Indiana Can you legally sell food from home in Indiana?
Cottage Food Law
LAW UPDATE
In 2021, Indiana passed a new bill (SB 185) that may improve their cottage food law in 2022.
This bill creates a working group which is tasked with determining recommendations for cottage food businesses. Most likely, the group’s findings will be used to try to pass a bill in 2022 to improve the law.
To learn more, and to help, please see this Facebook group.
Indiana’s laws are very restrictive in they only allow sales at farmers markets and roadside stands.
Aside from that, however, the laws are quite lenient. Home based vendors can sell any types of nonperishable foods, and there is no limit for how much they can sell. Also, there is no registration, fees, or process to get setup.
Selling Where can you sell homemade food products?
You may take pre-orders (over the internet, for instance), but customers must pick up their products from your farmers market booth or roadside stand.
Allowed Foods What food products can you sell from home?
You can only sell fermented produce, if it is not stored in an oxygen-sealed container.
If you can to sell honey, see this document.
You can sell whole chickens or rabbits that you raised, if you meet certain requirements.
Limitations How will your home food business be restricted?
Labeling How do you label cottage food products?
Chocolate Chip Cookies
"This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the State Department of Health." (10-point type)
Forrager Cookie Company
123 Chewy Way, Cookietown, IN 73531
Ingredients: enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, natural flavors), brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract (vanilla bean extract, alcohol, sugar), baking soda, salt (salt, calcium silicate)
Produced on 5/25/2022
NET WT 2 lb 4 oz (1.02 kg)
In addition to net weight, the label must also include the volume of the product.
If a labeling a product isn’t practical (e.g. the product isn’t packaged), you may place a placard with the same information up at the point of sale.
Resources Where can you find more information about this law?
- Job Title
- Training Specialist
- Organization
- Food Protection Program
- Department
- Indiana State Department of Health
- lharriso@isdh.in.gov
- Telephone
- 317-234-8569
- Address
- 100 N. Senate Ave. Room N855
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Comments
Maribeth
Is it ok to sell to friends only when they ask me to make cakes? I don’t do it very often anyway only when they ask me for their kide birthday.
Marini
How about making Sri Lankan spicy food? And Italian pastas?