Minnesota cottage food law for home bakers

The short version

Minnesota registers her every year with the Department of Agriculture, caps total sales at seventy-eight thousand dollars a year, and charges fifty dollars for that registration once she clears a small sales floor, waiving the fee below it.

She can take orders online and sell at her home, a farmers' market or a community event, but she has to hand the food over herself. Mailing or a commercial courier is not allowed for human food yet, and a 2025 law only opens that door, within Minnesota, starting August 1, 2027.

Registering

The rule is administered by Minnesota Department of Agriculture; the guide reads Minn. Stat. § 28A.152 (Cottage Foods Exemption, first enacted with an $18,000 cap by 1Sp2015 c 4 art 2 s 53, effective 2015-08-01 under the default effective-date rule in Minn. Stat. § 645.02 applied to the act's June 13, 2015 signing; cap raised to $78,000 by 2021 c 28 s 8, effective 2021-08-01 under the same default rule applied to the act's May 25, 2021 signing; further amendments enacted 2025 c 34 art 5 ss 14-19, effective 2027-08-01).

She registers with the commissioner every year, and the registration counts as accepted 30 days after she files a complete one. Below seven thousand six hundred sixty-five dollars in yearly sales there is no fee and she takes a free online course instead; above that line the fee is fifty dollars and she needs the longer safe food handling course, good for three years.

Where you can sell, and whether online counts

Sales happen at her home, a farmers' market or a community event, and she can also take orders on a website as long as she personally delivers the food to the buyer. Mailing it or using a commercial delivery service is off the table today for human cottage food, even though Minnesota already lets a cottage pet treat producer ship that way.

What goes on the label

Every package needs her name and registration number or her address, the date she made it, the ingredients and allergens, and the homemade-and-uninspected statement above. That same sentence has to also show up at her sales table and on any web page where she takes orders.

"These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection."

• Her name and registration number, or her address
• The date the food was prepared
• The ingredients and any possible allergens
• The statement above, also displayed at the point of sale and on any website that sells the food

What you can bake and sell

Non-potentially hazardous foods and a narrow list of home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruit qualify. Meat, most dairy on its own, tamales, egg rolls and chocolate-covered fruit are named exceptions that need a real food license instead.

• Allowed: Non-potentially hazardous food, plus home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruit with a pH of 4.6 or lower or a water activity of .85 or less
• Not allowed: Meat and dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, butter and ghee (though dairy used as a baking ingredient is fine), tamales, egg rolls, chocolate-covered fruit, and anything else needing time or temperature control for safety

The sales cap

Minnesota caps cottage food sales at $78,000 a year, counted as Total gross receipts for everything she sells under the exemption in a calendar year, not counted per product.

Work out how much room you have left this year with the cottage food sales cap checker.

What changed

August 1, 2015: The Cottage Foods Exemption was created (1Sp2015 c 4 art 2 s 53) with an eighteen thousand dollar cap, a fifty dollar registration fee waived under five thousand dollars in sales, and a safe food handling course requirement.

August 1, 2021: The cap rose from eighteen thousand to seventy-eight thousand dollars a year, and the commissioner was told to index the fee-exemption threshold to inflation starting from a five thousand dollar base figure.

August 1, 2027: The registration fee falls to thirty dollars for everyone and the income-based fee exemption disappears, human cottage food gains the right to ship within Minnesota by mail or commercial delivery, and who may qualify narrows to an individual, a sole proprietorship, or a one- or two-member LLC sharing one residence.

Questions people ask

Do I need to register to sell cottage food in Minnesota?

Yes, Minnesota requires registration before the first sale. Register annually with the commissioner; the registration is deemed accepted 30 days after a complete submission, expires every March 31, and must be renewed by April 1 to keep selling. The fee is $50. Fifty dollars a year once her calendar-year sales pass seven thousand six hundred sixty-five dollars, the commissioner's current inflation-adjusted line; at or under that figure she owes nothing.

Has the cottage food sales cap in Minnesota changed over time?

$78,000 a year from August 1, 2021, up from $18,000 on August 1, 2015, counted as Total gross receipts for everything she sells under the exemption in a calendar year, not counted per product.

Can I take orders online in Minnesota?

Yes, you can take orders online. The handover has to happen in person.

Can I deliver or ship cottage food in Minnesota?

Delivery is not allowed. Shipping inside the state is not allowed.

What does my Minnesota cottage food label need to say?

The label must say: These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.

Sources

• Minn. Stat. § 28A.152, Cottage foods exemptionrevisor.mn.gov
• Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Cottage Food Law Guidancemda.state.mn.us
• Laws of Minnesota 1st Special Session 2015, chapter 4, article 2, section 53 (original enactment, $18,000 cap)revisor.mn.gov
• Laws of Minnesota 2021, chapter 28, sections 8-10 (cap raised to $78,000, registration rewrite)revisor.mn.gov
• Laws of Minnesota 2025, chapter 34, article 5, sections 14-19 (2027 amendments)revisor.mn.gov
• Minn. Stat. § 645.02, effective date and time of lawsrevisor.mn.gov