Cottage food rules
Cottage Food License in Utah: What Home Bakers Need
The three things Utah wants before you take your first paid order, in plain words.
On this page
What to remember
- Register with the department as a cottage food operation before you operate.
- Hold a valid food handler’s permit.
- Expect UDAF approval to come through a home kitchen inspection.
- Meat, poultry, fish, jerky, and low-acid or acidified canned foods are not allowed under the Utah rule.
- You must tell the buyer the food is not certified, licensed, regulated, or inspected.
If you have been reading about other states, you have probably noticed the words move around from license to permit to registration. Cottage Food License in Arizona and Cottage Food License in Ohio walk through their own versions of the same idea. Utah’s version is written into the statute, so you can read the exact requirement instead of guessing at it.
Register, permit, inspect
Utah Code 4-5-501 is plain about the order of things. The operator of a cottage food operation has to register with the department as a cottage food operation before operating, and has to hold a valid food handler’s permit. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food describes the Cottage Food Law as allowing a person with a valid food handler’s permit to make and package certain permitted foods in their home kitchen after being approved by UDAF through inspection. That last part is the one home bakers miss. Approval is not automatic once the form is in. Somebody comes and looks at the kitchen you actually bake in.
Nothing in that sequence says you need a commercial kitchen or a separate building. It says home kitchen, approved, through inspection. What you want before that visit is a kitchen that matches the way you described it on paper.
Foods that are not allowed
The Utah cottage food application lists what cannot be made under the Utah Cottage Food Rule. Meat, poultry, and fish products, including jerky products, are out. Low-acid or acidified canned foods may not be produced under the rule either. If one of your best sellers leans on any of that, plan to leave it off the menu for now rather than find out later.
Getting through it without a second trip
Start with the food handler's permit
Utah Code 4-5-501 requires a valid food handler’s permit, and the department’s description of the Cottage Food Law starts from that permit. Get it before you send anything else in.
Read the application against your menu
The cottage food application is where the state spells out the foods you cannot make. Go through your own list of bakes line by line before you sign it.
Get the kitchen ready for the inspection
UDAF approval comes through inspection, so the kitchen you bake in is the kitchen they will look at. Clean it as if a customer were standing in it, because in a sense one is.
Register as a cottage food operation
Register with the department before you operate. Not after your first order, and not while you are waiting to see whether this works.
Label every order with the notice
Include the statement that the food is not certified, licensed, regulated, or inspected. Chapter 5a requires you to inform the final consumer.
Then open your order book
Only once registration, permit, and approval are all in hand do you start taking money for bakes.
Once you are clear to sell, the next question is usually what to charge. If you are weighing ways to take orders, Home Bakery App is a fair look at the options, and Cottage Food License in Georgia shows how another state handles the same set of questions if you bake across a border or you are just curious.
Try the free bake pricing calculator
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Common questions
Do I need a license or a registration in Utah?
The requirement written into Utah Code 4-5-501 is registration. The operator of a cottage food operation has to register with the department as a cottage food operation before operating, and has to hold a valid food handler's permit. People say license, but registration is the word in the statute.
Can I sell jerky or canned salsa from my home kitchen in Utah?
No. The Utah cottage food application states that meat, poultry, and fish products, including jerky products, cannot be made under the Utah Cottage Food Rule, and that low-acid or acidified canned foods may not be produced under the rule.
What do I have to tell the person buying my bakes?
Utah Code Chapter 5a requires a producer selling homemade food exempt under that section to inform the final consumer that the food or food product is not certified, licensed, regulated, or inspected.
Do I need a food handler's permit?
Yes. Utah Code 4-5-501 requires the operator of a cottage food operation to hold a valid food handler's permit, and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food describes the law as starting from that permit.
Will someone inspect my kitchen?
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food says the Cottage Food Law allows an individual with a valid food handler's permit to make and package certain permitted foods in their home kitchen after being approved by UDAF through inspection.
Sources
This is general information about Utah cottage food rules, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food before you sell.