Cottage food rules
Montana Cottage Food License: What Home Bakers Need
What Montana actually asks of home bakers, and the one form worth checking before you sell.
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What to remember
- There is no Montana cottage food license to buy.
- The Local Food Choice Act exempts homemade food producers from licensing, permitting, certification, packaging, labeling, and testing requirements.
- DPHHS keeps a Cottage Food Operation Guidance and Registration document with a registration form.
- Sales under the Act go directly to an informed local consumer, with no permit and no cap.
- Packages under the cottage food rules need the operation’s name and full address.
If you have been hunting for a form to fill in and a fee to pay, that is why the search keeps dead ending. Montana handles homemade food differently from most states. Start with how to get a home bakery license for the general picture, then come back to the Montana details below.
What the Local Food Choice Act exempts you from
The Act is the reason there is no license to buy. Under MCA § 50-49-203, homemade food producers are exempt from any state or local licensing, permitting, certification, packaging, labeling, and testing requirements.
It also reaches further than most cottage food laws. Under the Local Food Choice Act you can sell almost any homemade food, including many potentially hazardous foods, directly to an informed local consumer with no permit, no cap, and no packaged label.
The DPHHS cottage food registration
Montana DPHHS publishes a Cottage Food Operation Guidance and Registration document. It holds both the information and the registration form for cottage foods. The form is a fillable pdf, and it has to be completed and then printed in order to be saved.
The cottage food rules describe a narrower set of foods than the Act does. A cottage food operation covers food that is not potentially hazardous, such as baked goods, jam, jellies, preserves, fruit butters, or dry spice blends, made in the kitchen of your home. If your bakes fall in that group, read the guidance document in full before you decide anything.
Fill the form in on a computer, print it, and keep a copy with your records. A form that only saves once it is printed is easy to lose track of, and you will want it on hand the first time a market manager asks.
Labels and the address you print
Montana cottage food label requirements call for every package to carry a label in legible print with the name, address, city, state and zip code of the cottage food operation. That is the requirement as written. Print it before your first market, not after.
If you are selling under the Local Food Choice Act instead, directly to an informed local consumer, the exemption covers packaging and labeling. Ask DPHHS to confirm which set applies to you before you order a roll of labels.
Where to confirm before you sell
Two sets of rules sit side by side here, so one call or email to DPHHS is the cheapest insurance you can buy. Ask which one applies to the way you plan to sell: at a farmers market, from your porch, or by preorder. Neighboring states handle this very differently, and Wyoming cottage food laws are a useful comparison if you sell near the border.
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Once the rules side is settled, the money side starts. How to price your bakes walks through costing a batch so market day actually pays you.
Common questions
Do I need a cottage food license in Montana?
There is no state or local license, permit, or certification for homemade food producers under the Montana Local Food Choice Act (MCA § 50-49-203). DPHHS still publishes a Cottage Food Operation Guidance and Registration document, so confirm with them which path fits your sales.
What can I sell under Montana cottage food rules?
The cottage food rules cover food that is not potentially hazardous, such as baked goods, jam, jellies, preserves, fruit butters, or dry spice blends, made in your home kitchen. The Local Food Choice Act is broader and covers almost any homemade food, including many potentially hazardous foods, sold directly to an informed local consumer.
What has to go on a Montana cottage food label?
The name, address, city, state and zip code of the cottage food operation, in legible print on every package.
Is there a sales cap in Montana?
Under the Local Food Choice Act there is no cap for sales made directly to an informed local consumer.
I live on a Montana reservation. Who do I ask?
Contact the tribal environmental health office to find out which agency will be reviewing and registering cottage food operations where you are.
How do I fill in the registration form?
It is a fillable pdf. Complete it first and then print it, because it has to be printed in order to be saved.
Sources
General information, not legal advice. Rules can change. Confirm with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services before you sell.