West Virginia sorts home food into two tiers. Food that doesn't need refrigeration, breads, cookies, cakes, candy, standard jams and fruit butters, is exempt from licensing, permits, inspection, packaging and labeling laws under W. Va. Code 19-35-6, and can be sold in person or remotely, through an agent, or by a retail shop or grocery store, and delivered by mail or carrier. Food that's potentially hazardous, pickles, salsas, sauces, hot pepper jelly, and anything needing refrigeration, now needs a Potentially Hazardous Cottage Food vendor permit from the Department of Agriculture under a 2026 rule, with a kitchen inspection, a process authority's approval for acidified foods, label review and training, and sales only inside West Virginia. In the example below, a Lewisburg cook sorts six products across the two tiers. Below are the tiers, the permit, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Shelf-stable homemade food: no license, permit or inspection.
- It can be sold by you, an agent, or a third-party vendor like a retail shop or grocery, and shipped by a carrier.
- It's labeled to WVDA's standards, with information about its content and sources.
- Potentially hazardous homemade food: a WVDA vendor permit, issued after a kitchen inspection.
- Acidified foods, pickles, salsas and non-standard jams also need a process authority's approval, WVDA label review and a training certificate.
- Permitted products are sold only within West Virginia; permits run January 1 to December 31.
- Counties and cities can't ban or regulate shelf-stable homemade food, with a few exceptions for events and public spaces.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and its process readings. More below.
The two tiers
| Nonpotentially hazardous | Potentially hazardous | |
|---|---|---|
| Rule | W. Va. Code 19-35-6 | WVDA's Potentially Hazardous (Homemade) Cottage Food Items Rule, 2026 |
| Permit | None; exempt from licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling laws | A PH cottage food vendor permit, valid statewide |
| Inspection | Only on request or a foodborne illness | A WVDA kitchen inspection before the permit |
| Sellers | You, in person or remotely; your agent; or a third-party vendor such as a retail shop or grocery | From a home kitchen with the permit |
| Delivery | You, an agent, a vendor, or a third-party carrier | |
| Where | Federal and other states' laws still apply across state lines | Within West Virginia only |
| Kitchen | Home, farm, community or commercial, as WVDA determines | A home kitchen, inspected |
The shelf-stable rules are in W. Va. Code 19-35-6, with definitions in 19-35-2, which names a retail shop or grocery store as a possible seller. The permit rules are on WVDA's Potentially Hazardous Cottage Foods page. This is general information, not legal advice.
What the permit covers
| Product | Permit | Also needed |
|---|---|---|
| Canned acidified foods, acidified condiments, pickled products, salsas | Required | Process authority, WVDA label review, training certificate |
| Non-standard jams and jellies: basil, hot pepper, no sugar added | Required | Process authority, label review, training certificate |
| Fermented products; sauces such as hot sauce, marinara, spaghetti sauce | Required | Process authority and label review |
| Cut produce | Required | None more |
| Time/temperature controlled foods | Required | Contact WVDA |
| Freeze-dried and dehydrated products, infused honeys and syrups | May be required | Contact WVDA |
Which foods count as potentially hazardous is in TCS foods list, and how a process authority approves a recipe is in process authority letter.
The label
| Food | What the label carries |
|---|---|
| Shelf-stable | WVDA's labeling standards, with information about content and sources |
| Potentially hazardous | Reviewed by WVDA before sale for acidified foods, pickles, salsas, sauces and non-standard jams |
For a shelf-stable label, the product name, your name and address, ingredients by weight, net weight and allergens cover what a buyer needs. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Lewisburg cook
Greenbrier Kitchen, a made-up home cook in Lewisburg, West Virginia, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and through a grocery in town:
| Product | Allowed? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Sourdough bread in the grocery | Yes | Shelf-stable: no permit, sold by the store |
| Apple butter | Yes | Shelf-stable, standard recipe |
| Hot pepper jelly | Permit | Process authority, label review, training |
| Dilly beans | Permit | Pickled: the same |
| Cheesecake | Permit | Needs refrigeration |
| Ramp salsa | Permit | Salsas need the permit and a process authority |
The bread and apple butter went on selling as before; the dilly beans and ramp salsa waited for the kitchen inspection, the process authority's letter and the training certificate. By September Greenbrier Kitchen had sold $26,200. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the West Virginia cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label lines, each with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and what it needs; 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 process authority approves a recipe and a process, and every batch has to follow it, with its readings written down. A cook with both tiers and a grocery account has two sets of rules and one question when something goes wrong: which batch.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and its process readings.
Recipes by version. The recipe the process authority approved is a version on a date, and each batch records which version it was made from.
Readings on the batch. Fields of your own on the batch record hold each batch's pH and processing time, next to its lot and production date.
Where it went. The grocery is a customer with its own orders, and each order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows where a batch went.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The approved recipe | A copy of the letter | A recipe version on a date |
| A batch's pH and process | A log sheet | Fields on the batch record |
| Who got a batch | Not recorded | One recall report |
Lots, batches, versioned recipes and batch records with fields of your own 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.