Cottage food rules
Washington Cottage Food Law: What Home Bakers Can Sell
A plain walk through the Washington cottage food rule, from the permit to the label.
What to remember
- The rule lives in Chapter 69.22 RCW.
- You make it in your own home kitchen and sell it directly to the person who eats it.
- A Washington Cottage Food Permit covers food that is not potentially hazardous, like baked goods.
- Every item has to be packaged and properly labeled.
- Chapter 69.22 RCW exempts you from local health permitting and inspection.
If you have been baking for neighbors and taking cash in the driveway, this is the law that decides how far you can take it. It is written for a home kitchen, not a commercial one, and it draws a fairly tight circle around what you can do. The full picture of what the exemption covers is worth reading next to this page: what the Washington exemption covers.
What the permit lets you sell
The state describes a Cottage Food Permit as the thing that allows a Washington resident to make food that is not potentially hazardous, and it names baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves as examples. The law itself defines a cottage food operation as a person who produces cottage food products only in the home kitchen of that person’s primary domestic residence in Washington, and only for sale directly to the consumer. Both halves matter. The kitchen has to be the one in your own home, and the sale has to go straight to the person buying it.
Packaging and the label
A cottage food operation must package and properly label for sale to the consumer any food it produces. That means every loaf, jar, and box of cookies leaves your hands already wrapped and already labeled, not labeled at the table. What goes on that label is its own topic, and this walk through of a similar label rule is a useful checklist: what your label needs. If you want to see how another state words its required statement, this breakdown is helpful: the statement on your label.
Packaging and labeling are also where a home baker loses money without noticing. A box, a sticker, and a ribbon add up across fifty orders, so price with those in the number rather than after the fact.
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Where the rules stand right now
Chapter 69.22 RCW provides an exemption from provisions of chapter 69.07 RCW and from permitting and inspection by the local health jurisdiction. That is the reason a home baker in Washington is not dealing with a county inspector for a tray of brownies. There is movement on this, though. The Washington State Department of Health has proposed legislation to switch oversight of Cottage Food Operations from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Health by amending Chapter 69.22 RCW, and the proposal states an intent to create a new DOH Cottage Foods program that addresses the needs of people who want to sell food prepared in their home kitchens.
- What a cottage food exemption actually covers
- What your label needs to say
- How another state words its required statement
Common questions
Do I need a permit to sell cookies from my home in Washington?
Yes. A Washington Cottage Food Permit allows a resident of Washington state to make food that is not potentially hazardous, such as baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves, and sell it directly to the consumer.
Can I sell my bakes to a coffee shop or a restaurant?
The law says food produced by a cottage food operation may not be repackaged, sold, or used as an ingredient in other foods by a food processor. Cottage food sales are direct to the consumer.
Will my home kitchen be inspected?
Chapter 69.22 RCW provides an exemption from permitting and inspection by the local health jurisdiction. That exemption is the whole point of the chapter.
Can I sell jam and candy, or only baked goods?
The state lists baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves as examples of the food a Cottage Food Permit covers, because they are not potentially hazardous.
Is the oversight of cottage food in Washington changing?
The Department of Health has proposed legislation to move oversight from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Health by amending Chapter 69.22 RCW, with an intent to create a new DOH Cottage Foods program. It is a proposal, so check the current status before you rely on it.
Does my product need a label?
Yes. A cottage food operation must package and properly label for sale to the consumer any food it produces.
Sources
This is general information about how the law reads, not legal or tax advice. Rules and pending proposals change. Confirm the current requirements with the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health before you sell.