Montana cottage food law for home bakers

The short version

Montana's Local Food Choice Act is one of the most hands-off cottage food laws in the country: no license, no permit, no fee, no routine inspection, and no cap on what you sell. The trade is that every sale has to run straight from you to the person eating the food, inside Montana only, and you have to tell that person up front that nothing about the food has been officially checked.

There is no path through a store, a wholesaler, or an out-of-state buyer. A third party can physically hand over the order on your behalf, since the law defines delivery to include an agent acting for you, but the sale itself always has to be between you and the end consumer.

Registering

The rule is administered by No licensing agency; the Department of Livestock reaches only the small-dairy testing rule; the guide reads Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-49-201 through 50-49-203 (Montana Local Food Choice Act), enacted by Ch. 320, L. 2021 (SB 199), signed 2021-04-30, amended by Ch. 347, L. 2023 and Ch. 344, L. 2025.

Nothing to register and no fee. The one recurring paperwork item is for a small dairy, which has to test its milk twice a year and keep two years of records; everyone else just has to follow the selling and labeling rules.

Where you can sell, and whether online counts

A sale has to be direct between you and the person who will eat the food, for consumption at home or at a recognized gathering like a farmers' market or a wedding. Delivery can be handled by you or by someone you designate, at your place, the buyer's, or anywhere you agree on, but the transaction can never run through a store, a wholesaler, or across state lines.

What goes on the label

Montana names no fixed sentence. You have to tell the end consumer, before the sale, that the food has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected under any official regulation; how you deliver that message is left to you

What you can bake and sell

Because Montana's law is not limited to shelf-stable food, more can go on your list than in most cottage food states. Meat is the exception: it stays off unless you qualify for the small-flock poultry exemption, and nothing you make may be sold inside a restaurant or grocery store without that business's own license.

• Allowed: Any food or food product you prepare in your own private home, sold directly to the person who will eat it, including foods that would otherwise need time or temperature control for safety
• Not allowed: Meat or meat products, whether processed at a licensed or federally approved plant, by you, or by anyone else, unless you are a producer who slaughters fewer than 1,000 poultry birds a year under the federal small-flock exemption; and nothing you make may go into a restaurant, grocery store, or other retail food establishment unless it meets that establishment's own full licensing rules

The sales cap

Montana sets no cap on cottage food sales; the Act sets no dollar or volume cap. The date used here is when Governor Gianforte signed SB 199 into law; the enrolled bill's own effective-date section was not independently checked.

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

Questions people ask

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

No, Montana does not require registration. None. No state or local agency may require a license, permit, certification, packaging, labeling, testing, sampling, or inspection step before you sell. A small dairy (no more than 5 lactating cows, 10 lactating goats, or 10 lactating sheep) must test its milk or cream twice a year and test for brucellosis once a year, keeping two years of records. Fee: Not stated. The Act creates no license or permit for a state agency to attach a fee to.

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

No cap from April 30, 2021.

Can I take orders online in Montana?

Yes, you can take orders online. You can hand an order over in person or send it anywhere inside the state.

Can I deliver or ship cottage food in Montana?

Delivery is allowed. The rule does not address shipping inside the state.

What does my Montana cottage food label need to say?

Montana names no fixed sentence. You have to tell the end consumer, before the sale, that the food has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected under any official regulation; how you deliver that message is left to you

Sources

• Mont. Code Ann. § 50-49-201, Short title -- purposemca.legmt.gov
• Mont. Code Ann. § 50-49-202, Definitionsmca.legmt.gov
• Mont. Code Ann. § 50-49-203, Exemptions from regulationsmca.legmt.gov