2026 reference
Missouri Cottage Food Law
Missouri's cottage food law sets no statewide revenue cap and no state permit or registration is required. Direct-to-consumer only. Internet sales are permitted solely when both the operation and the purchaser are in Missouri (RSMo 196.298(5)) — in-state delivery and local pickup are fine, interstate shipping is not. No wholesale, no retail shelves, no restaurants; DHSS routes wholesalers to the Manufactured Food program. Farmers markets are treated as covered in practice, though the statute's phrase "for sale at the individual's home" leads some summaries to say otherwise — confirm with the LPHA covering the market.
Watch for: The cap is gone but the food list is tiny: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs/herb mixes are the ONLY permitted categories. Also excluded are fruit-garnished baked goods, meringue and cream pies, and reduced-sugar or artificially sweetened jams. A SEPARATE Missouri Food Code exemption covers other low-risk foods (fruit butters, sorghum, cracked nuts, packaged spices, dry soup mixes) from an individual stand — but only "where local laws allow," and it adds a point-of-sale placard on top of the label. Stale $50,000-cap references persist even on county health department pages; that cap was repealed Aug. 28, 2022, and the live $50,000 figure now belongs to the separate honey exemption in RSMo 261.241.
Key facts
Read the full Missouri cottage food law guide
Editorial guide with statute citations, special-program details, label requirements, and complete FAQ coverage.
Where you can sell
Direct-to-consumer only. Internet sales are permitted solely when both the operation and the purchaser are in Missouri (RSMo 196.298(5)) — in-state delivery and local pickup are fine, interstate shipping is not. No wholesale, no retail shelves, no restaurants; DHSS routes wholesalers to the Manufactured Food program. Farmers markets are treated as covered in practice, though the statute's phrase "for sale at the individual's home" leads some summaries to say otherwise — confirm with the LPHA covering the market.
- Direct (in-person)
- Farmers markets
- Online (in-state)
- In-state mail
- Online order, in-person pickup
What's required before your first sale
No permit, license, registration, inspection, or state-mandated training. RSMo 196.298(2) exempts the operation from state health and food code law, and 196.298(3)(1) bars local health departments from regulating production — an unusually strong statutory preemption. Complaint records must still be kept by both DHSS and the LPHA (196.298(3)(2)), and 196.298(6) preserves foodborne-outbreak investigation authority. DHSS guidance adds that only the preparer, or a household member with extensive product knowledge, may make the sale.
Allowed and excluded foods
Permitted under cottage food
- Baked goods — statutorily defined as "cookies, cakes, breads, danish, donuts, pastries, pies, and other items that are prepared by baking the item in an oven," excluding any potentially hazardous food
- Canned jams or jellies (standard high-sugar recipes)
- Dried herbs and dried herb mixes
Excluded from cottage food
- Salsa, pickles, and sauces (BBQ, hot sauce) — acidified/low-acid canned foods requiring a process authority and an inspected facility
- Freeze-dried foods (freeze-dried fruits and vegetables require an inspected facility)
- Cut produce, and baked goods garnished with fresh fruit
- Meringue and cream pies, and any refrigeration-dependent baked good
- Reduced-sugar, sugar-free, or artificially sweetened jams and jellies without pH / water-activity testing
- Meats, dairy, eggs, pet foods (Missouri Dept. of Agriculture jurisdiction)
- Sprouts and wild mushrooms
- Any food sold wholesale, to retailers, or to restaurants — wholesaling exits the exemption entirely
Label requirements
- Full name and address of the cottage food production operation
- Common name of the food
- Ingredient list in descending order of predominance by weight
- Net weight of the food
- List of any allergens in the food
- A statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department (RSMo § 196.298 prescribes this required content, not a fixed verbatim sentence — the operator supplies wording that conveys it)
- 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)
- Selling under the separate Missouri Food Code individual-stand exemption instead? The same elements apply PLUS a clearly visible placard at the sales location stating the food was prepared in a kitchen not subject to DHSS inspection.
Generate your Missouri disclosure label in one click
Ardent Seller assembles a print-ready cottage food label for Missouri 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 Missouri requires that's missing before you print. Included on every plan.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license or permit to sell cottage food in Missouri?
No. RSMo 196.298 states that a cottage food production operation "is not a food service establishment and shall not be subject to any health or food code laws or regulations of the state or department other than this section." Subsection 3 goes further and says a local health department "shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation." There is no application, no fee, no registration, no kitchen inspection, and no state-mandated food handler training. DHSS confirms it: "There is no food permit or license for cottage food production operations, but products must meet the labeling requirements listed by law."
Is there a revenue cap on Missouri cottage food sales?
No. Missouri removed its $50,000 annual gross income cap effective August 28, 2022, when HB 1697 took effect. DHSS states it plainly: "There is no longer a limit to how much a cottage food producer can make annually." Be careful with older material — county health department pages and third-party summaries still circulate the $50,000 figure years after repeal. The separate honey exemption under RSMo 261.241 does still carry a $50,000 ceiling, which is one reason the old number keeps resurfacing.
What foods can you sell under Missouri cottage food law?
Three categories, and only three: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or dried herb mixes. DHSS is explicit that the law is not an umbrella permitting any home-produced food: "If the food item does not fall under the list of items that can be sold under the Missouri Cottage Law, it cannot be sold or claimed under the Missouri Cottage Law exemption." Salsa, pickles, sauces, freeze-dried foods, cut produce, baked goods garnished with fresh fruit, meats, dairy, eggs, sprouts, wild mushrooms, and pet foods are all outside it.
Can you sell Missouri cottage food online or ship it?
Only within Missouri. Subsection 5 of RSMo 196.298 says a cottage food production operation "shall not sell any foods described in this section through the internet unless both the cottage food production operation and the purchaser are located in this state." DHSS answers the shipping question directly: "Can I sell my product across state lines? No." In-state delivery and local pickup are fine; a checkout that accepts an out-of-state address is not.
Can you sell Missouri cottage food wholesale to shops or restaurants?
No. The statute limits the operation to selling "only directly to consumers," and DHSS spells out the consequence: "If foods are to be wholesaled, they no longer are exempted by the Missouri Cottage Law." Selling to a grocery store, gift shop, or restaurant for resale moves you into the DHSS Manufactured Food program. An operation doing both direct and wholesale ends up inspected by both the local public health agency and DHSS.
Can you sell cottage food at a Missouri farmers market?
In practice yes, and local agencies say so — Springfield-Greene County lists "Cottage law: anyone in the state of Missouri preparing non-potentially hazardous foods in their home for sale to the end consumer" under who does NOT need a farmers market permit. The wrinkle is textual: the statute defines the operation as producing food "for sale at the individual's home," which at least one widely used cottage food database reads as excluding markets and events. DHSS guidance never states that restriction. Because your local public health agency enforces at the market, confirm with them before booking a booth. Note that sampling is a separate activity — DHSS lists sampling among the things requiring LPHA inspection, and Springfield-Greene County charges $144/year for a Farmers' Market Permit covering samples of potentially hazardous foods.
Sources
- Missouri DHSS — Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance (August 2023)
- Missouri DHSS — Food Safety (Exempted Foods)
- Missouri DHSS — Find Your Local Public Health Agency
- Forrager — cottage food law database
- RSMo § 196.298 (Cottage food production operations)
- RSMo § 261.241 (Sellers of honey — separate exemption, $50,000 ceiling + sales records)
- HB 1697 (2022) — removed the $50,000 cap and authorized in-state internet sales, eff. Aug. 28, 2022
Reference content only — not legal advice. State laws change frequently. Verify against the official source before launching.
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