Minnesota cottage food labels: what the law actually requires

What the cottage food exemption actually is

Minnesota's cottage food law — Minnesota Statutes section 28A.152 — exempts people who make certain low-risk foods in a home kitchen from food licensing. Register with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, stay inside the sales limits, label correctly, and you can sell jam, bread, cookies, candy, and home-canned pickles without a commercial license or an inspected kitchen.

Read that word carefully: licensing. The exemption releases you from being licensed and inspected. It does not release you from labeling. The label requirements are written directly into the statute, and they are the part of the law anyone can check in four seconds by picking up your jar.

The law is written around an individual. Under the statute as it stands today, an individual who qualifies for the exemption may organize the cottage food business as any business entity recognized by state law — there is no entity-type restriction in the current text. That changes. The 2025 revisions effective August 1, 2027 narrow eligibility to an individual, a sole proprietorship, a single-member LLC owned by one individual, or an LLC owned by two individuals residing at the same residence, and add a provision barring anyone holding a food handler license under section 28A.04 from claiming the exemption. Neither restriction is in force today. Note that the Revisor's website renders the amended text, so the statute page you find may show rules that have not taken effect — confirm your situation with MDA.

Registration is annual and required before you sell.

Registration tiers and the sales limits

As of July 2026, Minnesota runs two registration tiers under one ceiling. The statute limits a cottage food producer to total gross receipts of $78,000 or less in a calendar year. Cross that and you are outside the exemption entirely.

• Tier 1 — $7,665 or less in gross annual sales

  No registration fee. MDA requires its Tier 1 online training and exam every year before you register or renew.

• Tier 2 — $7,666 to $78,000 in gross annual sales

  A $50 annual registration fee, plus a Commissioner-approved food safety course once every three years.

One wrinkle explains a discrepancy you will run into: the statute itself names $5,000 as the fee-exemption line, then directs the commissioner to adjust that figure for inflation. The $7,665 is the CPI-adjusted number MDA currently publishes. It is administrative, not carved in stone, and it can move.

A bigger change is already on the books. Revisions passed in 2025 take effect August 1, 2027: the tiers collapse into one, the fee becomes a flat $30, advanced training applies to all registrants, and shipping human cottage foods within Minnesota becomes legal. None of that is in force today.

Exactly what has to be on the label

Five things. The statute says the label must accurately reflect all of them, and MDA's registration guidance repeats the same list.

• Your name

  Your full legal name as the registrant, or your cottage food business name.

• Registration number or address

  Either one, not both. The registration number is worth considering if you would rather not publish your home address on a jar that leaves with a stranger.

• The date the food was prepared

  Prepared date — not a “best by” date, though nothing stops you from adding one.

• Ingredients and any possible allergens

  The full list, plus allergen disclosure.

• The state disclaimer

  Exact wording matters. That is the next section.

For home-canned goods the statute applies the same five elements to each container, worded for the person who processed and canned the goods. One jar, one label — a label on the outer box does not cover the jars inside it.

Notice what is not on that list: the statute does not spell out a net weight declaration, and we could not confirm whether MDA expects one. Ask them. Do not reason from what you have seen on a grocery shelf, because shelf products are made under different rules.

The disclaimer, word for word

Here is the sentence, exactly as it must appear:

These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.

Three details a print shop cares about. First, the word is products, not “foods.” The paraphrase “These foods are homemade…” circulates in secondhand write-ups and it is wrong. Set the statutory wording.

Second, the statute wraps the sentence in quotation marks. Those marks read as statutory punctuation delimiting the phrase rather than label copy, and MDA's guidance encloses the sentence the same way — but neither the statute nor MDA says outright whether you print them. Common practice is to set the sentence without quotation marks and keep the period. If it matters to you, ask MDA.

Third, the sentence is required in three places, not one: on the product label, on a clearly legible sign or placard at your point of sale, and on your website if you sell over the internet.

That placard is easy to forget and easy to solve. “Clearly legible” is the only prominence standard anywhere in the statute, and it attaches to the sign — not to your label. No dimensions, no font size, no color rule. A card that lives in your market crate handles it, and table tents are a common format for exactly this job.

Allergen disclosure: the nine names

Allergen disclosure is not optional and not merely guidance — the statute's own words are “the ingredients and any possible allergens.” MDA enumerates nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame.

Sesame belongs on that list, consistent with the federal FASTER Act. If your label copy predates that change, it deserves a second look.

On format, University of Minnesota Extension's labeling guidance says to list ingredients by weight in descending order, greatest to least, and describes two accepted ways to handle allergens: a “contains” statement after the ingredient list, or the allergen's common name in parentheses beside the ingredient that carries it. Extension is a well-regarded secondary source, not the regulator — MDA is the authority, so confirm the format with them.

Sub-ingredients are where people get caught. If your recipe uses a purchased chocolate chip, a boxed mix, or a flavoring, read that product's own label and carry its allergens through to yours. Your ingredient list is only as honest as the packages on your counter.

What you can make — and what the pH line rules out

The line the whole exemption turns on: you may sell food that is not potentially hazardous, as that term is defined in Minnesota Rules part 4626.0020, subpart 62. Separately, you may sell home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables, or fruits with an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower, or a water activity of 0.85 or less — home-processed and home-canned in Minnesota.

In practice that is an acid-and-moisture test. Foods acidic enough or dry enough that dangerous bacteria will not grow are in. Foods that need refrigeration to stay safe are out — that is licensed-kitchen territory, closer to what our restaurant clients operate under.

MDA's examples of what is not allowed include meat and dairy products; cheese, yogurt, butter, and ghee; pickled eggs and pickled meats; dehydrated meat and fish such as jerky; chocolate-covered fruit; charcuterie boards; tamales; egg rolls; and edible cannabinoid products.

A caveat on that list: MDA links out to a separate Non-Potentially Hazardous Foods List rather than publishing the examples on its main guidance page. That document is the authoritative version and it can change without the guidance page changing. Open it directly before you commit a recipe to a printed run. One more restriction that catches people: home-canned products may not be sold outside Minnesota.

Where you can sell, and why you can't ship it yet

MDA states it plainly: a registered cottage food producer can sell the food they make from their home, a farmers' market, and a community event. The statute also allows donating exempt food to a community event for fundraising. You may advertise and take orders online.

What you may not do — today — is ship human cottage food. MDA's current position is that cottage foods intended for humans are not allowed to be shipped in the mail or by commercial delivery at this time. Internet sales are permitted only where the product is delivered directly to the ultimate consumer by the individual who prepared it. You, personally, hand it over.

Cottage pet treats run the opposite way: MDA says registered producers may ship pet treats only in the mail or by commercial delivery to the end consumer.

This is the most misread part of the law right now, and here is why. The 2025 revisions legalizing in-state shipping are already written into the current statute text, carrying an August 1, 2027 effective date. Read the statute page casually and you will conclude shipping is legal. It is not legal today. Check the effective-date notes, or trust MDA's live guidance page.

Working the market circuit this summer? Our craft fair booth checklist covers the rest of the table.

Designing a label that actually fits the jar

Now the part nobody else writes about. Every cottage food label owes five elements — a full ingredient list and a required sentence among them — and a 4 oz jelly jar gives you a few square inches of curved surface. That is a real design problem, not a formality.

Start with geometry. A wrap-around label is sized by circumference, not by the width you eyeball: measure the jar's diameter, multiply by pi, then subtract slightly so the label does not fight itself at the seam, or add a deliberate overlap for a clean wrap. Our label size calculator does that math and returns a print size. Keep type out of the seam zone and off the shoulder curve, where it distorts.

On type size, be careful what you believe. The statute specifies no font size for the product label. “Clearly legible” appears only in reference to the point-of-sale placard. UMN Extension recommends a simple sans-serif no smaller than 10 pt, and 10 pt is a sensible practical floor — but we could not verify it as an MDA legal requirement, and the MDA pages we reviewed do not state one. Some of MDA's labeling material lives inside its training course, so confirm there. Treat 10 pt as a design rule to follow, not a statute to cite.

Hierarchy: product name large, your name and date clear, ingredients small but genuinely readable, disclaimer set so a customer could actually read it if they wanted to. On bigger jars, split it — brand on the front, required copy on a back panel.

Getting them printed: material, dates, and small runs

Material first, because a beautiful label that curls off a cold jar has failed. Dry goods in a bag — cookies, mixes, granola — are happy on paper. Anything that meets condensation, a refrigerator, a freezer, or a wipe-down needs film; a jam jar sweating on a July market table will lift a paper label by noon. Our sticker material guide walks the paper-versus-vinyl-versus-clear decision, and it drives product labels the same way it drives stickers and decals.

Then handle the date. It changes every batch — the one thing a static printed label cannot do. Print a blank field and hand-write it, run short date-coded batches, or print a lot box you fill with a stamp. Hand-writing the date is normal and fine. Hand-writing the disclaimer is not. Print that one, every time.

Order small on purpose. Recipes change, ingredient lists change with them, and registration renews annually — a giant roll of labels is a liability, not a savings. Kiss-cut sheets suit a home kitchen, and the stickers-per-sheet calculator shows how many fit at your size.

We design labels in Buffalo, MN and produce them with trusted print partners, for producers across Wright County and the West Metro. Send us your jar dimensions and label copy and we will size it and spec the material.

SHIFT Design prints labels — we do not give legal or food-safety advice, and nothing here is legal advice. Minnesota's cottage food requirements change: the 2025 revisions land August 1, 2027, and the CPI-adjusted threshold can move before then. Confirm current requirements with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture before you print. This reflects our reading as of July 2026.

Frequently asked questions

• What has to be on a Minnesota cottage food label?

  Minnesota Statutes 28A.152 requires five things: your full name or business name; your cottage food registration number or your address (either one, not both); the date the food was prepared; the ingredients including any possible allergens; and the statement “These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection.” Home-canned goods need all five on each container. Confirm current requirements with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

• What is the exact cottage food disclaimer wording in Minnesota?

  The required sentence is: These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection. Note “products,” not “foods” — paraphrases circulate and they are wrong. The statute puts the sentence in quotation marks, which reads as statutory punctuation rather than label copy — common practice is to set the sentence without them and keep the period, though neither the statute nor MDA says so outright. Confirm with MDA if in doubt.

• Does Minnesota require a specific font size on cottage food labels?

  Not that we could verify. The statute contains no font size requirement for the product label — its only prominence standard, “clearly legible,” applies to the point-of-sale sign. University of Minnesota Extension recommends a sans-serif no smaller than 10 pt, which is a sensible floor, but we could not confirm it as a Minnesota Department of Agriculture rule. Follow it as good design practice, and confirm current requirements with MDA.

• Can I ship my Minnesota cottage food products to customers?

  Not human food, as of July 2026. MDA states that cottage foods intended for humans may not be shipped in the mail or by commercial delivery at this time. You may sell online, but the person who prepared the food must deliver it directly to the customer. Pet treats are the exception — those may only be shipped. Revisions effective August 1, 2027 will allow shipping within Minnesota.

• Do I have to list allergens on a cottage food label in Minnesota?

  Yes. Allergen disclosure is written into the statute, which requires “the ingredients and any possible allergens.” MDA lists nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. UMN Extension describes two accepted formats — a “contains” statement, or the allergen's common name in parentheses next to the ingredient. Check sub-ingredients in purchased mixes too.