Illinois's cottage food law is broader than most. A home kitchen, or a suitable kitchen on a farm, can make almost any food or drink that isn't on the law's prohibited list: meat, fish, pumpkin and custard pies, cheesecake, kombucha, low-acid canned foods and a few others. It even allows foods that need refrigeration, if they're kept cold, and pickles, kimchi and canned salsa with a tested recipe or a food safety plan. In exchange, you register every year with your local health department, for a fee of up to $50, and whoever makes or packs the food holds a certified food protection manager certificate. Sales are direct to consumers, at markets, events, by delivery and online, with no sales limit in the law, and shipping is allowed within Illinois only, for foods that don't need refrigeration. In the example below, a Springfield cook sorts six products. Below are the rules, the banned list, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Register with your local health department each year; the fee can be up to $50.
- Whoever prepares or packages the food is a certified food protection manager.
- Anything not on the prohibited list is allowed, including refrigerated foods kept at the right temperature.
- Fermented and acidified foods need a tested recipe, or a written food safety plan with a pH test.
- Sell directly: markets, events, online, delivery, pickup at home; never for resale.
- Ship only food that doesn't need refrigeration, sealed to show tampering, and never out of state.
- Label: name and place, registration number, product, every ingredient, the health department statement, net weight, the date made, allergens.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and production date on its labels. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What 410 ILCS 625/4 says |
|---|---|
| Where | A kitchen in your primary residence, or an appropriately designed and equipped kitchen on a farm |
| Registration | With the local health department, every year; a fee of up to $50; sell anywhere in the state |
| Training | Anyone preparing or packaging the food is a Department-approved certified food protection manager |
| Sales | Directly to consumers, not for resale: farmers markets, mobile markets, fairs and events, online, delivery, pickup at home or at a third party's property |
| Shipping | Only food that isn't time or temperature controlled for safety; tamper-evident; never out of state |
| Refrigerated foods | Kept and transported at the Department's holding temperatures |
| Well water | The health department may ask for a test |
| Inspections | On a complaint, an illness outbreak or a reason to believe there's a hazard; a fee can be charged |
The law is 410 ILCS 625/4, last amended by Public Act 104-417, effective August 15, 2025. Your local health department runs registration and may have its own form and fee. This is general information, not legal advice.
What's banned
| Not allowed | Except |
|---|---|
| Meat, poultry, fish, seafood, shellfish | |
| Dairy | In a shelf-stable baked good or candy, such as caramel, or a frosting such as buttercream |
| Eggs | In a shelf-stable food such as dry noodles, or cooked in a frosting such as buttercream |
| Pumpkin, sweet potato, custard and creme pies, cheesecake | |
| Pastries with fillings or toppings that need refrigeration | |
| Garlic in oil | If acidified |
| Low-acid canned foods | |
| Sprouts, cut leafy greens, cut tomato or melon | Leafy greens dehydrated, acidified or blanched and frozen |
| Wild-harvested mushrooms | |
| Alcoholic drinks, kombucha | Alcohol in extracts or baked goods |
For fermented and acidified foods, such as pickles, kimchi and hot sauce, submit a recipe tested by the USDA or a cooperative extension, or a written food safety plan for each category with a pH test of one product, renewed every three years. Canned ones go in a boiling water bath in Mason-style jars; ones that aren't canned are kept at or below 41 degrees. Canned tomato products follow a tested recipe exactly or get a lab test every year. How a fermented food business is planned is in kimchi business plan.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Operation | The cottage food operation's name and the unit of local government it's in |
| Registration | The registration number and the municipality or county where it was filed |
| Product | The common or usual name |
| Ingredients | All of them, colors, flavors and preservatives included, by weight |
| Statement | "This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens. If you have safety concerns, contact your local health department." |
| Date | The date the product was processed |
| Allergens | As federal labeling requires |
| Net weight | Added by the Department of Public Health's labeling sheet |
At the point of sale, a placard at a table, or a message at the online checkout, carries the first sentence of the statement too. The list is the statute's plus the net weight from IDPH's labeling sheet. How the federal parts of a label work is in food labeling requirements for small business.
An example: a Springfield cook
Sangamon Sweets, a made-up cottage food operation in Springfield, Illinois, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and ships cookies around the state:
| Product | Allowed? | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Cupcakes with buttercream | Yes | Dairy and cooked eggs are allowed in buttercream |
| Pumpkin pie | No | On the prohibited list |
| Kimchi, refrigerated | Yes | A tested recipe or a food safety plan with a pH test; kept at 41 degrees or below |
| Cheddar biscuits | Test first | The health department may ask for a lab test |
| Chicken tamales | No | Poultry isn't allowed |
| Canned tomato salsa | Yes | A tested recipe exactly, or a yearly lab test |
The kimchi sells at the market from a cooler, and never ships; only the cookies go in the mail, with a tamper sticker, to Illinois addresses. A customer in St. Louis asked for a box; the answer was pickup at the market on their next visit to Springfield. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Illinois cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line the law asks for with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and what it needs; 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
Illinois asks for the processing date on every label, and a food safety plan for each fermented category, renewed with the registration. With a dozen products, a cooler of kimchi and shipped boxes, which batch is which, and when it was made, gets lost on handwritten stickers.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and production date on its labels.
Each batch dated. Each batch gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with them, so the processing date the law asks for comes from the batch record.
Readings on the batch. Fields of your own on the batch record hold the kimchi's pH reading, and recipes are versioned, so each batch records the recipe version it was made from.
Where it went. Online 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 |
|---|---|---|
| The processing date | Handwritten sticker | From the batch's lot |
| A batch's pH | A log sheet | A field on the batch record |
| Where a batch went | Not recorded | One recall report |
Lots, batches, versioned recipes 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.