Michigan Cottage Food Law

Optional registration with the MSU Product Center for Food and Agriculture Business Development at Michigan State University. Producers receive an identification number that may be used on cottage food labels in lieu of their residential address. The Product Center holds the actual address; the label displays the Product Center identifier instead. Free registration. Not a license — it does not authorize anything additional under MCL 289.4102. Useful for producers selling through farmers markets in dense areas or shipping to in-state online customers who do not want a residential address printed on labels.

Public Act 376 of 2024 indexed both the $50,000 standard cap and the $75,000 per-unit-price bonus cap to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The first adjustment is scheduled for October 2026, with annual adjustments thereafter. MDARD publishes the adjusted cap figures each October for the following twelve months. The $250 per-unit threshold for the bonus tier is NOT indexed and remains a flat statutory figure. Producers brushing either cap should check the MDARD program page in October each year for the adjusted figure before booking the remainder of the calendar year against the prior year's number.

PA 376 of 2024 explicitly authorized cottage food sales delivered through third-party food delivery platforms (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Instacart, courier services, and similar). The producer remains the regulated seller responsible for cap compliance, labeling, and food safety; the platform is the delivery mechanism, not the regulated seller. Michigan is one of the first cottage food states to address third-party delivery in its statute — most states' cottage food rules are silent on platforms, leaving producers in a gray zone. The PA 376 authorization removes that ambiguity for Michigan producers.

What is the revenue cap on Michigan cottage food sales?

Two caps, not one. Under the Michigan Food Law of 2000 as amended by Public Act 376 of 2024, the standard cottage food revenue cap is $50,000 in gross annual sales of cottage food products. A separate $75,000 cap applies to cottage food items priced at $250 or more per unit — the structure was added specifically to give custom-cake decorators, large catering platters, and other high-per-unit bakers more revenue headroom than someone selling $5 cookies. A producer who sells both can use both caps in the same year, but the math is two separate buckets: cookies under $250 each count toward the $50K bucket, items at $250+ count toward the $75K bucket. Public Act 376 also indexed both caps to inflation, with the first adjustment scheduled for October 2026.

How does the $250 per-unit custom-cake bonus actually work?

The Michigan statute, as amended by PA 376 of 2024, separates cottage food sales into two unit-price tiers. Items priced at less than $250 each count against the $50,000 standard cap. Items priced at $250 or more per unit count against a separate $75,000 cap. The $250 threshold is per individual sale unit — a single five-tier wedding cake at $450 is one $450 item, not nine $50 servings. A custom decorated birthday cake priced at $180 is below the threshold and counts against the standard cap; a $320 wedding cake is above the threshold and counts against the bonus cap. A producer whose entire book of work is wedding cakes at $400+ each can do $75,000 a year of cottage food sales without any state license. A producer with a mixed book has to track which sales count where.

Do I need to register with the State of Michigan to sell cottage food?

No. Michigan does not require state registration, a permit, an application, a fee, a kitchen inspection, or a food handler course to operate as a cottage food operation. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) administers the framework but does not issue cottage food licenses. The only optional state-adjacent registration is with the MSU Product Center, which issues an identification number that producers may use on labels in place of their home address. This is purely an address-privacy convenience — it does not authorize anything that is not already authorized, and producers who do not mind their home address appearing on labels do not need it.

Can I sell Michigan cottage food online or ship to other states?

Yes to online, no to interstate. Michigan cottage food operations may sell directly to consumers in person, at farmers markets, online, by in-state mail, and through third-party delivery (food delivery platforms, courier services) — the third-party delivery channel was specifically added by Public Act 376 of 2024. Online and mail sales must be delivered to a Michigan address. Shipping a box of cookies from Grand Rapids to a customer in Toledo crosses a state line and moves the sale into federal FDA jurisdiction, which does not recognize state cottage food exemptions. Producers who want to ship out of state need to upgrade to a fully licensed food processing facility, with FDA Food Facility Registration on top.

Can I make hot sauce, salsa, pickles, or fermented foods under Michigan cottage food?

No. The Michigan cottage food framework excludes acidified foods (hot sauce, salsa, pickled vegetables, BBQ sauce), low-acid canned foods (canned vegetables, soups, broths), fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha), and all potentially hazardous foods (cream-filled or custard-filled baked goods, cheesecakes, meat and poultry products, fresh dairy products). These categories require either a Michigan-licensed food processing establishment — administered by MDARD under separate provisions of the Michigan Food Law of 2000 — or for acidified foods specifically, an FDA scheduled-process review on top if the product moves in interstate commerce. The line is the same one drawn in most cottage food states; what is unusual about Michigan is what the cap looks like on the products that do qualify, not what qualifies.

What goes on a Michigan cottage food label?

Six elements. The name of the cottage food operation. The address where the food was produced — or the MSU Product Center identification number, if the producer has registered for one and prefers not to display a residential address. The product name and a complete ingredient list in descending order by weight, with sub-ingredients in parentheses for compound ingredients. The net weight or volume. A "Contains:" allergen statement covering any of the nine major allergens recognized under federal FALCPA and the FASTER Act (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame). And the statutory disclaimer in at least 11-point type: "Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development." The disclaimer wording is set by MDARD and may not be paraphrased.

What did Public Act 376 of 2024 actually change?

Three substantive changes plus one structural one. First, the gross sales cap on cottage food products was raised from the prior $25,000 figure to $50,000. Second, a separate $75,000 cap was created for cottage food items priced at $250 or more per unit — the unique custom-cake provision that distinguishes Michigan from every other cottage food state. Third, the sales channel list was broadened to explicitly include third-party delivery (delivery platforms and courier services), which the prior framework did not address. The structural change: both caps are now indexed to inflation, with the first adjustment scheduled for October 2026 and annual adjustments thereafter, so the $50K and $75K numbers will drift upward over time without further legislative action.

How is the $250-per-unit threshold counted — by retail price, by ingredient cost, or by something else?

By the price actually paid by the customer for the unit. The $250 threshold is a sale-price threshold, not a cost threshold, not a wholesale-price threshold, and not a per-serving threshold. A five-tier wedding cake that costs the baker $85 in ingredients and sells for $450 is a $450 unit that counts against the $75,000 cap. A six-dozen-cookie order that costs $320 in total — with each individual cookie priced at roughly $4.45 — is seventy-two individual $4.45 units, not one $320 unit, and the whole sale counts against the $50,000 standard cap. The tier division is per individual cake, pie, large pastry, or other discrete item sold as one unit to one customer. Producers selling assortments or platters should keep clear records of how each line on the invoice was priced — and if a custom contract sells one item but lists the price per slice, the contract should make explicit that the sale unit is the cake, not the slice.