Hi there,

2025 was an incredibly strong year for the cottage food industry (in my opinion, the 2nd-best ever).

I'm not sure if 2026 will best it, but there are already 28 bills on the 2026 cottage food bills map!

I've ordered these from "most important" to "least important" (IMHO):

Mississippi
First off, we need to talk about Mississippi. They are always the first to have their bill fail (it's happened the last 5 years in a row), but this year, they took a different approach and introduced FIVE bills! Strangely, two of their bills are completely identical to each other, but introduced by a different sponsor. But their strategy may be working, because although 4 of their bills have already failed, one is still alive! And the one that's still going (HB 910) is the best one of all. It would overhaul their cottage food law by removing the sales limit and allowing wholesale, online sales, and in-state shipping. Crossing fingers!

Missouri
Missouri also has an exciting bill (HB 3108). For awhile now, they've had a strange mix of two different laws (here and here). This bill would greatly improve their law and would also remove the need to have two laws. It would expand the food list to include all non-perishable foods (currently only allows baked goods, jams, jellies, and herbs) as well as dairy products. It would also allow sales at events (currently not available to everyone in the state) and at retail stores. It would even let people who own chickens to use their poultry in their products. This would easily be one of the best law improvements of 2026, if it passes!

Colorado
Known as the "Tamale Act" (HB26 1033), their bill would allow direct sales of perishable foods. Also, Colorado has always had a unique $10k/product sales limit, and this bill would remove that limit entirely. This bill includes a few very unique elements: 1) specifically lists "tamales, burritos, and tortas" as allowed perishable foods, 2) prevents producers from cooling and reheating their products before selling them, and 3) specifically allows federally-inspected (USDA) meat products in foods. That last one has always tripped up cottage food bills, and if this were to pass as-is, it would indicate a shift in the USDA's stance against reforms like these. Therefore, if passed as-is, not only would this bill be a huge win for Colorado, it would be a gamechanger for other cottage food bill improvements in the future.

Virginia
Virginia has a couple bills that would be major improvements to their current law:
HB 402 would allow all direct sales (currently limited to home, farmers markets, and events) and would allow online sales and in-state shipping as well. Virginia is currently one of only 3 states that doesn't allow online sales (Delaware and Mississippi are the other two). (Technically, a producer in Virginia can sell online by becoming a home food processing operation, but that's quite complicated and not all ag depts allow them.)
Despite having one of the more restrictive laws in the country, Virginia was ironically one of the very first (back in 2014) to try to allow perishable foods. They made strong efforts for a few years, and eventually gave up, but this year, we might finally see it happen! HB 699 would allow some types of perishable foods (non-meat and non-dairy) to be sold a the producer's home or farm, as long as the sale is to the end consumer.

Maryland
Maryland's two bills are simple but would be significant improvements. HB 535 would double the sales limit (from $50k to $100k), and SB 838 would allow bakers to sell perishable baked goods. In fact, since SB 838 creates a separate definition for "home bakeries", it might be possible for a baker to operate under both laws and thereby increase their sales limit (they could sell $50k as a home bakery and $50k as a cottage food business).

Idaho
Idaho's bill (H 526) would allow direct sales of ALL perishable foods, but only for producers who sell under $5k/year of homemade food. So if someone chose to add perishable foods to their menu, they would be putting a $5k sales cap on their business. This bill would be good for occasional sellers or someone who wants to test out a business idea without dealing with the red tape of a commercial license.

Kentucky
A super simple bill (HB 678) that would add roasted coffee to the allowed foods list.

Indiana
Their bill (HB 1424) would create two new types of home food businesses for "homestead vendors" and "small farms". It would allow perishable products, including products with meat, but ONLY if the producer grows/raises the primary ingredients in the products. So this bill is targeted towards small farms (up to $1.5M in annual revenue) that want to sell value-added items with their products, but it also would apply to anyone who grows produce or raises animals.

Hawaii
Their two similar bills (HB 2619/SB 3302) were created because small farms want to use the cottage law too. These bills wouldn't change the law directly, but would require the health department to update their rules to allow farm kitchens to sell under the cottage food rules. Hawaii also has a micro-restaurant bill (HB 2229), which I discuss more below.

Rhode Island
Their bill (SB 2506) would update their older law for farmers, by allowing them to sell pickles and relish as well.

Wisconsin
I've already shared my thoughts about Wisconsin's "bad bill", which you can read here. A reader responded with the insight that Wisconsin's bill looks similar to Washington's current law, and they are exactly right. I hadn't made that connection, but FWIW, Washington's law is so bad that whenever someone from WA reaches out to me, I say "Unless you really need to do this from home, don't use their cottage food law. Get a commercial license instead."

2025 Bills
There are 9 bills that have carried over from last year. It's not typical for a stagnant bill to get picked up in the second year of a legislative session, but it has happened occasionally. However, I'm not going to focus on those until we see some activity from them.

Micro-restaurant Bills
Although there are five micro-restaurant bills, four carried over from 2025 and Hawaii's is the only new one this year. These haven't been getting attention in recent years, and it seems like all of the focus is now on more expansive food freedom efforts. I'm still keeping track of micro-restaurant legislation, but at this point, I'd be surprised if any of them passed.


Well there you have it! It's an interesting batch of bills, especially given that:

• 6 states are trying to allow perishable foods, and that's not even counting the micro-restaurant bills
• 4 states have bills specifically tailored to small farms (much higher than normal)

Without question, the strong shift towards food freedom continues, with more states looking to allow people to sell more types of products from home.

We can also expect that more bills will surface in the next few months. As always, I'll keep you updated. :)

Check out the 2026 Cottage Food Bills Map


Forraging ahead,

David