Cottage food rules
Louisiana Cottage Food Law: What to Check Before You Sell
What to read, write down, and keep on file so your home baking stays inside the rules.
On this page
What to remember
- Read the state law and the state guidance together, not one without the other.
- Write down the version you read and the date, so you know when to look again.
- Match every product you sell to what the law actually allows, one item at a time.
- Build your label from the law, not from another baker’s package.
If you are already taking orders from friends and neighbors, the paperwork can feel like the slow part. It is also the part that protects the money you earn. Start with the Louisiana cottage food law itself so you know what the state asks of you, then work through the state guidelines with your own product list open beside you.
What the law decides for you
A cottage food law is the set of limits a state puts on food made in a home kitchen and sold to other people. It decides which foods you may make at home and sell, where those sales can happen, and what has to appear on the package. It also decides what you may not do, and that list matters just as much as the permitted one. Read it once, all the way through, before you plan a menu around it.
The trap is reading only the parts that sound convenient. Most bakers skim to the section on allowed foods, find their bake, and stop there. The sales and labeling sections are where the day to day decisions live, and they are usually short. Give the whole document one careful pass, then a second pass with your own list in front of you, marking each product as allowed, not allowed, or unsure.
Check your kitchen and your menu against it
Read the state law start to finish
One pass, no skimming. Note the sections on allowed foods, on where you can sell, and on labeling, because those three shape your week.
List everything you sell today
Every cake, loaf, cookie, and jar, with the ingredients each one uses. You cannot compare a menu to the law in your head.
Match each item to the allowed list
Mark each product as allowed, not allowed, or unsure. Take the unsure ones to the state office named in the law before you sell them.
Write your label from the law
Copy the required wording exactly as it is written. Put it on the package itself, not on a card sitting beside the package.
Save what you read
Keep a copy of the law and the guidance with the date you downloaded them, so next year’s check takes minutes instead of an afternoon.
Keep the paperwork where you can find it
The day a customer asks a question about your kitchen, you want the answer in under a minute. Keep the law, the guidance, your product list, and your label wording in one folder, on your phone and in the kitchen drawer. Add the date to every file name. When you add a new bake, add a line to the product list the same day, so the folder always matches what you actually sell.
Your label does two jobs. It tells the customer what is in the package, and it shows anyone who checks that you know the rules. Write it once from the law, check the spelling of every ingredient, and then use the same wording on every order so nothing drifts. If you sell at a market, pack a spare set of labels. A missing label at the table is a bad time to start rewriting one from memory.
Start your 14 day free trial
Free, no signup.
Common questions
Does Louisiana have a cottage food law?
Yes. The state has a cottage food law for home bakers, and the details sit in the law and in the state guidance that goes with it. Read both before you take a paid order, and keep the copy you read with the date on it.
Where am I allowed to sell what I bake at home?
The law sets out where home baked goods may be sold. Read that section closely before you agree to a market table, a pickup spot, or a delivery, and check it again any time you add a new place to sell.
What has to go on my label?
Whatever the law and the state guidance require, worded the way they word it. Build the label from the law itself rather than from another baker's package, and keep the exact wording saved so every order matches.
Can I take orders online?
That depends on how the law treats sales that happen away from your kitchen. Confirm it in the law first, then set up how you take orders so the way you sell matches what is allowed.
How often should I check the rules again?
Once a year at least, and any time you add a product or a new place to sell. Keep the older copy so you can see exactly what changed.
General information about cottage food rules, not legal advice. Confirm the current rules with the state before you sell.