 398 authorizes sales to "any food sales establishment" and to "retail food sales establishments, including grocery stores and restaurants" — hotels and institutions are not on either definition list (they are food service establishments under OCGA 26-2-370, a separate definition). HB 398 amends 26-2-370 to exclude cottage food operators from that food service establishment regime, but it does not affirmatively authorize sales to food service establishments. Producers considering hotel or institutional sales should treat that channel as gray and confirm with GDA before proceeding.

The food list, as written in OCGA 26-2-470(7)

The statutory list of non-potentially hazardous foods that qualify as cottage food items is more specific than most state cottage food rules. The full list, paraphrased from the statute:

Category Examples Conditions / notes
Non-potentially hazardous baked goods Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits, cakes Cakes "whose fillings require refrigeration or have high moisture content" are excluded — same shelf-stability cutoff as most cottage food states
Jams, jellies, and preserves Strawberry jam, peach preserves, blackberry jelly "Except fruit butters when their commercial sterility may be affected by reduced sugar or pectin levels" — a producer making a low-sugar fruit butter that does not hit standard shelf-stability thresholds is outside the list
Uncut fruits and vegetables Whole apples, whole peaches, whole tomatoes from a home garden Cut produce moves into potentially hazardous territory and is excluded
Dried fruits Sun-dried tomatoes, dehydrated apple chips, raisins Producer-dried fruit is on the list (this distinguishes Georgia from Ohio, where dried fruit used as an ingredient must be commercially dried)
Dry herbs, seasonings, and mixtures Italian seasoning, salt-free herb blends, taco seasoning, BBQ rub Must be fully dry
Cereals, trail mixes, and granola All-grain granola, oat-and-honey bars, fruit-and-nut granola, mixed-grain hot cereal Standard shelf-stable forms
Coated and uncoated nuts Cinnamon-glazed pecans, plain roasted almonds, candied pecans Standard cottage food category
Vinegars and flavored vinegars Apple cider vinegar, herb-infused vinegars Vinegar's acidity makes it shelf-stable
Dill pickles Traditional dill pickles Georgia is among the only states that names pickles directly in statute as a cottage food item. The exception is narrow — dill pickles specifically. Other acidified vegetables (bread-and-butter pickles, pickled okra, pickled onions, salsa, sauerkraut) are not on the list
Confections and fudge Hard candy, fudge, toffee, brittle, taffy, caramels, lollipops Standard category
Dry soup mixes Bean soup mix, dry vegetable soup mix, herbed grain mixes All components must be dry
Roasted coffee beans Whole bean, ground Not green beans (those are a separate trade)
Dry pasta Dried egg noodles, dried herb pastas Standard dry-pasta production
Popcorn, popcorn balls, and cotton candy Plain popcorn, kettle corn, caramel corn, popcorn balls, cotton candy Standard category

What HB 398 explicitly excludes from the cottage food definition itself (OCGA 26-2-470(2)):

  • Alcoholic beverages. All categories. A cottage food producer cannot make wine, beer, distilled spirits, or alcohol-infused jams above trace amounts under this framework.
  • Foods containing cannabis. Includes CBD-infused baked goods, hemp-derived edibles, and any THC products. These are regulated under separate state and federal frameworks.
  • Raw milk. Sale of raw milk for human consumption is prohibited in Georgia under separate dairy law; HB 398 reiterates the exclusion.

What is implicitly excluded as "potentially hazardous" or off the OCGA 26-2-470(7) list:

  • Hot sauce, salsa, salsa verde, BBQ sauce with acid bases, and other acidified sauces. None of these are on the cottage food list. Producers wanting to make these in Georgia need a commercial food processing facility, with FDA acidified-foods scheduled-process review if any of the product moves in interstate commerce.
  • Fermented foods other than dill pickles — sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, fermented hot sauce, lacto-fermented vegetables.
  • Cream-filled, custard-filled, cream-cheese-frosted baked goods — cheesecake, cream pies, eclairs, cream puffs, tres leches cake. These are potentially hazardous because they require refrigeration.
  • Meat, poultry, and fish products — jerky, dried sausages, smoked fish. Regulated under separate meat and poultry processing law.
  • Fresh dairy — cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream. Regulated under dairy processing law.
  • Pet treats and pet food. Regulated under Georgia's commercial feed law, not the cottage food framework. The GDA cottage food page is explicit on this point.
  • Reduced-oxygen-packaged products. Vacuum-sealed, modified-atmosphere-packaged products fall outside the non-potentially-hazardous definition.

The label requirement, as written in OCGA 26-2-473

HB 398 rewrote the cottage food label rule entirely. The new requirement is shorter and more specific than the old GDA rule, and the disclaimer wording is statutory — it may not be paraphrased.

The required elements as of HB 398, drawn verbatim from OCGA 26-2-473(a):

Element Specification
Business name Legal name of the cottage food operator or the cottage food production operation.
Address or GDA-issued ID number Physical residential address where the food was produced, OR an identification number provided by GDA upon written request (in lieu of address). Either is sufficient; both are not required.
Telephone number Telephone number of the cottage food operator. The statute lists this alongside the address — both are required (unlike address, the phone number does not have an opt-out).
Statutory disclaimer The exact text: "This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens." in at least 10-point font.
Placement On a label affixed to the package (if packaged); on a label affixed to the container (if sold from a bulk container); on a placard at the point of sale (if neither packaged nor bulk-container); on the webpage (if sold on the internet).
Phone or custom orders The seller may disclose the required information verbally instead of displaying a label, but must have the information readily available and provide it on request.

What the statute does not require explicitly:

  • Ingredient list. OCGA 26-2-473 does not name an ingredient list among the required label elements. The pre-HB-398 GDA rule required one. Best practice — and federal labeling rules under 21 CFR Part 101 for foods that bear nutritional claims — still apply. A producer wholesaling to a grocery store will almost certainly be asked for an ingredient list by the retailer regardless of state law. Keep the ingredient list on the label.
  • Net weight or volume. Same situation. The statute is silent; the federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act applies regardless to packaged foods sold by weight or volume. Keep net weight on the label.
  • Allergen statement. The statute requires a generic "may contain allergens" disclaimer but does not require a "Contains: wheat, eggs, milk" allergen statement. Federal FALCPA and the FASTER Act (which added sesame as the ninth major allergen effective January 1, 2023) still apply to foods sold in commerce. Include a "Contains:" allergen statement.

Pro tip — design the label once with all of the above included. The statutory minimum is name + (address OR ID number) + phone + disclaimer in 10-point type. The practical minimum a grocery store buyer will accept is the statutory minimum plus ingredient list in descending order by weight, plus "Contains:" allergen statement, plus net weight in U.S. customary and metric units. Build the template once with everything; reuse it for every product.

What HB 398 did not change

A handful of compliance surfaces continue to operate independently of HB 398, and producers who only read the headline ("no more license, wholesale now allowed") sometimes miss them.

Interstate commerce remains federal. OCGA 26-2-477(1) preserves all federal law, including FDA jurisdiction over interstate food shipments. A Georgia cottage food operator shipping a jar of jam from Atlanta to a customer in Florida is not protected by the cottage food framework on either side of the state line. The Forrager Georgia entry and several other third-party state-law summaries currently describe Georgia as authorizing interstate sales — that is incorrect under the statute as written. If a producer wants to sell across state lines, the path is upgrading to a commercial food processing facility that complies with FDA Food Facility Registration under 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart H.

The potentially hazardous foods exclusion is unchanged. Hot sauce, salsa, fermented foods (except dill pickles), refrigerated baked goods, meat, dairy, fresh juice, garlic in oil, and home-canned low-acid vegetables remain off the cottage food list. Producers wanting to make any of these in Georgia need a commercial food processing facility license under separate provisions of OCGA Title 26.

Sales tax obligations continue. Cottage food is a food-safety exemption, not a tax exemption. Georgia generally exempts food for off-premises consumption from state sales tax (see Georgia Department of Revenue Sales Tax guidance), but local option sales taxes can apply, and prepared food (a baked good served at a fair with a fork) is treated differently from packaged food. A producer wholesaling to a grocery store still owes Georgia Sales and Use Tax Number registration once revenue crosses the threshold, and a producer selling at fairs and festivals owes Georgia DOR special event sales tax filings.

Federal income tax obligations continue. The producer still files a Schedule C (or partnership or corporate return), tracks expenses and inventory, depreciates equipment, and reports income at the federal and state level. Georgia's lack of a cottage food revenue cap does not change federal income tax thresholds.

Local business licensing and zoning continue. HB 398's preemption at OCGA 36-60-33 prohibits local governments from regulating cottage food items, but it explicitly preserves local authority over general business licensing and zoning. A producer in a strict-zoning suburb or a homeowners-association neighborhood may face local restrictions on home-based food businesses that the state statute cannot overrule. The first phone call before scaling production is the city or county zoning office.

Federal allergen labeling continues. FALCPA's nine major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame, the latter added by the FASTER Act effective January 1, 2023) apply regardless of state cottage food rules. Include a "Contains:" statement.

Common mistakes Georgia cottage food sellers make after HB 398

Patterns repeat across producers in the first twelve months under the new framework. The most common gaps, roughly in order of frequency:

  1. Reading the old GDA FAQ at agr.georgia.gov/cottage-food-faq as current. Much of that page predates HB 398 and still describes the prior direct-only, licensed, inspected regime. As of mid-2026 GDA has updated the main cottage food page to reflect HB 398, but several sub-pages and downloadable PDFs are still in the prior text. Trust OCGA 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 and the HB 398 FAQ document over older agency text.
  2. Believing third-party state-law summaries that describe Georgia as authorizing interstate sales. This is incorrect under the statute. OCGA 26-2-477(1) preserves federal interstate-commerce law and the cottage food framework does not stretch across state lines. Limit sales to Georgia addresses unless operating under a separate commercial food processing license with FDA Food Facility Registration.
  3. Paraphrasing the statutory label disclaimer. OCGA 26-2-473(a)(2) requires the exact text "This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens." in at least 10-point font. "Produced in a private home that does not have state inspection" is a paraphrase and is not compliant. Print the words as written.
  4. Pitching a grocery store wholesale relationship without preparing the third-party signage. OCGA 26-2-473(d) requires the retailer to display cottage food in a separate, conspicuously labeled section. Producers who arrive with a one-page printable sign already designed make the buyer's job easier and the contract faster. Retailers who refuse to set up the separate section cannot legally sell the product under HB 398.
  5. Forgetting to check the local third-party opt-out before pitching a retailer. OCGA 26-2-478 permits counties and municipalities to prohibit third-party cottage food sales within their jurisdictions. Most have not opted out, but a producer pitching into a city that has should expect the buyer to know and decline. Five minutes with the city clerk's office or the municipal code resolves it.
  6. Treating "any food sales establishment" as including hotels and institutional food service. HB 398 amends OCGA 26-2-370 (food service establishments) to exclude cottage food operators from that regime, but does not affirmatively authorize sales to food service establishments. Hotels, hospitals, schools, and corporate cafeterias sit in food-service-establishment territory and the wholesale authorization in OCGA 26-2-472 names only retail food sales establishments (grocery stores, restaurants, similar stores). Producers considering these channels should confirm with GDA before proceeding.
  7. Making salsa, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, or any acidified product other than dill pickles. OCGA 26-2-470(7) names dill pickles by statute but does not extend to other acidified or pickled vegetables. A producer wanting to make salsa or hot sauce in Georgia needs a licensed commercial food processing facility, with FDA acidified-foods scheduled process review if the product moves in interstate commerce. The hot sauce compliance deep dive covers what the upgraded license actually requires.
  8. Putting the home street address on a label that goes on a grocery shelf or into a shipping carton. This is the statutory default, but OCGA 26-2-473(a)(1)(B) authorizes a GDA-issued identification number in lieu of the address. Submit the identification number request form and use the number on labels destined for retail or mail-order.
  9. Treating the cottage food exemption as a sales-tax exemption. Cottage food is a food-safety carve-out, not a tax classification. Georgia generally exempts grocery food from state sales tax, but local options apply, prepared food (a baked good with a fork at a fair) is treated differently, and wholesale sales have separate filing obligations. Register with Georgia DOR before the first taxable sale.
  10. Skipping food safety training because HB 398 doesn't mention it. Correct — the statute is silent on the topic, and the pre-HB-398 GDA rule requiring an ANSI-accredited food handler course was part of the now-eliminated registration. But the rule is still on the books at 40-7-19 and GDA has signaled it will amend the rule. A two-hour, ≈$10 ANSI-accredited course is cheap insurance regardless of the final regulatory text, and any grocery store buyer is likely to ask whether the producer has it.

A simple records system that satisfies an HB 398 complaint inspection

GDA inspection authority under HB 398 is reactive — OCGA 26-2-476 authorizes inspection of the cottage food operator's residence only "to investigate a consumer complaint, a report of foodborne illness, or other public health emergency." The inspection is "limited to the areas of the residence used by the cottage food operator," is scheduled in advance "except in emergency situations," and the operator "may request an administrative warrant prior to an inspection."

In other words, GDA does not show up at the door for routine cottage food checks. When it does show up, it does so to investigate a specific complaint, with notice. A producer with a few minimal records ready can answer almost every question a complaint investigation will raise in fifteen minutes.

File Contents Retention
Label master file One sample of every active and historical label version, dated for the run period At least 3 years past last sale
Recipe master file Current recipe for each product, with ingredient sources noted Indefinitely; update on revisions
Ingredient sourcing records Supplier name, purchase date, lot number where available (especially for allergen-flagged ingredients) At least 2 years past shelf life
Sales log by channel Direct, farmers market, online, in-state mail, wholesale to retailers — separated for tax purposes At least 3 years (matches Georgia DOR recordkeeping)
Wholesale account file Buyer contact, terms, COI on file with each retailer, label approvals, invoices, third-party display signage Indefinitely while the account is active
Local third-party opt-out check One-line note per city or county you wholesale into, confirming no opt-out ordinance is in effect Annual review
Sales tax filings Georgia DOR filings and confirmations 3 years
Customer complaints Date, customer, product, complaint, resolution — if any Indefinitely
Food handler certificate Current ANSI-accredited certificate, if obtained Until next renewal

A spreadsheet handles most of this. The wholesale account file is where it starts to compound — once a producer is supplying three or four grocery stores, each buyer wants its own label approvals, lot numbers, ingredient documentation, and Certificate of Insurance, and reconstructing that from email threads becomes the bottleneck on growth. Recipe → batch → finished item label → sales channel → customer is the chain a complaint inspection or a wholesale buyer can ask about, and a connected record beats a stack of folders.

This is where Ardent Seller fits for Georgia cottage food sellers after HB 398: ingredient lots flow into recipes, recipes into finished items with the right HB 398 disclaimer wording on every label, finished items into sales separated by direct, farmers market, online, in-state mail, and wholesale channels. Recipe and label tools are in the free tier; wholesale account tracking, per-channel reconciliation, and multi-channel sync sit on the paid plans. See features or pricing to see what the chain looks like end-to-end.

When to leave cottage food (and where to go)

Georgia's lack of a revenue cap means the trigger to leave is not a dollar number. The trigger is the product, the channel, or the geography:

  • The product is off the list. A producer wants to make hot sauce, salsa, kombucha, jerky, cheesecake, or anything refrigerated. HB 398 does not extend. The next license up is a commercial food processing establishment license under separate provisions of OCGA Title 26, with FDA acidified-foods scheduled process review if applicable.
  • The channel is off the list. A wholesale buyer requires interstate shipping. A regional distributor wants the product in three states. A specialty grocery chain wants the product on shelves in Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina. HB 398's in-state restriction stops applying — the producer needs a commercial production environment with FDA Food Facility Registration.
  • The kitchen capacity fails. Demand outruns what one residential kitchen can produce. A residential setup that runs four production days a week is near its ceiling; sustained six-day production is past it.
  • The local third-party opt-out blocks the planned channel. A city has opted out of third-party cottage food sales under OCGA 26-2-478 and the producer's wholesale plan was anchored on grocery stores in that city. The producer either changes the channel (direct-to-consumer sales remain authorized) or moves production into a commercial facility outside the opt-out jurisdiction.

The transition path in Georgia is well-trodden. The producer leases a commissary kitchen (Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, and Athens all have shared-use kitchen operators), applies for the appropriate GDA license, updates labels to remove the cottage food disclaimer and add the new licensed-facility identifier, layers in FDA facility registration where applicable, and continues to ship the same products under a different production environment.

Producers who manage this transition cleanly tend to be the ones whose cottage food records were already in shape — they know cost per unit, batch yields, per-channel revenue, and allergen profile before the move. The transition becomes a paperwork exercise instead of a discovery exercise.

Primary sources to bookmark

Verify any state-specific fact, label requirement, or wholesale rule against the statute or the GDA's current page before relying on it for a business decision. The third-party cottage food summary sites are slow to update, and several still describe the pre-HB-398 regime.

Where the new framework actually leaves the producer

HB 398 is the most consequential cottage food law change in any Southeastern state in the past five years. It eliminated a $100 license, eliminated a pre-operational inspection, eliminated a registration form, opened a wholesale path to grocery stores and restaurants that did not exist twelve months ago, added an address-privacy option directly into the statute, and preempted local cottage food regulation except for one narrow opt-out. A producer who reads the statute, builds a compliant label with the verbatim disclaimer, stays inside the OCGA 26-2-470(7) food list, and keeps a simple set of per-channel records is operating under one of the lightest-touch cottage food regimes in the country.

The catches sit in three places. Federal interstate-commerce law is still in effect, regardless of what some third-party summaries say — out-of-state shipping is not authorized. The pre-HB-398 administrative rule at 40-7-19 is still on the books while GDA works through amendments, so a few sub-requirements (food handler training, the older registration form, some specific inspection-era language) are in regulatory transition until the amended rule lands. And the local third-party opt-out at OCGA 26-2-478 means a producer pitching grocery wholesale should always check the target city's ordinance code before paying for a sales meeting.

The short version, again. No license. No fee. No cap. No inspection unless someone complains. Direct sales, online, in-state mail, wholesale to grocery stores and restaurants — all on the table inside Georgia. Federal law still applies on interstate shipping. Hot sauce and salsa still need a commercial license. Read OCGA 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 before you trust anything else.

Start your Georgia cottage food operation with Ardent Seller free and keep recipes, ingredient sources, batch records, label artwork with the HB 398 disclaimer in place, and per-channel sales — direct, farmers market, online, in-state mail, wholesale-to-grocer, wholesale-to-restaurant — in one connected place. The license is gone; the records the buyer asks for are not.

  • Georgia cottage food law — quick reference — The structured one-page summary of the post-HB-398 framework, allowed food list, label rule, wholesale path, and local opt-out covered in this guide. Useful as a take-with-you card while you set up.
  • Ohio Cottage Food Law — The closest peer to Georgia after HB 398 — no license, no cap, wholesale to retailers, in-state-only. Useful contrast on the food list (Ohio is stricter on dried fruit) and the venue list (Ohio excludes craft fairs).
  • Pennsylvania Cottage Food Law — Pennsylvania matches Georgia on wholesale and goes further on acidified foods, but charges a $35 fee and requires annual inspection. Useful for producers considering relocation or comparing regulatory cost.
  • Texas Cottage Food Law — The $150,000 cap and a food handler course as the only state contact; another light-touch high-ceiling regime.
  • Hot Sauce Compliance, pH Testing, and Acidified Foods — The deep dive on FDA acidified-foods rules, for Georgia producers who hit the cottage food acidified-foods wall (everything but dill pickles) and need to know what the upgraded license actually requires.
  • Cottage Baker's Glossary — A 32-term glossary covering scheduled process, water activity, food handler, allergen statement, approved source, and the rest of the vocabulary that shows up around cottage food rules.

Free resources

A few free downloads from the Ardent Workshop library that pair well with this post:

  • Cottage Food Laws by State: The 50-State + DC Quick Reference — A reference with revenue caps, sales venues, registration rules, and the most common restrictions for every state — refreshed to reflect HB 398. Use it to see how Georgia's new no-license, no-cap, wholesale-OK framework stacks against neighboring states like Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina when planning expansion.
  • Cottage Food Revenue Cap Tracker — A spreadsheet for tracking monthly cottage food revenue against your state's cap. Georgia has no cap, but the same sheet works for producers planning to expand into capped states or comparing actual revenue against the no-cap-state alternative.
  • Home Baker's Order & Delivery Tracker — A spreadsheet for tracking custom orders, delivery windows, and per-channel revenue — especially useful in Georgia, where direct, farmers market, online, in-state mail, wholesale-to-grocer, and wholesale-to-restaurant are all newly open and need to be separated for tax and audit purposes.

Sources & methodology

Georgia statute, regulation, and agency guidance:

Comparison-state references:

Federal:

Note on data freshness: This guide reflects HB 398 as enacted (effective July 1, 2025) and GDA guidance as of mid-2026. The Georgia Administrative Code at 40-7-19 is being amended on a rolling basis; verify the current rule text before relying on any specific procedural requirement. Producer scenarios in this guide are illustrative composites, not real businesses. Third-party state-law summary websites — including Forrager, Cottage CMS, Cakery, Peppery, VibeKitchen, and StandScout — were consulted as cross-references but, where they conflict with the statute, the statute controls. Several of those sources currently describe Georgia as permitting interstate sales; that is incorrect under OCGA 26-2-477(1) as written.

This article is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, food-safety, or tax advice. Georgia cottage food law and the HB 398 framework — food categories, label rules, wholesale-to-retailer rules, in-state-only sales rules, the local third-party opt-out, sales tax treatment, and federal interstate-commerce rules — vary by jurisdiction and product and change with new legislation or departmental guidance. Consult the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the Georgia Department of Revenue, your municipal zoning office, a qualified food regulatory consultant, or an attorney before making compliance, financial, or production decisions based on this content.

Frequently asked questions

No. HB 398, signed by Governor Brian Kemp on May 13, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025, eliminated the prior Georgia Department of Agriculture cottage food license and its $100 annual fee. There is no longer any state license, registration, application form, or pre-operational inspection required to operate as a cottage food operator in Georgia. The Georgia Department of Agriculture still investigates consumer complaints, reports of foodborne illness, and public health emergencies, but it no longer issues cottage food licenses. Old GDA guidance pages and many third-party cottage food websites still describe the pre-HB-398 license requirement — those are out of date and the statute controls.

No. Georgia has no statutory revenue cap on cottage food sales under the new Article 19 of OCGA Chapter 26-2. A producer can sell $5,000 or $200,000 a year of cottage food and the framework does not change. Georgia is in a small group of states (alongside Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) where there is no "you are under this dollar number" tier — the constraints that replace the cap are the food list, the label rule, the in-state-only restriction, and any local-government third-party opt-out ordinance under OCGA 26-2-478.

Yes. This is the single biggest change HB 398 made. Under the prior rule, Georgia cottage food was direct-to-consumer only and explicitly prohibited wholesale, hotel, restaurant, or institutional sales. Under HB 398 (OCGA 26-2-472), cottage food production operations may sell to retail food sales establishments including grocery stores and restaurants, and HB 398 broadened the term "seller" in OCGA 26-2-470 to include third-party vendors. The retailer must display cottage food items in a separate section or display case, conspicuously labeled as containing cottage food items that are exempt from state inspection (OCGA 26-2-473(d)).

No. HB 398 (OCGA 26-2-477) explicitly preserves federal law, including federal restrictions on the sale of food items in interstate commerce. Online and mail-order sales within Georgia are authorized under OCGA 26-2-472, but the moment a package crosses a state line, federal jurisdiction applies and the cottage food exemption does not extend to it. A producer who wants to ship out of state has to either operate from a licensed commercial production environment or limit sales to Georgia addresses. Several third-party state law summaries incorrectly describe Georgia as authorizing interstate sales — the statute does not.

Mostly no — with one specific exception. HB 398 (OCGA 26-2-470(7)) lists the non-potentially hazardous foods that qualify as cottage food items. The list explicitly includes dill pickles, which is unusual among cottage food states. It does not include hot sauce, salsa, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut or kimchi, or kombucha. Those products are potentially hazardous or acidified foods and require a licensed commercial food processing facility, plus FDA acidified-foods scheduled process review if the product moves in interstate commerce.

OCGA 26-2-473(a) requires every cottage food product to display the business name, address, and telephone number of the cottage food operator OR, in lieu of the address, an identification number issued by the Georgia Department of Agriculture upon written request, plus the following statement in at least 10-point font: "This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens." The disclaimer wording is statutory and may not be paraphrased. The information must appear on the package, on the bulk container, on a placard at the point of sale for unpackaged items, or on the webpage for internet sales. For phone or custom orders, the seller may disclose the information verbally instead.

Mostly no. New OCGA 36-60-33, added by HB 398, prohibits counties and municipalities from regulating cottage food items except through a single specific opt-out. Under OCGA 26-2-478, a county or municipality may, after holding a public hearing 15 to 45 days after publishing notice in a local newspaper, adopt an ordinance prohibiting cottage food operators from selling through third-party vendors (grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores) within its jurisdiction. The opt-out applies only to third-party sales, not to direct sales. Local governments also retain their general authority over business licensing, zoning, and commercial delivery is explicitly protected — OCGA 36-60-33 prohibits local governments from blocking commercial delivery companies from delivering cottage food items.

The statute does not require it; the GDA rules in flux as of mid-2026 do. HB 398 itself contains no food safety training requirement — the bill text in OCGA 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 is silent on the topic. The pre-HB-398 administrative rule at Georgia Administrative Code Chapter 40-7-19 required an ANSI-accredited food handler course as part of the now-eliminated license. The Georgia Department of Agriculture has stated it will propose amended rules to implement HB 398, including by repealing portions of 40-7-19 inconsistent with the new statute. As of mid-2026, GDA continues to recommend food handler training (a typical ANSI-accredited course runs about $10 and takes two hours) — but the legal force of that recommendation is in transition. Watch GDA Legal Notices for the final amended rule.