Cottage food rules
Washington Cottage Food Laws: What Home Bakers Can Sell
A plain walk through the Washington permit, so you know what you can sell and what to do first.
What to remember
- The permit covers food that is not potentially hazardous, including baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves.
- You make the food in a domestic kitchen and sell it directly to the consumer.
- WSDA Food Safety and Consumer Services issues the permit.
- Each operator needs a valid food handler’s permit.
- Products must be prepackaged with a required label, apart from a few products named in the rule.
If you bake from your kitchen in Washington and want to sell what you make, the permit is the thing to get right before you take a single order. Here is what the rule actually says, in plain words. For a wider look at selling from home in this state, see Washington Cottage Food Laws: What Home Bakers Can Sell, and for a shorter version of the same ground, Washington Cottage Food Law: What Home Bakers Can Sell.
What a Washington cottage food permit covers
A Cottage Food Permit allows a resident of Washington state to make food that is not potentially hazardous. The examples the state gives are baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves. A Cottage Food Operation Permit allows that non potentially hazardous food to be made in a domestic kitchen and sold directly to the consumer.
Two parts of that matter most for a home baker. The food has to be the kind that is not potentially hazardous, and it has to be made in a domestic kitchen and sold directly to the consumer. Those are the edges of what the permit lets you do.
Getting permitted
The permit is issued to cottage food operations by WSDA Food Safety and Consumer Services, and it is needed in order to legally sell cottage food products. To qualify for a new cottage food operator permit under chapter 69.22 RCW, the Washington Cottage Food Operator Act, a cottage food operator must first make application to the department. In other words, the paperwork comes before the baking for sale.
Apply to the department
Under chapter 69.22 RCW, an operator must first make application to the department before a new cottage food operator permit can be issued.
Hold a food handler's permit
A cottage food production operation shall ensure that each operator holds a valid food handler’s permit.
Set up your surfaces
A cottage food production operation shall provide for food contact surfaces that are smooth and easily cleanable.
Get your labels ready
A cottage food operation may only sell cottage food products which are prepackaged, with a label affixed that contains the required information, apart from certain products outlined in the rule.
Labels and how you sell
A cottage food operation may only sell cottage food products which are prepackaged, with a label affixed that contains the required information. There is an exception for certain products outlined in the rule, but for most home bakers the safe habit is the same one every time: package it, label it, then hand it over.
Selling direct to the consumer is part of the definition of the permit, so how you take orders matters as much as what comes out of the oven. A shop of your own with your photos, your colors, and your own web address makes that simple. Brevl takes card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash, and it works on a computer and on a phone. We set it up with you and move your old shop over, products, photos, reviews, and dates, and a real person answers, usually within minutes.
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The rules themselves sit in Chapter 16-149 WAC, the Washington administrative code chapter titled Cottage Foods. Read it once with your own products in front of you, and you will know exactly where your bakes fit.
Common questions
Do I need a permit to sell baked goods from my home in Washington?
Yes. A Cottage Food Operation Permit is issued to cottage food operations by WSDA Food Safety and Consumer Services, and it is needed in order to legally sell cottage food products.
What can I sell under a Washington cottage food permit?
Food that is not potentially hazardous. The state names baked goods, candies, jams, jellies, and preserves as examples, made in a domestic kitchen and sold directly to the consumer.
Do I need a food handler's permit too?
Yes. A cottage food production operation shall ensure that each operator holds a valid food handler's permit.
Do my products have to be labeled?
A cottage food operation may only sell cottage food products which are prepackaged, with a label affixed that contains the required information, apart from certain products outlined in the rule.
Where can I read the actual rules?
Chapter 16-149 WAC is the Washington administrative code chapter titled Cottage Foods. The application requirement for a new permit sits in chapter 69.22 RCW, the Washington Cottage Food Operator Act.
Sources
General information, not legal advice. Rules can change, so check chapter 16-149 WAC and confirm with WSDA Food Safety and Consumer Services before you sell.