Alabama Cottage Food Law

Alabama's cottage food law sets no statewide revenue cap and no state permit or registration is required. Direct sales, online, retail placement, and in-state mail order all permitted.

Watch for: Local cities or counties may add their own business license requirements — confirm with your municipality before launching.

Annual revenue cap

No cap

Permit / registration

Not required

Kitchen inspection

Not required

Food handler training

Not required

Acidified foods

Excluded

Interstate shipping

In-state only

Where you can sell

Direct sales, online, retail placement, and in-state mail order all permitted.

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

What's required before your first sale

No state permit required. Standard cottage food labeling rules apply. Food handler training is recommended but not required.

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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