Cottage food rules
Cottage Food Law and Dog Treats: What You Need to Know
Where dog treats fit under cottage food rules, and what to check before you sell.
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What to remember
- Most cottage food laws cover food for people, not pet treats.
- Minnesota is the exception and covers certain baked or dehydrated pet treats.
- In Minnesota, exempt treats must not be potentially hazardous food and must be safe for human consumption and for the intended species.
- Virginia treats pet foods and treats in individual packages of 10 pounds or less as small package commercial feeds.
If you already bake for people, you have probably read your state’s cottage food rules more than once. Dog treats look like the same job, but they land under a different set of rules in most places. Here is where the line falls, what the two clearest states say, and what to check before you print a single label. If you are still working through the basics for people food, start with cottage food law for baked goods.
Why dog treats sit outside most cottage food laws
In most states, cottage food laws cover food for people rather than pet treats. Minnesota is the exception that covers certain baked or dehydrated pet treats. That leaves the rest of the country in a place where a cottage food registration, however carefully you filled it in, may not be the right paperwork for a bag of peanut butter biscuits. The rules that do apply are usually pet food rules, and they are handled by a different office than the one that handles cake and bread. Before you buy bags or print stickers, find out which office in your state regulates pet food and ask them directly whether a home kitchen can make and sell treats. It also helps to know which states are friendliest to home bakers before you plan a menu.
What Minnesota allows
Minnesota Statutes section 25.391 allows a person who qualifies for the exemption to sell exempt pet treats to consumers, and those treats may also be delivered by mail or commercially. That mail line matters if you were hoping to ship orders, because it is written into the law rather than left to chance.
The exemption comes with conditions. The treats must not be potentially hazardous food, and they must be safe for human consumption and safe for consumption by the intended species. In practice that points you toward shelf stable baked or dehydrated treats made with ingredients you would be comfortable eating yourself, and away from anything that needs refrigeration or careful temperature control. Read the statute with your own recipes in front of you and check each one against those two tests before you take an order.
What Virginia asks of pet treat sellers
Virginia takes a different route. Pet foods and treats in individual packages of 10 pounds or less are treated as small package commercial feeds under the Virginia Commercial Feed Law. That is a pet food framework, not a cottage food one, and the package size is part of how the state sorts sellers.
Virginia also says that food establishments, including private homes that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for sale, are subject to the Virginia Food and Drink Law and related regulations. If you are in Virginia and planning to sell treats from your kitchen, that is the sentence to take to the state with your questions, rather than a cottage food application.
What to do before you sell a bag
Name the rules that apply to you
Work out whether your state treats dog treats as cottage food, as pet food, or as something else. Most states put them outside the cottage food list, so do not assume.
Call the office that handles pet food
Ask your state department of agriculture, or whichever office regulates pet food, whether a home kitchen may make and sell dog treats and what it needs to do first. Write down who you spoke to and when.
Check every recipe against the answer
Go through your treats one by one. In Minnesota, that means confirming each recipe is not potentially hazardous food and is safe for human consumption and for the intended species.
Ask what has to be on the package
Before you print, ask what information has to appear on the bag and where it goes. Labels cost money, and reprinting is money twice.
Keep your records together
Hold on to your recipes, your ingredient sources, and your notes from the state in one place, so a question later is easy to answer.
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- Cottage food law for baked goods
- Best cottage food law states for home bakers
- How to apply for a home bakery license
Common questions
Do cottage food laws cover dog treats?
In most states they do not. Cottage food laws generally cover food for people rather than pet treats, and Minnesota is the exception that covers certain baked or dehydrated pet treats.
Can I mail dog treats if I qualify in Minnesota?
Minnesota Statutes section 25.391 allows exempt pet treats to be delivered by mail or commercially, in addition to being sold to consumers.
What makes a dog treat exempt in Minnesota?
The treat must not be potentially hazardous food, and it must be safe for human consumption and safe for consumption by the intended species.
I am in Virginia. What applies to my treats?
Pet foods and treats in individual packages of 10 pounds or less are small package commercial feeds under the Virginia Commercial Feed Law. Virginia also says private homes that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for sale are subject to the Virginia Food and Drink Law and related regulations.
Where do I start if my state is not Minnesota or Virginia?
Find out which office in your state regulates pet food and ask them whether a home kitchen may make and sell dog treats. Do that before you buy packaging or take an order.
Sources
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change over time. Confirm what applies to your kitchen with your state before you sell.