Cottage food rules
Oklahoma Cottage Food Label Rules for Home Bakers
What your Oklahoma label must say, where it goes, and which rules come with it.
On this page
What to remember
- Ingredients listed in descending order, plus an allergen statement.
- Label items go on the package, on the bulk container, or on a placard if the food is not packaged.
- Most homemade foods can be sold without a license, but food safety training is still required.
- The yearly sales cap is now $250,000, up from $75,000.
- Foods that need refrigeration have their own sales channel rules, and meat is restricted.
If you bake from your home kitchen in Oklahoma and sell what you make, the label is the piece of the law you touch on every single order. It is also the piece most home bakers put off until the week of their first market. Here is what the state asks for, in plain words, and where each part goes. For the wider picture on selling from home here, read what the new Oklahoma cottage food laws mean for home bakers.
What has to be on your label
The Homemade Food Freedom Act allows home producers to sell most homemade foods without a license, but it still requires a specific label. According to BakeProfit, that label has to list ingredients in descending order along with an allergen statement. Descending order means the ingredient you use the most of comes first, so a banana bread leads with bananas and flour before it gets to the salt.
Two things, then. The ingredient list in that order, and the allergen statement. Neither has to be fancy or printed by a shop. The point is that a customer standing at your table can read what is in the bake before they hand you money.
Where the label goes
Oklahoma guidance says producers must place the required product label items on the package, on the bulk container if applicable, or on a placard if the food is not packaged. That covers the three ways home bakers usually sell.
Wrapped and boxed bakes
Put the label items on the package itself, so the ingredients and the allergen statement travel home with the customer.
Selling from a bulk container
If the food goes into a bulk container, the label items belong on that container.
Selling unpackaged food
When the food is not packaged, the label items go on a placard instead.
The other rules that travel with the label
The label is one part of a larger set of requirements. Oklahoma’s Homemade Food Freedom Act requirements include a sales cap, sales channel rules for TCS foods that need refrigeration, food safety training, meat restrictions, and the required disclosure label. The OKC-County Health Department describes a homemade food product as food, including a beverage, that is produced and, if packaged, packaged at a residence, which is the test to apply to what you are selling.
Labeling rules like these exist in every state with a cottage food law, and the wording differs. If you want to see how another state handles it, our guide to Ohio cottage food labeling rules walks through the same ideas, and this roundup of home bakery apps helps if you are still deciding how to take orders.
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Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my Oklahoma kitchen?
Most homemade foods can be sold without a license under the Homemade Food Freedom Act, but the label is still required, and so is food safety training.
What exactly has to be on my label?
Ingredients in descending order and an allergen statement. According to BakeProfit, those are the required pieces of an Oklahoma cottage food label.
Does the label have to be on every package?
The label items go on the package, on the bulk container if applicable, or on a placard if the food is not packaged. Which one applies depends on how you are selling that item.
What counts as a homemade food product in Oklahoma?
The OKC-County Health Department describes it as food, including a beverage, that is produced and, if packaged, packaged at a residence.
Is the sales cap $75,000 or $250,000?
It is $250,000. Oklahoma renamed the law the Local Food Freedom Act and raised the cap from $75,000, keeping the labeling and food safety training requirements.
Can I sell foods that need refrigeration?
Oklahoma's requirements include sales channel rules for TCS foods that need refrigeration, so check those rules for the item you plan to sell before you take orders.
Sources
This is general information about Oklahoma cottage food labeling, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the state or your county health department before you sell.