Alaska Can you legally sell food from home in Alaska?
Cottage Food Law
In 2024, Alaska replaced their old cottage food law with a food freedom law (HB 251), and is now one of the best states for selling homemade food.
Producers can sell almost any type of homemade food, including perishable foods and certain items with meat.
Producers can sell almost anywhere within the state, including in-person, online, and at many retail locations.
There is no sales limit, home kitchen inspection, or license needed from the health department, but producers do need to get a business license.
The Municipality of Anchorage has their own rules for selling homemade food.
Selling Where can you sell homemade food products?
You can sell any type of allowed food online directly to consumers, but you cannot sell perishable homemade foods through an online food hub (an online third-party marketplace).
If you sell in retail location (like a grocery store), the retail space must have a sign saying that the homemade food was made in a home kitchen, may contain allergens, and is not regulated or inspected. Also, your products cannot be displayed on the same shelf as inspected food.
If you want to sell perishable homemade food at a retail location, there are other requirements to follow.
Allowed Foods What food products can you sell from home?
All homemade food products are allowed, except for:
- You cannot sell homemade dairy products (such as milk, ice cream, cheese, butter, etc).
- You cannot sell seafood, oils rendered from animal fat, alcohol, cannabis, and a few other items.
- You can only use meat in your products if it falls within a federal exemption. For instance, you can use meat that is legally sold without needing to be inspected in a USDA facility (e.g. meat products prepared on-site at a grocery store or butcher), or you can use meat from your own poultry (as long as you have 1,000 or fewer poultry).
Limitations How will your home food business be restricted?
Business What do you need to do to sell food from home?
You must get a business license to sell in Alaska.
Labeling How do you label cottage food products?
"This food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected, except for meat and meat products, and may contain allergens"
Forrager Cookie Company
123 Chewy Way, Cookietown, AK 73531
Phone: (123) 456-7890
You must also put your business license number on your labels.
If you sell unpackaged items (e.g. from a bulk bin), you must inform the buyer that the food is not subject to certain state certification, labeling, licensing, packaging, regulation, or inspection requirements, and you must provide the buyer with your name, home address, telephone number, and business license number.
If you don’t want to put your home address on your labels, you might still be able to use Alaska’s older cottage food law (18 AAC 13.012), which only requires your business license number and a specific statement on labels. However, that law would only allow you to directly sell up to $25,000/year of nonperishable foods.
Resources Where can you find more information about this law?
- Organization
- Department of Environmental Conservation
- Department
- Environmental Health - Food Safety & Sanitation
Environmental Health Officers
- June 2012
- Alaska Food Code Amendment
- August 2024
- HB 251
Joshua Alexie
Jenny
June