Alabama Cottage Food Law

Alabama's cottage food law sets no statewide revenue cap and producers must register with the state before the first sale. Direct sales, farmers market booths, online orders, and in-state mail order all permitted — but only directly to the final consumer. Retail shelf placement and consignment are prohibited, and permitted food establishments may not sell home-produced food. ADPH defers state-sanctioned farmers markets to the Alabama Farmers Market Authority, so confirm each market's own rules separately.

Watch for: Both the sale and the delivery must stay inside Alabama — the 2021 amendment legalized online sales but not interstate shipping. Fermented and acidified products also need pH verification from a processing authority, not your own meter.

Annual revenue cap

No cap

Permit / registration

Registration required

Kitchen inspection

Not required

Food handler training

Required

Acidified foods

Permitted (pH test)

Interstate shipping

In-state only

Deep dive

Read the full Alabama cottage food law guide

Editorial guide with statute citations, special-program details, label requirements, and complete FAQ coverage.

Where you can sell

Direct sales, farmers market booths, online orders, and in-state mail order all permitted — but only directly to the final consumer. Retail shelf placement and consignment are prohibited, and permitted food establishments may not sell home-produced food. ADPH defers state-sanctioned farmers markets to the Alabama Farmers Market Authority, so confirm each market's own rules separately.

Direct (in-person)
Farmers markets
Online (in-state)
In-state mail

What's required before your first sale

No state permit and no kitchen inspection. An approved food safety course IS required by statute and must be kept current, and you must file a Cottage Food Review Form — with a sample label and your course certificate — with your county health department for review.

Label requirements

Common or usual name of the food
Name and home or P.O. Box address of the cottage food production operation
A statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department (Ala. Admin. Code 420-3-22-.01 prescribes this required content, not a fixed verbatim sentence — the operator supplies wording that conveys it)
Ingredient list in descending order of predominance by weight, including a disclaimer that the food may contain allergens
All required label information must appear in at least 10-point font
Federal allergen labeling under FALCPA + FASTER Act: "Contains:" statement for any of the nine major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame)

How Ardent Seller helps

Generate your Alabama disclosure label in one click

Ardent Seller assembles a print-ready cottage food label for Alabama from data you already track — the state's required disclosure statement rendered verbatim (and sized to meet the state's minimum type size where one applies), your operator info, ingredients in descending order by weight, the federal "Contains:" allergen line, net weight, and lot code. A validation checklist flags anything Alabama requires that's missing before you print. Included on every plan.

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