Virginia Can you legally sell food from home in Virginia?

Cottage Food Law

Virginia allows producers to start a food business from home without getting licensed or inspected, but it comes with some restrictions.

If you want to have fewer restrictions (make more types of food, sell at more locations, etc), you can apply to be a home food processing operation, which requires a home kitchen inspection and is much more complicated than using the law described below.

Under this law, a producer can only sell directly from home and at farmers markets and other events, and they can only sell certain types of non-perishable food. Also, a couple types of products have sales limits (honey and acidified foods).

Table of Contents

Selling Allowed Foods Limitations Business Labeling Resources Forum

Selling Where can you sell homemade food products?

Allowed Venues

Events Farmers markets Home Roadside stands

Allowed Services

Delivery Home Pickup

Prohibited Venues

Online Restaurants Retail stores

Prohibited Services

Catering Mail order Wholesale

You can advertise your business/products online, even though you cannot sell through the internet.

You can sell pure honey to any venue, without restriction.

Allowed Foods What food products can you sell from home?

Prohibited Foods

Perishable baked goods Low-acid canned foods Fermented foods Dried vegetables Fruit butters Juices Meat jerkies

There are probably more prohibited foods, but the ones above have been confirmed

You can only sell up to $9,000 of acidified foods (pickles, salsas, etc) per year.

You can only sell pure honey, not infused honey products.

Only "non-potentially hazardous" foods are allowed, but certain non-PHFs may not be allowed. Most foods that don't need to be refrigerated (foods without meat, cheese, etc.) are considered non-potentially hazardous. Learn more

Limitations How will your home food business be restricted?

Limitations

Direct sales only Interstate sales prohibited Sales limit

There may be more limitations, but the ones above have been confirmed

There is no sales limit

Most types of products have no sales limit

Sales are limited to $9,000 per year

This $9,000 limit only applies to acidified foods (pickles, salsas, etc)

Honey producers can’t sell more than 250 gallons of honey per year.

Business What do you need to do to sell food from home?

You do not need a license from the ag department to start your business, though there may be other local requirements (like a business license or zoning approval) that you need to fulfill.

Most food businesses in Virginia are charged an annual $40 fee, but since you are exempt from inspection, this fee does not apply. If you get a $40 bill from the ag department, you should dispute it.

Labeling How do you label cottage food products?

Label Requirements

Business address Business name Date produced Email address Phone number Product name Statement

Sample Label

Chocolate Chip Cookies

"NOT FOR RESALE - PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION."

Forrager Cookie Company

123 Chewy Way, Cookietown, VA 73531

Phone: (123) 456-7890

Email: cookies@forrager.com

Produced on 10/31/2024

If your product is too small to have an individual labels, and/or is to be consumed on-site, you can place a sign with the required label information at the point-of-sale instead. However, all acidified foods must be labeled individually.

Instead of the statement above, honey producers must label their jars with this statement: “PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION. WARNING: Do Not Feed Honey to Infants Under One Year Old.”

Resources Where can you find more information about this law?

Links

Code of Virginia 3.2-5130 (parts A3 - A5) Home Food Exemption FAQs

Department

Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Contacts

Department: Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Email: foodsafety@vdacs.virginia.gov
Telephone: 804-786-3520

Law Dates

July 2008: SB 272
July 2011: SB 1108
July 2013: HB 1852
July 2024: HB 759

This law was amended in 2013 to allow many more types of products.

It was amended again in 2024 to allow producers to sell at all types of events, only months after a woman was mostly shutdown by the ag department. Within just a couple months of that event, the ag department changed their stance due to an letter from the Institute for Justice, and a month later, their new cottage food bill passed.

Starting in 2013, a number of individuals came together to create a food freedom initiative, and they tried to get a food freedom bill passed for many years (see HB 135 & HB 1290), though they were unsuccessful. It was one of the strongest and earliest food freedom efforts in the nation.