Missouri cottage food law

In Missouri, a cottage food production operation under RSMo 196.298 can sell a narrow list of home-kitchen foods directly to consumers without a food permit or routine health inspection. The statute is not a general homemade-food law. Products outside baked goods, canned jam or jelly, and dried herbs usually fall under other pathways, often involving your local public health agency.

At a glance

What qualifies as a cottage food production operation

RSMo 196.298 defines a cottage food production operation as an individual operating out of the individual's home who:

1. produces a baked good, a canned jam or jelly, or a dried herb or herb mix for sale at the individual's home, and
2. sells that food only directly to consumers.

Home means a primary residence that contains a kitchen and appliances designed for common residential usage.

Baked good includes cookies, cakes, breads, danish, donuts, pastries, pies and other items prepared by baking in an oven. A baked good does not include a potentially hazardous food item as defined by department rule.

That product list is closed. DHSS guidance is explicit that "cottage law" is not an umbrella term for any homemade food. If the item is not baked goods, canned jam or jelly, or dried herb or herb mix, it is not a Missouri cottage food under 196.298.

What is out

DHSS home-based kitchen guidance lists examples that cannot be sold under the cottage food statute, including:

• potentially hazardous baked goods (for example cream or meringue pies)
• baked goods garnished with fresh fruit
• freeze-dried foods
• salsa, pickles, sauces
• cut produce, sprouts, wild mushrooms
• meats, dairy, eggs
• pet foods

Sugar-free, no-sugar-added and hot-pepper jams or jellies can fall outside cottage food because altered sugar content can change pH or water activity and make the product potentially hazardous.

Permit, registration and inspection

A cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment.

Under RSMo 196.298:

• it is not subject to state health or food-code laws other than this section and rules promulgated for cottage food
• a local health department shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation
• DHSS and local health departments must maintain complaint records
• DHSS and local health departments retain authority to investigate foodborne disease or outbreaks

DHSS guidance confirms there is no food permit or licence for cottage food production operations under this path. Products must still meet labelling requirements.

That local bar applies to cottage food production under the statute. It does not mean every homemade food sold in Missouri is locally unregulated. Once you leave 196.298, local public health agencies become central again.

Where and how you can sell

Direct to consumers only

Cottage food must be sold only directly to consumers. Wholesale to retailers, restaurants or other businesses takes the activity out of 196.298. DHSS directs wholesalers to the Manufactured Food program.

DHSS also says foods produced under the cottage law must be sold by the person who prepared the food, or by a household member with extensive knowledge of the product, so buyers can ask questions.

Sales at the home

The statutory definition ties the operation to producing listed foods for sale at the individual's home. Treat home pickup and home-based direct sales as the core cottage food model.

Internet and shipping

Section 196.298(5) allows internet sales of cottage foods only when both the cottage food production operation and the purchaser are located in Missouri. Cross-border internet sales are not allowed under this section. DHSS guidance restates that cottage food producers may not sell products across state lines under this law.

Farmers markets and other venues

RSMo 196.298 does not name farmers markets, roadside stands or festivals as cottage food venues. Do not assume the cottage food statute automatically authorises off-home venues.

Separately, the Missouri Food Code contains exemptions for some non-potentially hazardous foods sold from individual stands where local codes allow. That is a different pathway from 196.298. Whether a market stand is allowed, and under which exemption, depends on the food and on your local public health agency.

Selling at a market or roadside stand? Find your local public health agency (LPHA) and ask which pathway applies before you treat the venue as covered.

Sales cap

There is no annual gross sales cap in the current RSMo 196.298 cottage food statute. The former US$50,000 cap was removed by the 2022 revision effective 28 August 2022.

Do not confuse that with RSMo 261.241, a separate jam, jelly and honey statute that still uses a US$30,000 annual gross sales limit per domicile and has its own placard and recordkeeping rules.

Labelling

What the statute requires

RSMo 196.298(4) requires DHSS to promulgate labelling rules. The statute requires the label to include:

• the name and address of the cottage food production operation
• a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department

The statute describes the content of that statement. It does not prescribe one fixed sentence as the only lawful wording.

What DHSS guidance adds for cottage food labels

DHSS Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance also expects cottage food labels to be legible and to include:

• full name and address of the cottage food production operation
• common name of the food
• ingredients in descending order by weight
• net weight
• list of any allergens
• a statement that the product is prepared in a kitchen that is not subject to inspection by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

Treat the statute as the mandatory floor. Treat the DHSS list as the fuller practical label set consumers and local agencies expect. Do not treat the DHSS sentence as a statutory verbatim disclaimer unless a later rule expressly locks that wording.

Training

RSMo 196.298 does not require food-handler or cottage food training for a qualifying cottage food production operation. Business licensing, tax registration or market rules outside the food statute may still apply.

Local and county layer

This is the load-bearing Missouri complication.

Inside RSMo 196.298

Local health departments may not regulate cottage food production. That is a statutory pre-emption for qualifying operations.

Outside RSMo 196.298

DHSS explains that Local Public Health Agencies (LPHAs) regulate retail food establishments and may adopt the Missouri Food Code or local ordinances that are equal to or more stringent. If your product is not cottage food, you generally must meet the food-safety rules used by your LPHA. That can mean an approved commercial kitchen and routine inspection.

Find your LPHA: health.mo.gov/local/find-your-local-public-health-agency

Missouri Food Code non-PHF stand exemption

Where local codes allow, the Food Code exemption for certain individual stands selling only qualifying non-potentially hazardous foods is a separate route. DHSS examples of foods that may fall under that exemption (not under cottage law) include fruit butters, sorghum, cracked nuts, packaged spices and dry soup mixes. Sellers must check the local agency. Labels and, for unpackaged individual portions, a visible placard are part of that exemption framework.

Separate jam, jelly and honey statute

RSMo 261.241 is not the cottage food law. It is a domicile manufacturing exemption for jams, jellies and honey with annual sales of US$30,000 or less, direct sale to the end consumer, specific label elements, sales records, and a required placard:

> This product has not been inspected by the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Raw agricultural commodities (not a cottage-food pathway)

This is not an extra cottage-food category under RSMo 196.298.

Whole unprocessed produce, pure honey handled as a raw agricultural commodity, and similar raw items may sit outside food-establishment regulation when sold direct to the end consumer under DHSS guidance. Processing beyond harvest cuts usually changes that analysis. Do not read honey or raw produce as additional cottage foods under §196.298.

Taxes and getting paid

Cottage food status under RSMo 196.298 is a food-safety classification. It does not answer sales tax, business licensing or zoning questions by itself. Confirm tax and business registration with Missouri Department of Revenue and local authorities separately.

If you take orders online for in-state pickup or delivery and want a simple payment flow at a stand or for pre-orders, see how Vendl handles farm-stand checkout and pre-orders.

The Missouri catch

Missouri looks permissive because there is no cottage food permit and no sales cap under RSMo 196.298.

The catch is that the exemption is narrow, and Missouri runs more than one home-food pathway.

Under 196.298 you get a real shield: no state food-code regulation of cottage food production, and local health departments may not regulate that production. Outside those three product categories, that shield falls away. Then the Food Code, your LPHA, DHSS Manufactured Foods, Missouri Department of Agriculture programs, or RSMo 261.241 may apply instead.

People often collapse those systems into one sentence: "Missouri allows homemade food." That sentence hides the decision that actually matters. Is this baked goods, canned jam or jelly, or dried herbs sold direct to consumers under 196.298? Or is it a Food Code / local stand exemption? Or a separate jam and honey statute with a US$30,000 cap? Or a product that needs an inspected kitchen?

Internet sales sharpen the point. Missouri allows online cottage food sales, but only when both seller and buyer are in Missouri. Crossing a state line is not a small extra step. It is outside the cottage food internet rule.

So the organising question in Missouri is not "do I need a cottage food licence?" It is "which Missouri pathway am I actually on, and what does my local public health agency say once I leave 196.298?"

Nearby states

Cottage food rules change at state lines. Missouri borders Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Guides for those states will be linked here when published. Do not treat unrelated state pages as Missouri neighbours.

Sources and verification

This page was checked against primary statute and Missouri DHSS guidance on 24 August 2026.

Primary sources used:

• RSMo 196.298 — Cottage food production operation (effective 28 August 2022)
• RSMo 261.241 — Sellers of jams, jellies, and honey
• Missouri Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance (DHSS, August 2023 revision hosted 2026)
• Missouri Food Code — food establishment definition exemptions
• Local Public Health Agency directory
• DHSS Food Safety — (573) 751-6095, info@health.mo.gov

Rules change. Confirm current requirements with DHSS and your local public health agency before you sell. This page is a practical reference, not legal advice, and does not replace Missouri statutes, the Missouri Food Code or directions from an authorised regulator.

Last verified: 24 August 2026 Next review: 24 February 2027