Georgia Cottage Food Law: Labeling Requirements

On this page

1. What Georgia cottage food labeling covers
2. The nine allergens you have to declare
3. A label check before you print
4. Where to confirm before you sell

If you bake in a home kitchen in Georgia and sell what you make, the label is part of the job. It is also the part most people leave until the night before a market. Here is what the state says, what has to be declared, and where to confirm the wording yourself. If you are also curious how other states handle this, North Carolina’s rules make a useful comparison.

What Georgia cottage food labeling covers

The Georgia Department of Agriculture publishes a cottage food page that sets out rules about labeling, hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients for cottage food vendors. That page is the place to start, because it is the state speaking about its own rules rather than a blog summary of them.

Georgia also keeps a food labeling requirements page, which it describes as giving retail and manufactured food facilities the basic label requirements representing minimum standards for labeling food products within the state. Cottage food sellers sit inside that wider picture, with the cottage food page adding what applies to a home kitchen specifically.

The nine allergens you have to declare

Nine major food allergens must be clearly identified on a food label: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame. Walk that list against your recipe every time you change a bake, because a swap in one ingredient can add an allergen you were not declaring before.

You have two places to put them. You can name the allergens inside your ingredients statement, or you can list them right after the ingredients in a Contains line, for example Contains: milk, wheat, eggs. Either way, the person holding your cookies should be able to spot them without hunting through the label.

A label check before you print

1. 1

   Start from the real recipe

   Use the version you actually bake, with the ingredients and amounts that went into the batch. Not the version you meant to follow.

2. 2

   Mark the nine allergens

   Go through milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame and note which ones are in the bake.

3. 3

   Choose where to declare them

   Put them in the ingredients statement, or add a Contains line right after the ingredients. Both are allowed.

4. 4

   Add the Georgia disclosure

   Georgia Code section 26-2-473 requires specified disclosure and labeling information. Confirm the exact wording on the state cottage food page before you print.

5. 5

   Re-check before your busy season

   Pages and wording change. A quick re-read before your biggest selling weeks saves a reprint.

Where to confirm before you sell

Two sources settle it. The Georgia Department of Agriculture cottage food page covers labeling along with hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients. Georgia Code section 26-2-473 is the law itself. Read both before you print, and keep a copy of the label you used with the date on it, so you can show what you were following at the time.

Other states word their rules differently, which is why Tennessee’s rules and Texas rules are interesting reading but not a substitute for Georgia’s. Your label has to satisfy the state you sell in.

• Does North Carolina Have Cottage Food Laws?
• Does Tennessee Have Cottage Food Laws?
• Does Texas Have Cottage Food Laws?

Common questions

Which allergens must be declared on a Georgia cottage food label?

Nine major food allergens must be clearly identified on a food label: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame.

Can I list allergens in the ingredients instead of a Contains line?

Yes. The nine major allergens can be declared either in the ingredients statement or following the ingredients in a Contains statement. Either placement works as long as the allergens are clearly identified.

Where do I find the exact disclosure wording Georgia requires?

Georgia Code section 26-2-473 requires a cottage food operator or seller to provide specified disclosure and labeling information. The Georgia Department of Agriculture cottage food page covers labeling, hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients, and it is the page to check for the current wording.

Does the state publish general label standards beyond cottage food?

It does. Georgia's food labeling requirements page states that it gives retail and manufactured food facilities basic label requirements representing minimum standards for labeling food products within the State of Georgia. The cottage food page adds what applies to home kitchens.

Sources

1. Georgia Department of Agriculture, Cottage Food
2. Georgia Department of Agriculture, Food Labeling Fact Sheet
3. Georgia Department of Agriculture, Starting a Cottage Food Business
4. Georgia Code section 26-2-473
5. Georgia Food Labeling Requirements

This is general information about Georgia cottage food labeling, not legal advice. Rules change. Confirm the current requirements with the Georgia Department of Agriculture before you print labels or sell.