Indiana now has two cottage food laws side by side. The home-based vendor rules (IC 16-42-5.3, since 2022) let anyone make foods that don't need refrigeration at their primary residence and sell them in person, by phone or online, shipped or delivered within Indiana, with an accredited food handler certificate, no license, and no sales cap. Since July 1, 2026, House Enrolled Act 1424 adds homestead vendors and small farms (IC 16-42-5.4): they can sell prepared foods, baked goods, candy, fruit spreads, sweeteners, produce and meat from animals they raise, from their property, at farmers markets, online and by delivery, up to $1.5 million a year. Both sell only to the end consumer, never for resale, and each has its own label statement. In the example below, a Montgomery County baker sorts six products across the two paths. Below are the two paths, the labels, shipping, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Home-based vendor (2022): non-refrigerated foods, made at your primary residence; no license; no sales cap.
- Homestead vendor or small farm (from July 1, 2026): prepared foods, baked goods, candy, fruit spreads, sweeteners, produce, and meat raised on your property; up to $1.5 million a year.
- Both: sell only to the end consumer; no wholesale or resale; no sales outside Indiana.
- Home-based vendors need an ANSI-accredited food handler certificate; homestead vendors need one to ship or deliver.
- Home-based vendor label: name and address, product, ingredients, net weight, date processed, and "NOT FOR RESALE."
- Homestead vendor label: name, address, ingredients, description, possible allergens, and its own exemption statement.
- Local governments can't add licenses or inspections to either.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, its date, and each customer's delivery. More below.
The two paths
| Home-based vendor | Homestead vendor or small farm | |
|---|---|---|
| Law | IC 16-42-5.3 (2022) | IC 16-42-5.4, in effect July 1, 2026 |
| Where it's made | Your primary residence, including permanent structures on the property | Your property (primary residence or agricultural land) or small farm |
| Foods | Not potentially hazardous | Prepared foods, baked goods, candy, produce, natural sweeteners, fruit spreads, meat products raised and processed under IC 15-17-5 |
| Selling | In person, by phone, online | From the property, at farmers markets, online, by delivery |
| Delivery | In person, by mail, or by carrier, within Indiana | Shipped or delivered within Indiana, with a food handler certificate |
| Training | ANSI-accredited food handler certificate, a copy to your local health department | Food handler certificate if you ship or deliver |
| Sales limit | None | $1.5 million in gross sales a year |
| Records | Each customer's shipping or delivery address, kept a year |
The home-based vendor rules are in HEA 1149 (the 2022 act and handout). The homestead rules are summarized in the Department of Health's May 26, 2026 memo, which confirms both laws stay in force. Prepared foods with meat may fall under USDA rules, and selling past the end consumer makes you a wholesale food establishment. This is general information, not legal advice.
The labels
| Home-based vendor | Homestead vendor or small farm |
|---|---|
| Name and address of the producer | Name of the vendor or farm owner |
| Common or usual name | Address |
| Ingredients by weight | Ingredients by weight |
| Net weight, volume or count | A description of the product |
| The date it was processed | Allergens it might have come in contact with |
| "This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the state department of health. NOT FOR RESALE." | "This product was produced by a homestead vendor or the owner of a small farm that is exempt from government licensing and inspection." |
Both statements are at least 10-point. A home-based vendor also posts each product's label on their website. Unpackaged food gets a sign with the same information. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
Shipping and delivery
Both paths ship and deliver only to Indiana addresses. A home-based vendor ships in a sealed, tamper-evident package and keeps every customer's shipping or delivery address for a year, to hand the Department of Health on request. A homestead vendor ships in sealed packaging, keeps meat refrigerated, and packages everything on the property before it travels: no cutting, serving or repackaging at the market.
An example: a Montgomery County baker
Sugar Creek Kitchen, a made-up home baker near Crawfordsville, Indiana, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and ships online orders around the state:
| Product | Allowed? | Which path |
|---|---|---|
| Sourdough bread | Yes | Either |
| Strawberry jam | Yes | Either; a fruit spread under the 2026 law |
| Maple syrup | Yes | Either; a natural sweetener under the 2026 law |
| Sugar cream pie | Homestead only | Needs refrigeration, so not as a home-based vendor; a baked good under the 2026 law |
| Chicken and noodles, frozen | Check federal rules | A prepared food with poultry; USDA rules may apply |
| Pies for a café to resell | No | Both sell only to the end consumer |
Sugar cream pie is why the baker read the new law: as a home-based vendor it was off the table, and as a homestead vendor it's a baked good. By September Sugar Creek had sold $33,200, far under the homestead limit; home-based vendors have none. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business, and which foods need refrigeration in TCS foods list.
Get the checklist
Download the Indiana cottage food checklist. Three sheets: both labels, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and under which path; and sales by month. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A home-based vendor's label carries the date each product was processed, and the law asks for every customer's delivery address for a year. Shipping around the state, that's a list kept by hand next to a list of batches, and the state can ask for it.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, its date, and each customer's delivery.
Each batch dated. A batch of pies gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with them, so the date processed comes from the batch.
Customers and orders. Each online customer is a customer with their orders, and each order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows where a batch went, and every list exports to CSV when the state asks.
Market sales too. TaroStack connects to Square for market sales, so the market and shipped orders sit together.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date processed | Handwritten | From the batch's lot |
| A year of customers | A list by hand | Customers and orders, exported to CSV |
| 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.