New Mexico's cottage food law is the Homemade Food Act, in effect since July 1, 2021. It lets you make low-risk foods at your private farm, ranch or home, breads, cookies, cakes, fruit pies, candy, popcorn, granola, roasted coffee, high-sugar fruit jams, and sell them directly to consumers with no permit from the Environment Department, after getting a food handler card. Sales can be at farmers markets, festivals, roadside stands, from home, online, and by mail, anywhere in New Mexico, but not to restaurants, grocery stores, wholesalers, or out of state. Foods that need refrigeration, and some local favorites like salsa and chile jelly, aren't allowed. Every product carries your name, home address, phone and email, the ingredients, and a two-sentence statement. In the example below, a Las Cruces baker sorts six products. Below are the rules, the foods, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- No NMED food permit for low-risk, non-TCS foods made at your private farm, ranch or home.
- Get a food handler card from an approved program before you start.
- Sell directly to consumers in New Mexico: farmers markets, festivals, roadside stands, home pickup or delivery, online, mail.
- Not to restaurants, wholesalers, distributors or grocery stores, and not out of state.
- Not allowed: anything needing refrigeration, meat and jerky, salsa, pickles and acidified foods, chile and other vegetable jellies, foods with fresh vegetables or cheese, anything with CBD or alcohol.
- Label: name, home address, phone and email; product; ingredients with sub-ingredients; and "This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens."
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and where it went. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What NMED's FAQ says |
|---|---|
| Where made | Your private farm, ranch or residence |
| Permit | None from NMED; the old home-based processor permits aren't renewed |
| Training | A food handler card from an approved program, before production |
| Foods | Non-TCS food that needs no refrigeration when finished |
| Selling | Directly to consumers in New Mexico: farmers markets, festivals, the internet, roadside stands, home pickup or delivery, mail |
| Not allowed | Restaurants, wholesalers, distributors, grocery resale, sales outside New Mexico, use as an ingredient in permitted facilities |
| Kitchen | Sanitary, pest-free; pets and children out during production; food transported away from pets |
| Enforcement | NMED requires label fixes or fines on a complaint, and may investigate illness |
NMED's Homemade Food Act FAQ and its fact sheet set out the rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
What you can make
| Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| Baked goods without cream fillings that don't need refrigeration: cakes, cookies, yeast breads, pies, pastries | Banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue and custard pies; cheesecake; cream cheese frosting |
| Candy, popcorn, chocolate-covered pretzels | Caramel apples |
| Dehydrated fruit, granola, dry mixes, roasted coffee | Meat and jerky; fish; dairy |
| Standard high-sugar fruit jams and jellies | Hot pepper and other vegetable jellies; canned fruits and vegetables |
| Whole fruits and vegetables | Salsa, pickles, relish, sauerkraut, acidified foods, salad dressings, hummus |
| Foods with fresh vegetables, fruit or cheese; juices, cider, kombucha; CBD or hemp |
NMED points to a process authority, such as NMSU's Food Safety Laboratory, for products that might need refrigeration. Which foods are TCS is in TCS foods list.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Processor | Your name, home address, telephone number and email |
| Product | The common or usual name |
| Ingredients | Most to least, with every sub-ingredient, such as butter (cream (milk), salt) |
| Statement | "This product is home produced and is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens." |
The information goes on the package, on a label on a bulk container, on a place card where unpackaged food is sold, or on the webpage. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Las Cruces baker
Rio Grande Kitchen, a made-up home baker in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I use in these examples, sells at a Saturday market and mails orders around the state:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Biscochitos | Yes | Baked goods without cream |
| Piñon brittle | Yes | Candy |
| Roasted coffee | Yes | On NMED's examples |
| Red chile jelly | No | Vegetable jellies aren't allowed |
| Green chile cheese bread | No | Fresh vegetables and cheese |
| Biscochitos for a grocery to resell | No | No grocery resale |
Biscochitos sell all year and peak at the holidays; by September Rio Grande Kitchen had sold $28,200. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the New Mexico homemade 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. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Mailing orders around the state means customers you never meet. If one complains, NMED wants the label right, and you want to know which batch the package came from and who else got it.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and where it went.
Each batch dated. A batch of biscochitos gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with it.
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.
Recipes by version. Each recipe is versioned with its ingredients, so the sub-ingredients behind a label are on record for the batch.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A batch's date | Written on the bag | The batch's lot and dates |
| Who got a batch | Not recorded | One recall report |
| The ingredients behind a label | Remembered | The batch's recipe version |
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.