Kentucky calls a cottage food business a home-based processor. You register with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Food Safety Branch, for $50 a year, and make foods that aren't potentially hazardous in your home kitchen: breads, cakes, cookies, fruit and pecan pies, candy without alcohol, jams and preserves, fruit butter, sorghum and maple syrup, granola, dried herbs. Since July 15, 2026, the same registration covers lard and tallow-based cosmetics, such as old-fashioned lard soap. Gross income stays at or under $60,000 a year, and sales go directly to consumers in Kentucky: from home, at markets, roadside stands and community events, with orders taken online. Pickles and other acidified foods are out, unless you're a farmer on the separate microprocessor path. In the example below, a Nelson County maker sorts six products. Below are the rules, the foods, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Register with the CHFS Food Safety Branch: $50, renewed every year by March 31.
- Foods that aren't potentially hazardous, made in your home; and since July 15, 2026, lard or tallow-based cosmetics.
- No acid, acidified or low-acid canned foods; farmers can make those as home-based microprocessors after UK Extension training.
- Up to $60,000 in gross income a year.
- Sell directly to consumers in Kentucky: from home by pickup or delivery, markets, roadside stands, events; orders can come in online.
- CHFS's guidance says items are handed over in person; no shipping.
- Label: name and address, product, ingredients, net weight, "This product is home-produced and processed", date processed, allergens.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and processing date, and the year's income from the orders. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What KRS 217.136 and CHFS say |
|---|---|
| Who | A person who produces non-potentially hazardous foods, or pork lard or tallow-based cosmetics, in their home |
| Registration | With the cabinet: your name, the address where you produce, and a list of products; CHFS charges $50 a year |
| Not allowed | Acid foods, acidified foods, formulated acid foods, low-acid canned foods |
| Containers | Clean, sanitary, labeled; jams, jellies and preserves in glass with rigid metal lids |
| Sales | Directly to consumers in Kentucky: from your home by pickup or delivery, a market, roadside stand, community event, or online |
| Limit | $60,000 in gross income a year |
| Kitchen | No children under 12, pets or other animals in the kitchen while you work, and no family cooking or laundry at the same time |
| Inspection | The cabinet may inspect each year, and samples on a complaint or a misbranding |
The law is KRS 217.136 and the definition in KRS 217.015, both amended by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 52. CHFS's summary of home-based processing lists the products and the kitchen rules and says items are provided in person, not shipped. This is general information, not legal advice.
What you can make
CHFS lists: dried herbs, spices, nuts, candy made without alcohol and with no bare-hand contact, dried grains, granola, trail mix, whole fruits and vegetables, dried and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, mixed greens, jams and jellies, preserves, fruit butter, sweet sorghum syrup, maple syrup, bread, fruit pies, pecan pies, cakes, cookies, and popcorn. Low-acid, low-sugar and savory jams and jellies go through the University of Kentucky's microprocessing program first. Which foods count as potentially hazardous is in TCS foods list.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Product | The common or usual name |
| Operation | Name and full street address, city, state and ZIP |
| Ingredients | In descending order by weight |
| Net quantity | Net weight or volume, or a count |
| Statement | "This product is home-produced and processed" in 10-point type |
| Date | The date the product was processed |
| Allergens | Any of the nine major allergens, named in the ingredients or a "Contains" line |
CHFS's label guide has an example and says a Nutrition Facts panel is needed only for a nutrient or health claim. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Nelson County maker
Rolling Fork Kitchen, a made-up home-based processor in Bardstown, Kentucky, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and takes online orders for pickup:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pecan pie | Yes | On CHFS's list |
| Blackberry jam | Yes | Regular jam; low-sugar would go through UK first |
| Sorghum syrup | Yes | Sweet sorghum syrup is named |
| Pickled beets | No | Acidified foods aren't allowed |
| Bourbon balls | No | Candy must be made without alcohol |
| Lard soap | Yes | Lard-based cosmetics, since July 15, 2026 |
The soap moved from a separate hobby onto the registration in July, and onto the same $60,000. By September Rolling Fork had $37,200 in gross income, 62% of the limit. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Kentucky home-based processor checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and why; and income by month against $60,000, red past 90%. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Every label carries the date the product was processed, the cabinet can inspect each year, and the $60,000 now covers soap as well as food. Two kinds of products, market days and online pickups make one total and one set of dates hard to keep by hand.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and processing date, and the year's income from the orders.
Each batch dated. A batch of jam or soap gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with them, so the date processed comes from the batch.
Food and soap together. Both are products with their own recipes and batches, so one set of records covers the whole registration.
The year's income. Market and pickup orders sit together, with Square connected for market sales, and the year's total against $60,000 comes from the orders; every list exports to CSV.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date processed | Handwritten | From the batch's lot |
| Soap and food records | Two notebooks | One set of products and batches |
| The year's gross income | Added up in December | From the orders, exported to CSV |
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.