Colorado Cottage Food Law

HB26-1033, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Gonzalez (R-Greeley), House Majority Leader Monica Duran (D-Wheat Ridge), Sen. Byron Pelton (R), and Sen. Robert Rodriguez (D), passed the Colorado House April 30, 2026, passed the Senate May 12, 2026, was sent to Governor Jared Polis May 18, 2026, and was signed into law shortly after. The Act amends C.R.S. § 25-4-1614 on three axes: (1) revenue cap replaces the prior $10,000-per-product-type net revenue ceiling with a single $150,000-per-producer gross revenue cap indexed annually for inflation by CDPHE; (2) food list adds refrigerated and TCS foods (cheesecakes, quiches, custards, cream-filled pastries, dairy-based desserts) and meat-containing foods (tamales, burritos, tortas, green chile with pork, chiles rellenos) when the meat is sourced from a USDA federally inspected or Colorado state-inspected facility; (3) registration requires every producer to register with CDPHE before selling and receive a registration number. Producers of TCS foods must additionally complete a food safety course covering time-and-temperature-control principles. A Cottage Foods Cash Fund ($300,000 transferred at enactment) supports CDPHE administration. The Act includes a $119,354 appropriation for initial implementation. Local health agencies are authorized to conduct random inspections and impose fines plus inspection-cost recovery. Sunset review is scheduled for September 1, 2028.

Colorado is structurally unusual among Western states in permitting acidified vegetable products at the cottage food tier without a separate process authority filing — pickled vegetables, fermented vegetables, hot sauces, and similar products at a finished pH ≤ 4.6 are authorized under C.R.S. § 25-4-1614 directly. Producers are responsible for their own pH testing and product safety, but no FDA acidified-foods registration under 21 CFR Part 114, Better Process Control School, or scheduled-process filing is required at the cottage food tier. The allowance survived the Tamale Act rewrite intact. Low-acid canned foods (anything with finished pH > 4.6 in a hermetically sealed container — green beans, pumpkin butter, chili in a jar) remain categorically excluded under Colorado law and require a separate licensed-facility framework.

HB26-1033 establishes a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment electronic registry of cottage food producers. Every producer must register before selling and is issued a unique CDPHE registration number. The registration number may serve as an address-privacy substitute on labels, replacing the home address requirement (a feature borrowed from Georgia's HB 398 and Texas's SB 541 frameworks). The registry supports random local-health-agency inspections, corrective-action plans for cited violations, and inspection-cost-recovery enforcement. Implementing regulations are expected from CDPHE during summer 2026; producers should monitor the cdphe.colorado.gov/dehs/cottage-foods page for registration-portal availability.

What is the Colorado Tamale Act (HB26-1033)?

The Colorado Tamale Act is the informal name for HB26-1033, titled "Expanding the Colorado Cottage Foods Act." Sponsored by Rep. Ryan Gonzalez (R-Greeley), House Majority Leader Monica Duran (D-Wheat Ridge), Sen. Byron Pelton (R), and Sen. Robert Rodriguez (D), the bill passed the House April 30, 2026, the Senate May 12, 2026, was sent to Governor Jared Polis May 18, 2026, and was signed into law shortly after. The Act amends C.R.S. § 25-4-1614 — the Colorado Cottage Foods Act — on three axes: it replaces the prior $10,000-per-product-type net revenue cap with a single $150,000 annual gross revenue cap per producer (indexed annually for inflation); admits refrigerated and TCS foods to the allowed list for the first time; and permits homemade foods containing meat or meat products from a federally or state-inspected facility. The Act establishes a CDPHE electronic registry for producers, requires a TCS-specific food safety course for producers of refrigerated/dairy/meat items, and is scheduled for sunset review on September 1, 2028. Effective date: August 12, 2026.

What is the Colorado cottage food revenue cap after the Tamale Act?

After the Tamale Act, the cap is $150,000 per producer per calendar year, measured against gross revenue, and indexed annually for inflation. This replaces the prior structure under C.R.S. § 25-4-1614, which capped a producer at $10,000 of net revenue per product type — a structurally unusual framework that allowed unlimited products in aggregate but capped each individual SKU. Strawberry jam and grape jam were two separate products with two separate $10,000 ceilings. The Tamale Act collapses the per-product framework into a single producer-level cap, raises it fifteenfold, and switches from net to gross. The new $150,000 ceiling puts Colorado roughly in line with Texas (also $150,000 gross) and California Class B ($150,000 gross), and substantially above Michigan, Minnesota, and most of the Midwest.

What foods can I sell under the Colorado Cottage Foods Act after the Tamale Act?

The pre-Tamale allowed list — non-refrigerated baked goods, candies, jams and jellies, honey, dried herbs and spices, nuts and seeds, roasted coffee, freeze-dried produce, dry mixes, popcorn, granola, fruit pies, pickled vegetables at pH ≤ 4.6 (Colorado uniquely permits these at the cottage tier), and up to 250 dozen whole eggs per month — remains intact. The Tamale Act adds three new categories: refrigerated and TCS foods (cheesecakes, quiches, custards, cream-filled pastries, dairy-based desserts); foods containing pasteurized dairy; and meat-containing foods (tamales, burritos, tortas, green chile with pork, chiles rellenos) when the meat is from a USDA federally inspected or Colorado state-inspected facility. Categorically excluded: unpasteurized milk, alcoholic beverages, fish and shellfish products, low-acid canned foods (still excluded — distinguishes Colorado from Tennessee), and meat from uninspected facilities.

Do I need to register with CDPHE under the Tamale Act?

Yes. Before HB26-1033, Colorado cottage food producers had no state registration requirement. The Tamale Act requires every producer to register with CDPHE before selling, and CDPHE issues each producer a unique registration number and maintains an electronic registry. Producers of TCS foods (refrigerated items, items with pasteurized dairy, items with meat) must additionally complete a food safety course that specifically covers time-and-temperature-control principles. The Cottage Foods Cash Fund ($300,000 transferred at enactment) supports CDPHE administration. Local health agencies are authorized to conduct random kitchen inspections and to impose fines plus inspection-cost recovery for violations. The registration framework is the structural counterweight to the food-list expansion.

Can I ship Colorado cottage food across state lines?

No. The Colorado Cottage Foods Act, as amended by the Tamale Act, authorizes sales only within Colorado. Interstate shipping triggers federal jurisdiction under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and FDA does not recognize state cottage food exemptions for products crossing state lines. A Colorado producer who ships a batch of tamales to family in New Mexico has, in the eyes of federal law, manufactured a food product for interstate commerce without a federally registered food facility. The restriction applies to every state cottage food framework in the country. Online sales to Colorado addresses are permitted; online sales to non-Colorado addresses are not.

What goes on a Colorado cottage food label after the Tamale Act?

The pre-Tamale label requirements remain the backbone. A compliant label must include the producer's name; the address where the food was prepared (the CDPHE registration number may serve as an address-privacy substitute); the producer's current telephone number or email; the verbatim statutory disclaimer "This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection. This product may contain common food allergens." (both clauses must appear in the exact statutory wording — paraphrasing is not permitted); the product name; a full ingredient list in descending order by weight; major allergen disclosures under FALCPA + FASTER Act for the nine federally recognized allergens; and net weight or volume. For TCS foods, a temperature-handling notice ("Keep Refrigerated" or equivalent) is standard practice. Producers selling at retail venues where products are sold unpackaged must display the disclaimer on a conspicuous placard at the point of sale.

Can I sell Colorado cottage food to restaurants or grocery stores?

No. The Colorado Cottage Foods Act, both before and after HB26-1033, restricts sales to direct-to-consumer transactions only. Producers may sell from their home, at farmers markets, at events, by online order to Colorado consumers, by in-state mail order, and (where local zoning permits) at roadside stands. Wholesale to retail food sales establishments — grocery stores, convenience stores, gift shops, restaurants — is NOT authorized under the Act. A producer who wants to place an order with a Denver gourmet grocery or a Boulder coffee shop still needs a separate retail food establishment license, a commissary kitchen arrangement, or a wholesale food manufacturing license. The Tamale Act expanded the food list and raised the cap — it did not open the wholesale channel.

How does Colorado after the Tamale Act compare to Arizona and other Western states?

The Tamale Act puts Colorado in the small group of states that authorize TCS foods at the cottage food tier — joining Arizona (HB 2042, 2024), Tennessee (HB 130, 2025), Wyoming, and Utah. The implementations differ. Arizona pairs its TCS authorization with no cap, no inspection, a three-year ANSI handler renewal cycle, and a free CDHHS registry. Tennessee has no cap, no permit, no inspection, no training. Colorado sits between them: a $150,000 cap (higher than most state caps, lower than Arizona's no-cap), mandatory CDPHE registration, a TCS-specific training requirement, and random inspection authority. The wholesale-to-retail restriction also persists in Colorado, where Arizona allows retail wholesale and Tennessee allows it for non-TCS foods. Colorado has joined the food-freedom camp on the food list (TCS, meat, refrigerated all now allowed) but retains a regulated-channel architecture (registration, cap, training, direct-only) that Arizona and Tennessee largely shed.