Where Cottage Food Laws Are Headed: The 2025-2026 Wave and What Comes Next

Published ยท State law changes

In 2025 and 2026, many states rewrote the rules for selling food made at home, and most of the changes made those rules looser. Several states began allowing some foods that need refrigeration. Sales caps went up. Idaho replaced its cottage food rule with a new law, and Indiana added a new type of home food business. New ways to sell, through agents, stores and in-state shipping, opened up. Not every bill passed, and some that did were cut back on the way. This guide walks through what changed, with links to the official text, and then offers a clearly labeled outlook for the next few years.

Note: This article is general information, not legal advice. Law details come from state statutes, session laws, legislature bill pages and state agency pages, all linked below. Sources were checked on Oct. 31, 2026. The sections labeled "Analysis" and "Outlook" are Cottage Food Directory's reading of the trend, not a sourced forecast. Check your state agency before you change how you sell.

The changes at a glance

Perishable foods: the biggest change

Many cottage food laws cover only shelf-stable foods, such as bread, cookies, candy and jam. Foods that need refrigeration or other time or temperature control for safety, often shortened to TCS foods, have usually required a licensed commercial kitchen. Cheesecake, cream pies and cream cheese frosting are common examples. That line moved in several states.

Each state attached conditions. Tennessee limits TCS foods to in-person sales, Texas requires registration, West Virginia requires a permit and Colorado limits producers to one type of TCS food. None of these laws opened the door to every food.

Sales caps keep rising

Many states limit how much a cottage food business may sell in a year. Several raised that limit.

Some states set no cap at all. Tennessee's Food Freedom Act, Hawaii's homemade food rules and Idaho's new act have none. Sources: Idaho Code 37-205; Tennessee Department of Agriculture: Tennessee Food Freedom Act; HAR chapter 11-50 (PDF). See the Tennessee, Hawaii and Idaho cottage food law guides. For more on the 2026 changes in Maryland, Oklahoma and Colorado, see Cottage Food Law Changes in 2026.

New laws and new frameworks

Two states did more than adjust a number.

Oklahoma's HB 3720 also renames the Homemade Food Freedom Act the Local Food Freedom Act, effective Nov. 1, 2026. Source: HB 3720 (2026), enrolled.

New ways to sell

The other big shift is in how homemade food reaches buyers.

Not every bill passes

Expansion is the trend, but bills often stall or get trimmed.

Analysis: why the trend keeps going

This section is analysis, not a sourced forecast.

The economics. A home kitchen lets someone start a food business without renting or building a commercial kitchen. When household budgets are tight or jobs feel less secure, a low-cost side business is an appealing option. For a state, many of these laws remove permit and inspection work rather than add it, although some newer ones, like Colorado's and West Virginia's, add registration or a permit for riskier foods.

The politics. Cottage food bills draw support from lawmakers with different reasons. Some frame them as deregulation or food freedom. Others frame them as small business and microenterprise opportunities, including for cooks who sell traditional foods. Colorado's bill, the Tamale Act, names tamales, burritos and tortas as examples. Tennessee's 2025 bill passed the House 94-0 and the Senate 26-0. Source: SB 484 (2025) bill page.

The safety debate. Food safety is the main counterweight, and it is often why bills get trimmed. Supporters point to data from the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that backs these laws. IJ reported in 2023 that public records requests in seven states that allow homemade perishable foods (California, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming) turned up no confirmed cases of foodborne illness tied to food sold under their homemade food programs and two suspected cases, neither confirmed. Source: Institute for Justice, Sept. 6, 2023.

Outlook: the next three to five years

This outlook is Cottage Food Directory's analysis of the trend. It is not a prediction from any agency or legislature.

  1. Perishable foods may become more common, with conditions. More states may follow Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Colorado in allowing some refrigerated foods, such as cheesecake and cream cheese frosting, but with conditions like direct or in-person sales, registration or permits, training and stronger labels. Raw meat, seafood and home-canned low-acid foods are likely to stay off the list in most states.
  2. Caps may keep moving toward $100,000 to $250,000. The 2026 increases in Louisiana, Maryland and Oklahoma landed in that range. States with lower caps, such as Mississippi at $35,000, are likely to keep seeing bills to raise them, and a few states may drop caps entirely.
  3. In-state shipping and delivery may keep loosening. Agents, third-party delivery and in-state shipping are spreading, as Utah, Virginia and Hawaii show. Shipping across state lines is likely to stay limited, since federal food rules apply once food crosses a state line. See Can You Ship Cottage Foods Across State Lines?.
  4. Home restaurants are likely to stay rare. California has allowed microenterprise home kitchen operations, small restaurants run from a home kitchen, since Jan. 1, 2019, but only where a city or county authorizes them by ordinance or resolution. Plated meals are a bigger step than packaged baked goods, so this model is likely to spread slowly. Sources: California Department of Public Health: Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations; Cal. Health & Safety Code 114367.
  5. A setback is possible. A single well-publicized illness outbreak tied to a homemade perishable food could slow expansion bills in several states at once. That is the biggest unknown.

What it means for home bakers today

Frequently asked questions

Which states allow homemade foods that need refrigeration?

Among the states in this guide, Tennessee allows some TCS homemade foods sold in person, Texas allows them with state registration, Idaho allows perishable foods sold directly to informed consumers, West Virginia allows them with a state permit and Colorado will allow one type starting Jan. 1, 2027. Each has conditions and limits. Sources: SB 484 (2025); Tex. Health & Safety Code 437.01953; Idaho Code 37-205; W. Va. Code 19-40; HB 26-1033.

Which states raised their cottage food sales caps in 2026?

Louisiana raised its limit to $100,000 on Aug. 1, 2026, Maryland raised its cap to $100,000 on Oct. 1, 2026, and Oklahoma raised its cap to $250,000, effective Nov. 1, 2026. Sources: Act 801 (HB 403); Chapter 320 of 2026 (HB 535); HB 3720 (2026), enrolled.

Is there evidence that homemade perishable food makes people sick?

The Institute for Justice, which supports these laws, reported in 2023 that seven states allowing homemade perishable food had no confirmed foodborne illness cases tied to those programs. That is one group's review of state records, not a federal study. Source: Institute for Justice, Sept. 6, 2023.

Can I run a home restaurant?

Only in a few places. California allows microenterprise home kitchen operations with a permit, but only in cities and counties that have authorized them. Source: California Department of Public Health: Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations.

Official sources

Find home bakers and makers near you on the all states page. For Florida, see Florida's Cottage Food Law: Where It Stands and What May Come Next and Florida's $250,000 Cottage Food Cap: What It Means Five Years Later.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed Oct. 31, 2026.