Illinois Cottage Food Law

Annual registration with the city, county, or multi-county jurisdiction where the producer resides. Fee may not exceed $50. Each local health department uses its own registration form, but the substance is uniform: producer name, residence address, list of products, food safety plans for any acidified or fermented categories, and proof of CFPM certification. Producers in counties without a registration program may register with an adjacent county under PA 103-0903 (2024).

Two pathways under the Home-to-Market Act for pickles, salsa, hot sauce, kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented vegetables, and other acidified products. Pathway A: use a USDA- or extension-tested recipe (no further pH testing required). Pathway B: submit a written food safety plan for the product category plus a laboratory pH test result (pH ≤ 4.6 for safe acidified products). pH tests are required every three years for most categories, annually for canned tomato products outside a USDA-tested recipe. Refrigerated fermented or acidified products must be stored, transported, and sold at or below 41°F; they cannot be shipped.

Does Illinois have a revenue cap on cottage food sales?

No. Public Act 102-0633 (the Home-to-Market Act, effective January 1, 2022, codified at 410 ILCS 625/4) removed the cottage food revenue cap entirely. A registered Illinois cottage food operation can sell $5,000 or $500,000 a year of compliant cottage food items and the regulatory framework does not change. Several third-party state-law summaries and older guidance pages still describe Illinois as having a $36,000 or $50,000 cap — that was the pre-2022 rule. The statute as currently in force has no cap.

Can Illinois cottage food operators sell to grocery stores or restaurants?

No. This is the single biggest misconception about the Illinois rule. 410 ILCS 625/4 requires that cottage food products be sold "directly to consumers for their own consumption and not for resale." Sales to retail food establishments — grocery stores, convenience stores, gift shops, gourmet shops — are prohibited. Sales to restaurants, cafes, hotels, and institutional food service are prohibited. The Illinois Department of Public Health is explicit on this point: cottage food "may not be sold for resale or in retail food establishments." Producers who want to sell wholesale need to upgrade to a licensed commercial food processing facility under separate provisions of the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Can I ship Illinois cottage food to customers in other states?

No. The Home-to-Market Act authorizes in-state mail and parcel shipment of non-perishable cottage food items only — federal interstate-commerce law still controls anything crossing a state line. Even within Illinois, only non-perishable (shelf-stable) products may be shipped: perishables must be sold direct, in person. A producer shipping a jar of jam from Chicago to a customer in Indiana is operating outside the cottage food framework and into FDA jurisdiction that does not recognize state cottage food exemptions.

What does Illinois require to register a cottage food operation?

Three things. First, register with the local health department for the city, county, or multi-county jurisdiction where you reside; the annual registration fee may not exceed $50. Second, hold a current Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) certificate from an ANSI-accredited program — the certificate is valid for five years and a typical course runs about $125 plus a $35 exam fee. Third, if you make acidified or fermented foods (pickles, salsa, hot sauce, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha), submit a written food safety plan annually and a laboratory pH test result for each product category every three years. No state-level permit, no state inspection, no pre-operational kitchen review.

What foods can I make under Illinois cottage food law?

Illinois takes an unusual approach: instead of listing what you can make, the statute lists what you cannot make, and everything else qualifies. The prohibitions include meat and poultry products, seafood, potentially hazardous pies (cream-filled, custard-filled, meat pies), low-acid canned goods that are not acidified or fermented under an approved process, sprouts, cut fresh produce (uncut whole produce is fine), wild-harvested mushrooms, alcoholic beverages, and any product containing kratom, cannabis, or CBD. Dairy and eggs are allowed only as ingredients in non-potentially-hazardous baked goods or frostings — not as standalone products. Within the prohibited list, the Illinois Department of Public Health Cottage Food Guide enumerates the categories explicitly.

Are acidified and fermented foods like pickles, salsa, and hot sauce allowed?

Yes, with a recipe approval pathway most other cottage food states do not have. The Home-to-Market Act authorizes acidified and fermented foods if the producer either (a) submits a recipe that has already been tested by USDA or a U.S. cooperative extension service, or (b) submits a written food safety plan for the product category plus a laboratory pH test result for a representative product from that category. The pH must come in at or below 4.6 to qualify as a safe acidified product. Refrigerated fermented or acidified products must be stored, transported, and sold at or below 41°F throughout. Canned tomato products that do not follow a USDA-tested recipe require annual lab pH testing rather than every-three-year testing. Garlic-in-oil is prohibited except when the oil itself has been acidified to pH ≤ 4.6.

What has to appear on an Illinois cottage food label?

Six elements. The producer name and registration number issued by the local health department. The product name. A complete ingredient list in descending order by predominance. A "Contains:" allergen statement covering the nine major allergens under federal FALCPA and the FASTER Act (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame). The production date or a batch identifier traceable to a production date. And the verbatim disclaimer statement "This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department" in at least 10-point font. The disclaimer wording is statutory and may not be paraphrased.

What did the 2024 amendment (Public Act 103-0903) change?

Three operational tweaks, not a rewrite. Senate Bill 2617 (Public Act 103-0903, effective August 9, 2024) added mobile farmers markets to the list of authorized direct-sale venues, authorized cottage food operators to register with an adjacent-county health department when their home county does not administer a cottage food registration program, and clarified that the CFPM certification is valid for five years rather than three. The 2024 amendment did not change the no-cap rule, the direct-only rule, the prohibited-list approach, or the in-state-only restriction.