Cottage food rules
Does New Hampshire Have Cottage Food Laws?
What New Hampshire allows from a home kitchen, and the one label line you cannot skip.
On this page
What to remember
- New Hampshire allows home food manufacturing, unlike many states that prohibit it because of foodborne illness risk.
- There is no dollar limit on cottage food sales.
- Every product needs the state disclosure statement, word for word.
- Baking is allowed when your oven is in your primary home kitchen and the space meets basic sanitation rules.
- Freeze dried foods sold from your homestead, a farm stand, farmers markets, or retail stores must be licensed.
If you are baking from your kitchen in New Hampshire and taking orders from neighbors, the short version is that you are allowed to do it. The details come down to three things: your label, your kitchen, and where you sell. Here is what the state actually asks of you, in plain words. For the wider picture of how these rules work elsewhere, see cottage food laws in the United States.
What New Hampshire calls a home food business
The state’s term is homestead food operations, and the rules sit with the Department of Health and Human Services. New Hampshire allows home food manufacturing, which is not true everywhere. Some states prohibit it because of foodborne illness risk, so a home baker there has no legal path at all. Here you have one, as long as you stay inside it.
The reason that matters is simple. It is unlawful to operate a food service establishment or a retail food establishment in New Hampshire without a food service license, unless you are exempted under RSA 143-A:5. The homestead rules are that exemption for small home producers. Sell inside them and you are fine. Drift outside them and you are in licensed territory.
What you can sell and what the label must say
Non potentially hazardous homestead food products prepared in your primary home kitchen may be sold. Baked goods fit that picture far more easily than anything that needs refrigeration. If you are still working out your list, what you can sell from home walks through the categories.
Every product needs the state’s disclosure statement, word for word: This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection. Do not paraphrase it and do not shorten it. Put it on the label where a buyer can read it.
Freeze dried foods are their own case. Homestead food operations that process and sell freeze dried foods from the homestead residence, at the owner’s own farm stand, at farmers markets, or at retail food stores must be licensed under RSA 143-A:12. Products from those licensed operations carry a different line, one that begins This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire.
Your kitchen has to pass a basic check
Home baking is permitted when the oven is in the home kitchen or another food production area of your primary residence, and that space has handwashing, equipment and food storage, food contact surfaces, general sanitation, and pet exclusions in place. None of that is exotic. It is a sink you can wash in, surfaces you can clean, a spot for your tools and ingredients, and animals kept out of the room while you work.
Try the free bake costing calculator
Free, no signup.
No sales cap, but the paperwork still counts
New Hampshire sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales. That means the ceiling on your business is your kitchen and your time rather than a number in a statute, and you can grow through a busy season without hitting a wall. Once money changes hands, tax questions show up, and cottage food laws and sales tax covers what to expect and what to ask about where you live.
If you are comparing New Hampshire with somewhere else before you decide where to sell, which states have the best cottage food laws is a fair place to start. Just remember that the answer for your own kitchen is the one written for the state you actually bake in.
Common questions
Do I need a license to bake at home in New Hampshire?
Baked goods sold under the homestead food rules are exempt from licensing, and your label says so. Freeze dried foods processed and sold from your homestead, farm stand, farmers markets, or retail food stores must be licensed under RSA 143-A:12.
Is there a limit on how much I can sell?
New Hampshire sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales. Your own kitchen and your own time are the limit rather than a cap in the law.
What exactly has to be on my label?
The disclosure statement, word for word: This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection. Licensed operations use a different statement that begins This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire.
Can I sell at a farmers market?
Non potentially hazardous homestead food products prepared in your primary home kitchen may be sold. Freeze dried foods sold at farmers markets are a separate, licensed category under RSA 143-A:12.
What does my kitchen need to have?
Handwashing, equipment and food storage, clean food contact surfaces, general sanitation, and pets kept out. The oven also has to be in the home kitchen or another food production area of your primary residence.
Sources
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local requirements vary, so confirm the current details with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services before you sell.