Alabama's cottage food law, revised in 2021, lets a home kitchen make foods that don't need refrigeration, cakes, breads, pies, candy, jams and marmalades, roasted coffee, dried herbs and fruit, and pickles or salsas at a safe pH, after passing an approved food safety course and filing a Cottage Food Review Form with your county health department. There's no inspection of your kitchen and no sales cap; the county reviews your course certificate and your labels, and fees vary by county. Sales go directly to consumers in Alabama, in person, by phone or online, delivered by you, your agent or by mail within the state, but never to restaurants, grocery stores or shops for resale. Every package is labeled in 10-point type with two statements. In the example below, a Fairhope baker sorts six products. Below are the rules, the foods, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Pass a food safety course: Alabama Extension's cottage food course or any ANSI-accredited program; keep it current.
- Take your certificate, a sample label and the Cottage Food Review Form to your county health department.
- No kitchen inspection; county review fees vary.
- Foods that don't need time or temperature control, with no meat, poultry or fish.
- No limit on gross sales.
- Sell directly to consumers in Alabama, in person, by phone or online; deliver yourself, through an agent, or by mail.
- Not to restaurants, grocery stores or shops for resale.
- Label in 10-point type: product, operation name, home or P.O. Box address, ingredients, "not inspected by the Health Department", and "may contain allergens".
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and where it went. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What ADPH and Extension say |
|---|---|
| Cottage food | Non-potentially hazardous food prepared in your home, not needing time or temperature control; no meat, poultry or fish |
| Training | Pass an ADPH-approved food safety course and keep the certification current |
| Review | Submit the Cottage Food Review Form, your certificate and a sample label to the county health department |
| Inspection | None of the home kitchen |
| Sales | Directly to consumers, in person, by phone or online, within Alabama |
| Delivery | By mail, through an agent of the producer, or directly to the consumer, within the state |
| Not allowed | Sales to permitted facilities such as restaurants and grocery stores, or to shops for resale |
| Limit | None; the annual income limit was removed |
| Local rules | A city or county business license, zoning and rental agreements may still apply |
The rules are on ADPH's cottage food page, with its FAQ, and in Alabama Extension's Basic Rules and Regulations (July 2024). This is general information, not legal advice.
What you can make
| Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| Cakes, breads, Danish, doughnuts, pastries, pies, cheese straws | Baked goods with a part needing refrigeration: custard pies, whipped toppings, cheesecake, raw cookie dough |
| Candy; candied or roasted nuts; popcorn | Meat in any form, milk products, vegetable pizzas |
| Jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades, fruit butters | Garlic in oil |
| Roasted coffee; dried baking mixes; dried herbs, fruits and vegetables | Kombucha |
| Pickles, salsas, sauerkraut, barbecue sauce, at the department's pH or water activity | Products over 3% alcohol |
Extension's guide gives water activity below 0.88 or pH below 4.2 as ADPH's lines for those preserved foods, tested by an approved lab or processing authority, and the results go to the county with your review. How pH readings are taken is in pH testing for acidified foods.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Product | The common or usual name |
| Operation | The name of the cottage food operation |
| Address | Home or P.O. Box address |
| Ingredients | With sub-ingredients, in descending order by weight |
| Statements | That the food is not inspected by the Health Department, and that it may contain allergens |
Everything is at least 10-point, on every package, and the county reviews the label. Extension's sample uses "This product may contain allergens. This product is not inspected by the health department." and recommends a Contains line and a net weight too. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Fairhope baker
Magnolia River Kitchen, a made-up home baker in Fairhope, Alabama, I use in these examples, sells at a Saturday market and mails orders around the state:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese straws | Yes | On Extension's list |
| Satsuma marmalade | Yes | Marmalades are named |
| Pecan pralines | Yes | Candy |
| Chow-chow | Test first | Preserved vegetables at the department's pH |
| Banana pudding | No | Needs refrigeration |
| Smoked mullet dip | No | Fish isn't allowed |
The chow-chow went to a lab before the review form, and the results went with it. A gift shop in Mobile asked to stock the cheese straws; Alabama's law doesn't allow sales to shops for resale, so the answer was no. By September Magnolia River had sold $29,000. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Alabama cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and why; and sales by month, with no cap set. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
No inspector visits, but the county has your label on file and mailed orders reach customers you never meet. If a jar of chow-chow is questioned, which batch it was, what its pH read, and who else got that batch is the answer that matters.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and where it went.
Each batch dated. A batch of chow-chow gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with it.
Readings on the batch. Fields of your own on the batch record hold each batch's pH, next to the lab result for the recipe.
Where it went. Mailed and market orders record the lots each customer got, so one recall report shows where a batch went; TaroStack connects to Square for market sales.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A batch's date | Written on the jar | The batch's lot and dates |
| A batch's pH | A log sheet | A field on the batch record |
| Who got a batch | Not recorded | One recall report |
Lots, batches, orders and lot labels are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.