Cottage food rules
What Are the Cottage Food Laws in Louisiana?
Read what Louisiana RS 40:4.9 actually says about baking at home for sale, who the exemption leaves out, and the conditions to check before your first paid order.
On this page
If you bake in your own kitchen in Louisiana and sell what comes out of the oven, this is the law that decides more about your setup than any advice you will read online. It is short. Read the real text, then read it again with your own kitchen in mind.
What to remember
- The law exempts low-risk foods prepared in the home for sale from state Sanitary Code requirements about equipment, design, construction, utensils, supplies, preparation, and services. - The exemption does not cover a preparer of breads, cakes, cookies, or pies who employs anyone to assist in preparing those foods for sale. - Breads, cakes, cookies, and pies are the items the law names when it sets conditions. - One listed condition is that all outside openings shall be protected. - The law is the starting point. Confirm your own case with the state before you sell.
What RS 40:4.9 actually exempts
Read the sentence slowly, because it is narrower than “no rules apply.” The law points at a specific list: equipment, design, construction, utensils, supplies, preparation, and services. Those requirements, coming from the state Sanitary Code or any other law or regulation, do not apply to preparing low-risk foods in the home for sale.
In plain terms, the kitchen you already have is not being measured against commercial kitchen standards on those points. You are not being told to rebuild a room to restaurant specifications so you can bake a cake for a neighbor.
Who the exemption leaves out
There is a clear carve out. The exemption does not apply to any preparer of breads, cakes, cookies, or pies who employs any individual to assist in preparing those foods for sale. The word is employs. If you are the only one baking those items for sale, this clause is not about you.
That matters before a big week, not after. A busy holiday order can make a second set of hands feel obvious. Read the clause first, then decide what your week looks like.
The conditions the law lists
The exemption is not unconditional. RS 40:4.9 lists restrictions, conditions, and requirements that apply to preparing breads, cakes, cookies, and pies in the home for sale. One of them is stated plainly: all outside openings shall be protected.
That is the wording in the law, and it is the phrase to bring to the state. The text does not explain in that passage what counts as protected, or which openings are in scope. Guessing on a Saturday night is not the same as asking.
How to check your own kitchen
Read the law yourself
Open RS 40:4.9 on the Louisiana legislature site and read the whole section. Not a summary, not a screenshot. The exact wording is what you are checking your kitchen against.
Confirm your items are covered
The law applies to low-risk foods prepared in the home for sale, and it names breads, cakes, cookies, and pies when it sets conditions. If what you want to sell is not on that list, ask the state before you sell it.
Look at who does the work
If you employ anyone to assist in preparing breads, cakes, cookies, or pies for sale, the exemption does not apply to you as a preparer of those foods. Know that before you bring in help.
Walk your kitchen and check outside openings
The law says all outside openings shall be protected. Look at your doors and windows with that sentence in hand and ask the state what it expects from your space.
Write down what you confirmed
Note the date, who you spoke with, and what they told you. When your setup changes, you will know exactly what to recheck.
What the law does not answer
The conditions above are about your kitchen and who does the work. They do not answer the questions you will have on the selling side: what goes on a label, what you charge for a dozen, and how you take an order and get paid.
Those are separate questions, and they are worth the same care. If you sell in another state or move, read that state’s law on its own terms. Louisiana RS 40:4.9 speaks for Louisiana.
Selling from your home kitchen
Once you know where you stand, the next job is taking orders without dropping any. You want your photos, your prices, and your pickup details in one place you can send a customer in a text message.
Before you bake for money in Louisiana
Start with the law, then build the rest of your setup around it. These guides help with the next questions:
- Cottage food law: do you bake ahead or later? for planning your week around what you are allowed to make.
- Which food cannot be sold under the cottage food law if you are unsure whether an item belongs on your menu.
- Do I need a license to sell baked goods online? for the selling side of the question.
- How to get a permit to sell baked goods from home when you are ready to confirm your own situation with the state.
The order of operations is simple. Read RS 40:4.9, ask the state about anything unclear, write down the answer, and only then start taking money for a cake.
Sources
This is general information about Louisiana RS 40:4.9, not legal advice. Rules change and your situation may differ from your neighbor's. Confirm with the agency that enforces the state Sanitary Code before you sell.