Cottage food rules
Virginia Cottage Food Laws and Pets: What You Can Sell
Where Virginia's cottage food rules stop and pet treat rules begin.
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What to remember
- The cottage food exemption in Virginia is about low risk foods for people, not pet food.
- Home processed pet treats for dogs and cats point to a commercial feed license and per product registration.
- Virginia sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales, so your kitchen and your time are the real ceiling.
- Local health departments often add their own requirements on top of the state rules.
Most weeks the question is cakes, cookies, and bread. Then a customer asks whether the dog can have a biscuit too, and the answer stops being simple. The cottage food law exemption guide covers what the state exemption allows for people food, and this guide stays on the pet side of the line.
What Virginia’s cottage food rules cover
Section 3.2-5130 of the Code of Virginia allows certain low risk foods, acidified vegetables, and honey to be made from a private home without VDACS inspection, with certain restrictions. That is the exemption most home bakers in the state work under.
Outside that exemption, food establishments, and that includes private homes that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for sale, are subject to the Virginia Food and Drink Law and the regulations that come with it. The exemption is specific rather than general. It is not a blanket permission to sell anything you make in your own kitchen.
One thing in your favor is that Virginia sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales. The ceiling on growth is your own kitchen and your own time rather than a number written into the law.
Why pet treats are a separate question
Guidance written for cottage bakers who want to sell home processed pet treats for dogs and cats points to Virginia’s commercial feed license and to per product registration. That is a different set of requirements from the cottage food exemption, and a cake business does not carry it by default. Nothing about running a cottage food operation for people food registers a dog biscuit recipe.
So the honest answer on adding pet treats to your table is that it depends on paperwork you have not done yet. Before you bake a batch for sale, ask VDACS directly about the commercial feed license and about what registration each product needs.
Before you bake a batch of pet treats to sell
Keep the two lines apart
Your cottage food baking and any pet treat line are not the same operation. Separate the recipes, the costs, and the labels from the start.
Ask VDACS about the commercial feed license
The guidance for home processed pet treats references a commercial feed license. Ask what it takes to hold one before you plan a product line.
Register each product
Per product registration is part of the same guidance. Each treat you want to sell may need its own registration, so write out your recipes before you ask.
Call your local health department
Local health departments often add requirements on top of state rules. One phone call can save you a wasted batch and a wasted fee.
Get your people food labels right
The pet question should not distract you from the labels on your cakes and cookies. Our guide to Virginia cottage food labels walks through what your label needs.
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The short version is that your cottage food business can keep growing, since Virginia puts no dollar limit on those sales, but pet treats need their own permission before a single bag goes out the door. Ask the questions first, then bake.
Common questions
Can I sell homemade dog treats under Virginia's cottage food law?
Guidance for home bakers points pet treats for dogs and cats to Virginia's commercial feed license and per product registration rather than to the cottage food exemption. Confirm the requirements with VDACS before you sell.
Does Virginia cap how much I can sell as a cottage food business?
No dollar limit is set on cottage food sales, so the limit on your growth is your own kitchen and your own time.
Do local rules apply on top of the state rules?
Yes. Local health departments in Virginia often add their own requirements on top of the state rules, and the rules themselves change, so check with yours.
Can I sell cakes and dog biscuits from the same shop?
The people food side can run under the cottage food exemption if your products qualify. The pet side needs its own paperwork confirmed first, so keep the two separate until it is.
Sources
This is general information about cottage food rules, not legal advice. Confirm your own situation with VDACS and your local health department.