Minnesota's cottage food law, section 28A.152, lets a home cook sell foods that aren't potentially hazardous and home-canned pickles, vegetables and fruits at pH 4.6 or below, after registering every year with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and taking its food safety training. Sales can reach $78,000 in gross receipts a calendar year: at farmers markets and community events, from home where local rules allow, and online, but today the person who made the food delivers it. Every product is labeled with the maker's name, the date it was made, ingredients and allergens, and one sentence, which also goes on a sign at the stand and on your website. Changes passed in 2025 take effect August 1, 2027: a flat $30 fee and delivery by mail or courier. In the example below, a Two Harbors baker sorts six products. Below are the rules, the 2027 changes, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Register with MDA every year; $50, or no fee below the small-sales threshold, until August 2027.
- Training: an approved course of up to eight hours every three years if you pay the fee; a free online course and exam if you don't.
- Foods that aren't potentially hazardous, and home-canned pickles, vegetables and fruits at pH 4.6 or below or water activity 0.85 or below.
- Up to $78,000 in gross receipts a calendar year.
- Sell at farmers markets, community events, from home, and online; until August 2027, you deliver it yourself.
- Home-canned goods can't be sold outside Minnesota.
- Label: name, registration number or address, date made, ingredients, possible allergens, and "These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection."
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the year's receipts from the orders. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What section 28A.152 says today |
|---|---|
| Foods | Not potentially hazardous; or home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits at pH 4.6 or below or water activity 0.85 or below |
| Registration | Every year with the commissioner; accepted within 30 days |
| Fee | $50 a year; none if gross receipts are under a threshold first set at $5,000 and adjusted for inflation |
| Training | Fee payers: an approved course of up to eight hours, every three years; others: a free online course and exam |
| Selling | To the consumer at community events and farmers markets, from home as local rules allow, or online |
| Delivery | By the person who prepared the food |
| Limit | $78,000 in gross receipts a calendar year |
| Canned goods | Not sold outside Minnesota |
| Local rules | Business licenses, sanitation and zoning ordinances still apply |
The law in force is the 2024 text of section 28A.152. Check MDA's registration for this year's fee threshold. This is general information, not legal advice.
What changes on August 1, 2027
| Until July 31, 2027 | From August 1, 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | $50, or none for small sellers | $30 |
| Delivery | By the person who made it | By you, by mail, or by commercial delivery |
| Who can register | An individual, who may organize as a business entity | An individual, a sole proprietorship, a one-person LLC, or a two-person LLC at one residence |
| Limit | $78,000 | $78,000, adjusted for inflation every two years |
| Food handler license | Holders of a food handler license can't use the exemption |
The changes come from Laws 2025, chapter 34, and are shown in the current text of the section with their effective date. Which foods are potentially hazardous is in TCS foods list.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Who made it | Your name, and your registration number or address |
| Date | The date it was prepared, or processed and canned |
| Ingredients | The ingredients and any possible allergens |
| Statement | "These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection." |
The same statement goes on a clearly legible sign or placard where you sell, and on the website that offers the food. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Two Harbors baker
North Shore Pantry, a made-up cottage food producer in Two Harbors, Minnesota, I use in these examples, sells at a summer farmers market and takes online orders it delivers around town:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wild rice bread | Yes | Not potentially hazardous |
| Krumkake | Yes | Not potentially hazardous |
| Lingonberry jam | Yes | Home-canned fruit at pH 4.6 or below |
| Dill pickles | Yes | Home-canned; stays in Minnesota |
| Cheesecake bars | No | Potentially hazardous |
| Wild rice hotdish | No | Potentially hazardous |
A cousin in Superior, Wisconsin, asked for a case of pickles by mail; canned goods can't leave Minnesota, and until August 2027 the baker delivers everything in person anyway. By September North Shore Pantry had $21,400 in receipts, 27% of the $78,000. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Minnesota cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and why; and receipts by month against $78,000, 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
The fee and training depend on the year's gross receipts, the limit is counted the same way, and every jar carries the date it was canned. Market cash, online orders and delivered boxes have to add up to one number each year.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the year's receipts from the orders.
Each batch dated. A batch of pickles gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with them, so the date the label needs comes from the batch.
Orders together. Market and online orders are recorded with the lots each customer got, so one recall report shows where a batch went; TaroStack connects to Square for market sales.
The year's receipts. Sales come from the orders, so the gross receipts behind the fee and the $78,000 are already there, and every list exports to CSV.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date made | Handwritten | From the batch's lot |
| Where a batch went | Not recorded | Recorded with each order |
| The year's gross receipts | Added up in December | From the records, 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.