Cottage food rules
Cottage Food Law Texas: What Home Bakers Need to Know
A plain English walk through what Texas asks of you before you sell your first bake.
What to remember
- No permit or license for most homemade foods sold from your own kitchen, but you register with the state.
- Finish a basic food safety education or training program for food handlers.
- Sell directly to consumers located in Texas, on your own behalf.
- Skip foods that need time and temperature control for safety.
- The rules live in Chapter 437 of the Texas Health and Safety Code and in 25 Texas Administrative Code 229.661.
If you have been putting off selling because you assumed a license and an inspection were waiting for you, the Texas rules are gentler than that. The catch is that the gentler rules come with limits, and the limits are the part worth reading twice. Here is what the statute and the state health department actually say, in the order you will deal with it.
What you register and what you train
The state health department covers cottage food production, including licensing questions, training materials, and food labeling guidance, so that is your first stop. Registration with the Department of State Health Services is the step that applies to you even though a permit or license generally does not.
Alongside that, the law requires that whoever runs the operation has successfully completed a basic food safety education or training program for food handlers accredited under the relevant subchapter. That is not busywork. It is the reason you will know why cooling times and clean hands matter when someone buys your banana bread. Our guide to what cottage food law is covers the wider picture if this is your first time meeting the term.
Who you can sell to
A cottage food production operation may sell directly to consumers located in this state, on the operation’s behalf, foods other than time and temperature control for safety foods. Read that slowly, because three separate limits sit inside one sentence.
Direct to the consumer
You sell to the person who eats it. No middlemen, no reselling through another business.
Located in Texas
The customer has to be in Texas. Cross state lines and you are outside the cottage food rules.
On your own behalf
You are the seller, not a supplier to somebody else’s shop.
No time and temperature control for safety foods
Those are the bakes that need refrigeration or hot holding to stay safe, and they are off the table.
If your list leans toward custard pies, cream filled cakes, or anything that has to stay cold, this is the moment to reshape the menu. Shelf stable bakes are where a Texas cottage food kitchen lives.
Labels and the fine print
Labeling is where the state health department guidance and the administrative rule meet, and it is the piece most home bakers get wrong on their first print run. Start with our label requirements guide and keep a template on hand so every order goes out the same way. A label template saves you from retyping the same lines at midnight.
Two documents are worth keeping bookmarked. Chapter 437 of the Texas Health and Safety Code is the statute as the legislature passed it, and 25 Texas Administrative Code 229.661 is the rule that implements it, including the department’s job to adopt rules for labeling and production. When something confuses you, those two are the answer rather than a forum thread.
Try the free label checklist tool
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Once the registration, training, and labels are handled, the rest is ordinary small business work: pricing that leaves you something, a way to take orders without losing messages, and a place to keep your dates straight. Our home bakery app roundup is a fair look at the options if you are still deciding how to run yours.
Rules change. Check the state health department page and the current text of Chapter 437 before you print labels or expand your menu, and ask the department directly if a bake is unclear to you.
Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my Texas kitchen?
For most homemade foods, Texas does not require a permit or license, but you do register with the Department of State Health Services.
Do I have to take a food safety course?
Yes. Whoever operates the cottage food operation must have successfully completed a basic food safety education or training program for food handlers accredited under the relevant subchapter.
Can I sell my bakes outside Texas?
No. The law allows sales directly to consumers located in Texas, on the operation's behalf.
Can I sell cakes that need refrigeration?
Foods that are time and temperature control for safety are not covered. Stick to bakes that do not need temperature control.
Can a shop or restaurant resell my bakes?
The sales have to be direct to the consumer and on your own behalf, so selling through another business is not what the cottage food operation provision describes.
Where do I find the labeling rules?
The Texas Department of State Health Services publishes cottage food information covering training materials and food labeling, and 25 Texas Administrative Code 229.661 covers the department's labeling and production rules.
Sources
This is general information about the Texas cottage food rules, not legal advice. Rules change and details vary by situation. Check the Texas Department of State Health Services and the current text of Chapter 437 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, or ask a Texas attorney, before you rely on any of this for your own shop.