Cottage food rules
What Is the Cottage Food Law in California?
What California's cottage food law allows, what it asks of your kitchen, and what to check before your next sale.
On this page
What to remember
- Cottage food products are nonpotentially hazardous foods prepared for sale in the kitchen of a cottage food operation.
- Your bakes have to be on the CDPH Approved Cottage Food List.
- CDPH does not permit or register cottage food operations.
- Food contact surfaces, equipment and utensils must be washed, rinsed and sanitized before each use.
- No family cooking, dishwashing or clothes washing at the same time as cottage food work.
If you bake from home and sell what you bake, this is the law that decides what you may sell and how you have to work. Start with the definition, then check the list, then look hard at your own kitchen.
What counts as a cottage food product
California Health and Safety Code section 113758 defines cottage food products as nonpotentially hazardous foods prepared for sale in the kitchen of a cottage food operation. In plain terms, the law is written for foods that do not need refrigeration to stay safe, made in a kitchen inside a private home. The Approved Cottage Food List maintained by CDPH decides the specific items, and cottage food products allowed in the program must comply with that list. The list is detailed, and it can differ by county: as of April 2025, Mono County’s approved list allows products made with meringue powder, powdered eggs, or pasteurized eggs. Check the current list for the exact thing you plan to sell before you print a menu.
What the law asks of your kitchen
Section 114365 requires that all food contact surfaces, equipment, and utensils used for preparing, packaging, or handling cottage food products be washed, rinsed, and sanitized before each use. That covers your bowls, sheet pans, spatulas, bench scraper and counters. The same section prohibits cottage food preparation, packaging, or handling in the home kitchen at the same time as other domestic activities such as family meal preparation, dishwashing, or clothes washing.
Training, sales and sanitation under AB 1616
AB 1616, the California Homemade Food Act, requires cottage food operations to meet specific requirements related to product sales, training for operators and employees, sanitation, and production. So the law is not only about which foods you may sell. It also reaches how you were trained, how you keep the kitchen, and how the food is produced and sold.
The paperwork is where most home bakers stall, and it is easier done in order: confirm your bake is on the list, then work through how to get a license to sell baked goods from home in California. If you are still deciding whether you need anything at all, do I need a license to sell baked goods from home walks through that question, and how to get a permit to sell baked goods from home covers the permit side.
Bake ahead or bake to order
The law shapes your week as much as your menu. Because the kitchen cannot be used for other domestic activities at the same time as cottage food work, many bakers block out whole baking days instead of squeezing a batch in around dinner. Cottage food law: do you bake ahead or later looks at how to plan your week around that.
Keep your records tidy too. AB 1616 ties requirements to sales and training as well as sanitation, so a simple folder of what you sold, to whom and when is far easier than rebuilding it later. When you are ready to take orders, Brevl gives you a shop that is yours to customize, with your photos, your colors and your own web address, and you take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle and cash.
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Before your next sale, do three things: open the CDPH Approved Cottage Food List and find your bake, read section 114365 with your own kitchen in mind, and write your cleaning routine down where you will see it. Then price the work so it actually pays you.
Common questions
Does CDPH approve my cottage food operation?
No. The California Department of Public Health does not permit or register Cottage Food Operations. What it does maintain is the Approved Cottage Food List, and your products have to comply with it.
Can I sell a cake with cream cheese frosting under the cottage food law?
The Approved Cottage Food List decides that, and I cannot confirm a specific item here. Look up your exact product on the current CDPH list before you offer it for sale.
Can I cook dinner while I package cookies?
No. Section 114365 prohibits cottage food preparation, packaging, or handling in the home kitchen at the same time as other domestic activities such as family meal preparation, dishwashing, or clothes washing.
Do I have to sanitize between batches?
Yes. Section 114365 requires all food contact surfaces, equipment, and utensils used for preparing, packaging, or handling cottage food products to be washed, rinsed, and sanitized before each use.
What is AB 1616?
AB 1616 is the California Homemade Food Act. It requires cottage food operations to meet specific requirements related to product sales, training for operators and employees, sanitation, and production.
Sources
This is general information about California's cottage food law, not legal advice. Rules change and details vary by county, so confirm the current requirements before you sell.