Cottage food rules
Cottage Food License in Virginia: What Home Bakers Need
What Virginia actually requires before you sell a bake from your kitchen.
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What to remember
- Virginia allows certain low-risk foods, acidified vegetables, and honey to be made in a private home without VDACS inspection.
- The allowance comes with restrictions, so read them before your first sale.
- Virginia sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales.
- Foods outside the allowed group fall under the Virginia Food and Drink Law and its related regulations.
Most people searching this are looking for an application, a fee, and a certificate to hang on the wall. Virginia works differently for home bakers. The starting point is section 3.2-5130 of the Code of Virginia, and the short version is that a defined group of foods can be made at home and sold without a VDACS inspection, provided you stay inside the restrictions.
What the home kitchen allowance covers
Section 3.2-5130 allows certain low-risk foods, acidified vegetables, and honey to be made in a private home without VDACS inspection, subject to certain restrictions. That last part is the one to read twice. This is not a general permission to sell anything you can bake. It is a specific group of foods with conditions attached, and the conditions are what keep you inside it.
The safest way to use this is to start with your actual menu, not with a vague plan to sell bakes. Write down the five or six things you make most often. Then check each one against the law and against what VDACS says. If a bake is not clearly covered, treat it as not covered until you know otherwise.
What happens outside the allowance
Food businesses that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for sale are covered by the Virginia Food and Drink Law and its related regulations, and that includes private homes. So a bake that falls outside the section 3.2-5130 group does not sit in some safe gap. It moves under a different set of rules, and those rules ask more of you.
It helps to see how other states draw the same line. Our guides to cottage food rules in North Carolina and Maryland walk through the same question of what a home kitchen may sell, and Tennessee is a useful comparison for how the restrictions shift from state to state.
No sales cap, so your kitchen sets the limit
Virginia sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales. There is no ceiling you bump into and no point where the state tells you to stop. What limits you is your oven, your counter space, your fridge, and the hours you can actually work. That changes how you plan. Instead of watching a sales number, you watch your own week.
It changes how you price too. When there is no cap to plan around, the only thing standing between you and real income is what you charge per bake. A batch that keeps you in the kitchen all afternoon for a few dollars will not build anything.
Start with the law itself
Read section 3.2-5130 of the Code of Virginia, and Chapter 51 of Title 3.2, which holds the state’s Food and Drink statutes.
List what you actually sell
Write down the bakes you take orders for, not the whole recipe book.
Check each one
Compare every bake against the allowed group and the restrictions that come with it.
Ask VDACS about anything unclear
If a bake is not clearly covered, get an answer before you sell it rather than after.
Plan for your kitchen, not a cap
Since there is no dollar limit, work out how many bakes a week you can truly make and still enjoy it.
Getting set up without the guesswork
The paperwork side is smaller than most people expect. The bigger job is deciding what you sell, what you charge, and how you keep track once orders start coming in. Brevl keeps recipes with real costing, ingredient inventory, and a weekly planner in the same place you take orders, so planning and selling are not two separate jobs.
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Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my home in Virginia?
For the foods covered by section 3.2-5130 of the Code of Virginia, certain low-risk foods, acidified vegetables, and honey can be made in a private home without VDACS inspection, subject to certain restrictions. Check your specific bakes against that group before you sell.
Is there a limit on how much I can sell?
No. Virginia sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales, so what limits you is your own kitchen capacity and the time you have.
Which foods are covered?
The law names certain low-risk foods, acidified vegetables, and honey. Confirm with VDACS whether the specific things you bake are inside that group.
What if my bake is not covered?
Food establishments, including private homes, that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for sale are subject to the Virginia Food and Drink Law and its related regulations. That is a heavier set of rules than the home kitchen allowance.
Where can I read the law myself?
Chapter 51 of Title 3.2 of the Code of Virginia contains the state's Food and Drink statutes, and section 3.2-5130 is the part about home food production.
Sources
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and details matter. Confirm your own situation with VDACS or a Virginia attorney before you sell.