Cottage food rules
New Cottage Food Laws Nevada: What Home Bakers Need
What Nevada asks of a home baker before the first sale, in plain words.
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What to remember
- Nevada’s cottage food law dates to 2013 and is NRS 446.866.
- The 2015 craft food bill, SB441, covers certain foods made and sold from home.
- Each person running the operation registers with the health authority before selling.
- A cottage food operation is not a food establishment.
- State kitchen guidance advises pre-packaging all food.
If you sell cakes and cookies from your home kitchen in Nevada, you are working under a law that has been in place since 2013. It is short, and most of it comes down to two things: what you are allowed to make, and registering before you sell. Neighboring states handle this differently, so it helps to read a few side by side, like Arizona’s cottage food rules and California’s.
What the law allows you to make
In May 2013 the Nevada Legislature passed a cottage food bill that became Nevada Revised Statute 446.866. It allows a limited amount of non-potentially hazardous foods to be prepared in a home kitchen. That word limited matters. This is not an open door to sell anything you can cook.
Two years later, in 2015, the Legislature passed and the governor signed the craft food bill, often called the pickle bill, or SB441. It allows certain foods to be prepared and sold from a person’s home. If what you want to sell sits outside the cottage food list, the craft food rules are the next place to look.
Register before your first sale
Each natural person who wishes to conduct a cottage food operation must, before selling any food item, register the cottage food operation with the health authority by submitting the required information. Do this before you take your first order, not after your first busy week.
Check your menu against the law
Start with non-potentially hazardous foods, which is what NRS 446.866 covers, then look at the craft food list for anything else you want to make.
Register with the health authority
Each natural person running the operation registers before selling any food item. Ask what information they need and send it in.
Pre-package what you sell
Wrap and box your bakes in your own kitchen, before they travel anywhere.
Price before you sell
Work out what each bake costs you, so your first sale is not a loss.
Pre-package everything, every time
Nevada kitchen sanitation and food safety guidelines advise pre-packaging all food to protect it from contamination during transport, display, sale and purchase by consumers. In practice that means your cookies go into a box or a bag in your kitchen, not onto an open plate at the table.
Rules shift from state to state and from session to session, so read the current text rather than a summary written a few years ago. Our guide to Idaho’s cottage food laws makes a useful comparison, and the Nevada sources listed below are the ones to check before you sell.
Once the paperwork is behind you, the rest is the part you already know: good bakes, fair prices, and orders you can keep track of. When you are ready to take money, Brevl lets you take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle and cash.
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Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my home in Nevada?
Nevada law requires each natural person who wishes to conduct a cottage food operation to register with the health authority before selling any food item, by submitting the required information. Registration is the step named in the current bill text.
Is a cottage food operation treated like a restaurant?
No. Under existing law a cottage food operation is not a food establishment for the purposes of certain provisions of law, and is not subject to certain inspections and enforcement.
What foods can I sell?
NRS 446.866 allows a limited amount of non-potentially hazardous foods to be prepared in a home kitchen. The 2015 craft food bill, SB441, allows certain foods to be prepared and sold from a person's home.
What is the pickle bill?
It is the nickname for the 2015 craft food bill, SB441, which the Nevada Legislature passed and the governor signed.
Do I have to wrap each item before selling it?
Nevada kitchen sanitation and food safety guidelines advise pre-packaging all food to protect it from contamination during transport, display, sale and purchase by consumers.
Did the 2025 session change anything for home bakers?
Assembly Bill 352 in the 83rd session restates that a cottage food operation is not a food establishment. It also addresses applications to the State Department of Agriculture for a license to conduct a cottage cosmetics operation.
Sources
General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the Nevada Department of Agriculture or your local health authority before you sell.