Since September 1, 2025, Texas lets a home cottage food operation make almost any food except meat and poultry, seafood, ice and ice cream products, low-acid canned goods, cannabis-derived products and raw milk. The annual gross income limit rose to $150,000, adjusted for inflation by the state each year. Foods that need refrigeration, cream cheese frostings and custard pies, are allowed if the operation registers with the Department of State Health Services, keeps them cold, and adds the date made and a safe handling statement. Sales are direct to consumers, in person or online with personal delivery, or wholesale to a registered cottage food vendor that resells non-TCS food at markets, cafés and stores. No city or county can require a permit for it. In the example below, a Hill Country baker sorts six products. Below are the rules, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Allowed: any food except meat and poultry, seafood, ice products, low-acid canned goods, CBD or THC products, raw milk.
- Annual gross income: $150,000 or less, adjusted each year for inflation.
- TCS foods (needing refrigeration): register with DSHS, keep cold, label the date made and the safe handling statement.
- Sell directly to consumers, including online with delivery by you, an employee or a household member.
- Sell non-TCS food wholesale to a registered cottage food vendor, who can resell it at markets, cafés and stores.
- Label: name, address or DSHS number, product name, allergens, and the private residence disclosure.
- Complete a food handler course. Local health departments can't require a permit.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's date and lot, and the shops it went to. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What Texas law says |
|---|---|
| Foods | Any food other than meat or poultry products, seafood, ice or ice products (ice cream, frozen custard, popsicles, gelato), low-acid canned goods, products containing CBD or THC, and raw milk products |
| Income limit | $150,000 or less a year from those foods, adjusted annually for inflation (CPI-U) |
| Selling | Directly to consumers or to a cottage food vendor, delivered at the point of sale or a place the buyer names |
| Online | Allowed in Texas if you, an employee or a household member deliver it personally, and the label information is posted before payment |
| Wholesale | Only to a cottage food vendor, and only non-TCS foods; the vendor registers with DSHS, labels the date made, and posts the disclosure sign |
| TCS foods | Register with DSHS, store and deliver at a safe temperature, date made and safe handling statement |
| Local permits | A city or county health department can't require a license, permit or fee to produce or sell directly |
All of it is from S.B. 541, effective September 1, 2025 (enrolled text). The allergen labeling and the food handler training come from DSHS's cottage food page (DSHS). This is general information, not legal advice.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Name | The cottage food operation's name |
| Address or number | The address, or the unique number DSHS issues if you register |
| Product | The common or usual name |
| Allergens | Any major food allergen it's made with |
| Disclosure | THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION. |
| TCS foods | The date made, and in 12-point type on the label or receipt: "SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep this food refrigerated or frozen until the food is prepared for consumption." |
| Sold by a vendor | The date made |
Registering lets the label carry a DSHS number instead of your home address, a reason to register even without TCS foods. How to write the allergen line is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Hill Country baker
Hill Country Crumb, a made-up home baker in Fredericksburg, Texas, I use in these examples, sells at a Saturday market, takes online orders it delivers itself, and supplies a coffee shop that registered as a cottage food vendor:
| Product | Allowed? | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit kolaches | Yes | Label; direct sale, or wholesale to the coffee shop |
| Sausage klobasniky | No | Meat is excluded |
| Cake with cream cheese frosting | Yes | TCS: registration, kept cold, date made, safe handling statement; direct only, not to the vendor |
| Pecan pralines | Yes | Label |
| Ice cream | No | Ice products are excluded |
| Canned green beans | No | Low-acid canned goods are excluded |
Through September it has sold $77,700, about half of the $150,000 limit. The klobasniky, with sausage, would need a licensed kitchen and inspected meat, so Hill Country makes fruit kolaches only. The cream cheese cakes go only to direct customers, because TCS foods can't go to the vendor. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business, and which foods count as TCS in TCS foods list.
Get the checklist
Download the Texas 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 against the $150,000 limit, 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
A home baker at $77,700 by September is a real business: dozens of products, cakes dated for safe handling, a coffee shop's weekly order with the date made on every label, and a $150,000 line to watch. A notebook can't keep up with which batch went to the café, and when.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's date and lot, and the shops it went to.
Each batch dated. A batch of kolaches gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, so the date made the vendor's label needs is on the record, and lot labels print with it.
Customers and orders. The coffee shop is a customer with its own orders, and each order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows where a batch went.
Sales against the limit. Sales by month come from the orders, so the year's total against the cap isn't a guess; TaroStack connects to Square for market sales.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Date made on the vendor's label | Written by hand | The batch's lot and date |
| Which batch went to the café | Not recorded | Recorded with each order |
| The year's sales | Added up in December | From the orders, any day |
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.