Cottage food laws · Michigan

Selling homemade food in Michigan

Michigan keeps it to one path, and in March 2026 it got a lot more useful: no license, no registration, no fee, no inspection — and now you can take orders online or by mail and deliver anywhere in the state, not just hand things over in person. If you’re baking bread or putting up jam in your home kitchen, the only state requirement standing between you and your first sale is the label. Here’s the whole picture, in plain English.

Verified against the Michigan Food Law (MCL 289.4102)(as amended by 2025 PA 51, effective March 24, 2026) and MDARD’s current cottage food guidance

Last checked June 12, 2026 — every section links its sources.

A friendly guide, not legal advice — we’re not lawyers. Always confirm the details with your own city and state before you sell.

A sunlit front porch with fresh loaves on a table and an OPEN sign

The 2-minute version

Three cards, the whole story. Everything below is detail — with the actual laws linked, so you never have to take our word for it.

Selling to neighbors?

Make shelf-stable foods in your home kitchen, put the required label on every package (one exact sentence the law spells out), and sell direct — porch, farmers markets, farm and roadside stands. No application, no registration, no fee, no MDARD inspection.

$0 — nothing to fileNo inspection unless complaintLabel = the one rule

Online orders? Mail?

New as of March 2026: you can take orders by internet, mail, phone, or a third-party delivery app — as long as you give the buyer a chance to directly interact with you first, and the buyer is in Michigan. No shipping across state lines.

New since March 2026Direct-interact step firstIn-state buyers only

How much can I sell?

The gross-sales cap is $50,000 a year — rising to $75,000 if your products sell at $250 or more per unit (think wedding cakes). MDARD may ask for written documentation of your sales, so keep records.

$50,000 a year$75,000 if units sell at $250+Keep simple records
Sound doable? Show me the steps ↓Meet the Michigan porch bakers already doing it

One way to sell in Michigan — and it just got easier

In shortMost states make you choose between two or three legal paths. Michigan has exactly one — the cottage food operation — and it’s light-touch: no application, no registration, no fee, no inspection. You operate under it automatically once you follow the rules.

The cottage food operation · MCL 289.4102$0 · automatic

The whole shape of the path

  • Make shelf-stable foods (nothing that needs refrigeration to stay safe) in the kitchen of your primary residence
  • Put the required label on every package (below — including one exact sentence the statute spells out)
  • Sell direct to the person buying — in person, or online/mail/third-party delivery if you give the buyer a chance to interact with you first — never wholesale or consignment
  • Stay within Michigan and under $50,000 a year ($75,000 if your units sell at $250 or more)

Pick this path if: you’re making shelf-stable foods in your home kitchen and selling them to the people who’ll enjoy them.

When you outgrow itThe next rung

The licensed food establishment path

Foods that need refrigeration (cheesecake, cream pies, salsa, canned goods), selling wholesale or to stores and restaurants, shipping out of state, or passing the cap all sit past the cottage line — that’s a licensed food establishment under MCL 289.4101, with an MDARD license, an approved facility, and a fee. A real step up; many porch shops never need it. Michigan has no in-between tier — no food-freedom law and no home-cooked-meal (microenterprise kitchen) permit, so a refrigerated or hot-meal product can’t come out of a home kitchen on any path. (Two narrow farm-side carve-outs sit alongside cottage food, not inside it: Michigan-produced prepackaged honey and maple syrup sold by the producer get their own license exemption up to the same gross-sales limit, and nonprofit bake sales and potlucks run by a charitable, religious, or fraternal group are an organizational exemption, not a personal porch-shop path.)

Pick this path if: you want refrigerated foods, grocery shelves or restaurants, out-of-state shipping — or you pass the gross-sales cap.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 · MCL 289.1105 (definitions) · MCL 289.4101 (license requirement) · MDARD — Getting Started & FAQ

Where you can sell

In shortYour home, farmers markets, farm and roadside stands — and, new since March 2026, online, by mail, and through delivery apps (with a direct-interaction step first), to Michigan buyers only. Never wholesale. Your city still has a say on the home front.

From home and around town: sell direct from your home, where the food is made, and at farmers markets, farm stands, and roadside stands. One real-world note: an individual farmers market can set its own vendor rules and ask for a license the state law doesn’t require — that’s the market’s call.

Online, by mail, and through delivery apps — new since March 24, 2026. This is the big change. A cottage food product may be sold by internet or mail order, or delivered through a third-party food delivery platform, if “the cottage food operation provides an opportunity for a consumer to directly interact with the cottage food operation before the cottage food product is sold” — a face-to-face or virtual meeting before the sale. MDARD also notes you may advertise online and collect payment in person or through a pay app.

In-state only. A cottage food product sold by internet or mail or delivered by a platform “must be sold or delivered only to a consumer in this state” — no shipping across state lines.

The hard boundaries — what you can’t do: no wholesale or consignment sales; no selling to restaurants or grocery stores, or to wholesalers, brokers, or distributors who’d resell your goods; and (an MDARD position) no donating product to a public auction, fundraiser, or soup kitchen.

Your city still has a say on the home front. The cottage exemption only lifts MDARD licensing and routine inspection — it doesn’t override local zoning or ordinances, and your county or municipality may want a DBA / assumed-name filing.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 · MDARD — Selling & Samples · MDARD — Getting Started & FAQ

What you can sell

In shortThe rule behind the list: shelf-stable only — nothing that needs refrigeration to stay safe. Breads, cookies, jams, candy, dried goods — yes. Cheesecake, cream pies, salsa, garlic-in-oil — no.

MDARD’s allowed examples

  • Bread, quick bread, muffins & cookies
  • Shelf-stable pies
  • Cakes — cupcakes, birthday, wedding
  • Shelf-stable frosting or glaze
  • Fruit jams & jellies (in glass jars)
  • Vinegar & flavored vinegar
  • Dry baking, dip & soup mixes
  • Dried pasta (with or without egg)
  • Popcorn, granola & nuts
  • Chocolate-covered pretzels & dried fruit
  • Roasted coffee beans
  • Dehydrated fruits & vegetables
  • Freeze-dried shelf-stable foods
  • Extracts (e.g. vanilla)

The rule behind the list: a cottage food product is a food that is not a time/temperature-control-for-safety (TCS) food — shelf-stable only. If you’re not sure which side of the refrigeration line your product is on, ask MDARD before you sell it (800-292-3939 / MDARD-CottageFood@michigan.gov).

Not cottage food

  • Cheesecake & anything needing refrigeration
  • Custard or cream-based pies
  • Cream-cheese frosting
  • Salsa, sauces, dressings & condiments
  • Garlic-in-oil mixtures
  • Other jams (vegetable, hot pepper, low-sugar) & fruit butters
  • Canned low-acid / acidified foods
  • Meat, poultry, fish & dairy
  • Beverages & bottled water
  • Home-produced ice
  • Pickled products
  • CBD, cannabis & foods containing them
  • Tinctures, supplements & pet treats
  • Cut melon, tomato & leafy greens; fresh pasta; caramel apples

The statute names categories that can never be cottage food, no matter how they’re made: foods under 21 CFR parts 108/113/114 (this is where salsa lives), canned low-acid or acidified foods, other canned foods (except standard jams, jellies, and preserves under 21 CFR part 150), meat and poultry, milk and dairy, bottled water and other beverages, and home-produced ice. Apple butter and pumpkin butter are fruit/vegetable butters — not allowed — even though standard jams and jellies in glass jars are. There’s no expanded path for refrigerated foods from a Michigan home kitchen; that’s the licensed route.

Sources: MCL 289.1105 (definitions) · MDARD — Cottage Food One-Pager (PDF) · MDARD — Become a Licensed Food Processor

The rules that actually matter

In shortA tiered cap ($50k, or $75k if units sell at $250+). Within Michigan only — no out-of-state shipping. Make and store everything in your primary residence. No food-handler course, and no routine inspection — MDARD can knock only on a complaint.

  • $50,000 a year — or $75,000 for high-priced itemsThe gross-sales cap is $50,000 a year, rising to $75,000 if your products sell at $250 or more per unit (think wedding cakes). The statute computes the cap “on a per-person basis within or at a particular domestic residence,” and MDARD may ask for written documentation — so keep records. (These figures hold “until October 1, 2026,” after which MDARD may index them to Detroit-area inflation each October 1 — see “What changed.” No adjusted figure exists yet.)
  • Within Michigan only — no out-of-state salesInternet, mail, and platform sales go to in-state consumers, and nothing ships across state lines. Out-of-state shipping is licensed-food-establishment territory (and brings in federal FDA rules).
  • Make, package, and store it in your primary residenceNot a second home, vacation home, or motor home; not a garage, shed, or barn — the kitchen of the home you actually live in. No rented or shared kitchen either: a rented licensed kitchen puts you on the licensed path, not the cottage one. Direct sales only — no wholesale, no consignment.
  • No food-handler course, and no routine inspectionNobody inspects you on a schedule, there’s no pre-approval, and no food-handler card is required. But MDARD keeps enforcement power — it can investigate a complaint and act on misbranded or adulterated product. Other laws still apply: local zoning, a possible county DBA, and tax law.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 · MDARD — Getting Started & FAQ · MDARD — Selling & Samples

Getting set up

In shortThis is where Michigan shines: there is no state step. MDARD says it plainly — no application forms, no registration process, no food license or permit. The whole checklist is mostly reading, with the label as the one mandatory artifact.

MDARD puts it plainly: “There are no application forms to complete, no registration process, and you do not need to obtain a food license or permit from MDARD.” The whole checklist:

  1. Check your productsAgainst the shelf-stable rule and MDARD’s allowed / not-allowed lists (above).
  2. Make your labelNext section — the one mandatory artifact the law requires.
  3. Set up your home baseMake, package, and store everything in your primary residence — not a garage, shed, or motor home. If you’re on a private well, MDARD recommends testing it at least annually for coliform bacteria and partial chemistry.
  4. Check local rulesThe cottage exemption doesn’t touch local zoning or ordinances; ask your county or municipality whether you need a DBA / assumed-name filing.
  5. Sort out sales taxMost prepackaged homemade foods aren’t taxed, but tax law still applies — Michigan Treasury can confirm whether anything you sell is taxable.
  6. Keep simple sales recordsEnough to show your annual gross sales if MDARD asks.

That’s it. Compare this to most states, where step 1 is an application and a fee.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 · MDARD — Getting Started & FAQ · MSU Extension — free cottage food course · MDARD — Become a Licensed Food Processor

Labels

In shortEvery product is prepackaged with a label: business name and address (or, if you register with the MSU Product Center, a name, phone, and registration number instead of your home address), product name, ingredients, weight, allergens — and one exact sentence, word for word, in at-least-11-point type that contrasts with the background.

Michigan cottage food label

  • Either the name and address of the business (the operation’s name and the address where the food is made) — or, if you’ve registered with the MSU Product Center, the name, telephone number, and registration number issued under MCL 289.4102(8). The registration number is the law’s address-substitute: it lets you keep your home address off labels. (The statute authorizes it conditionally — “if the MSU Product Center administers a registration program” — so confirm the program is actually taking registrations before you rely on it.)
  • The name of the product
  • Ingredients, in descending order of predominance by weight — and if you use a prepared item, list its sub-ingredients too
  • Net weight or net volume, including the metric equivalent
  • Allergen labeling per federal requirements
  • Nutritional labeling per federal requirements — only if you make a nutritional claim
  • This exact sentence, word for word, in at least the equivalent of 11-point font (about 1/8" tall), in a color that clearly contrasts with the background — see the sample below. (Upper-case or upper/lower case are both acceptable; hand-printed labels are fine if clearly legible in durable permanent ink.)
Honey Oat Bread
Maple Row Bakery · 123 Maple Row, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Ingredients: flour (wheat), water, honey, butter (milk), oats, yeast, salt.
Contains: wheat, milk.
Net Wt 24 oz (680 g)
Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan department of agriculture and rural development.
Michigan cottage food label — the whole requirement.

Two notes on the address line: the statute keys the name to the business of the cottage food operation — the operation’s name, not a separate personal-legal-name field, and there’s no required brand name beyond identifying the business. And the registration-number option substitutes the address only — the name and telephone number stay on the label.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 · MDARD — Labeling

What changed recently

In shortThe biggest rewrite since 2012: 2025 PA 51 (signed Dec 23, 2025, effective March 24, 2026) legalized in-state online and mail sales, doubled the cap to $50,000 (with a new $75,000 tier), and created a voluntary MSU Product Center registration. MDARD’s guidance has already caught up.

  • Online and mail sales are now legal — effective March 24, 20262025 PA 51 (House Bill 4122, signed December 23, 2025) added internet, mail order, phone orders, and third-party delivery platforms — conditioned on giving the buyer a chance to directly interact with you before the sale, and limited to in-state consumers. Before this, cottage food was in-person, hand-to-hand only.
  • The cap doubled — $25,000 → $50,000, plus a $75,000 tierThe gross-sales cap rose from $25,000 to $50,000, with a new $75,000 tier for operations selling units at $250 or more (wedding cakes). The $50,000/$75,000 figures hold “until October 1, 2026”; beginning October 1, 2026 and each October 1 after, MDARD may adjust them by a Detroit-area CPI factor. No adjusted figure exists yet.
  • A voluntary MSU Product Center registration was createdA one-time fee capped at $50 (registration information is FOIA-exempt) lets registrants label with a name, phone, and registration number instead of a home address. The TCS definitions in MCL 289.1105 were modernized alongside it. MDARD’s 03/2026 one-pager and its current Selling and Labeling pages already reflect the new cap and the online-sales allowance.

Sources: 2025 HB 4122 → 2025 PA 51 · MCL 289.4102 · MDARD — Cottage Food One-Pager (PDF)

Common questions

Can I take orders on my website now?
Yes — as of March 24, 2026 you can sell by internet, mail order, phone, or a third-party delivery app, as long as you give the buyer a chance to directly interact with you (in person or a two-way video/voice meeting) before the sale, and the buyer is in Michigan.
Can I ship to my cousin in Ohio?
No. Internet, mail, and platform sales must go “only to a consumer in this state” — Michigan cottage food can’t cross state lines. Shipping out of state is licensed-food-establishment territory (and brings in federal FDA rules).
Do I need a license or permit to sell homemade food in Michigan?
No. MDARD is explicit: “There are no application forms to complete, no registration process, and you do not need to obtain a food license or permit from MDARD.” Your county may want a DBA / assumed-name filing — that’s a local registration, not a food credential.
Can I sell cheesecake from home in Michigan?
No — cheesecake needs refrigeration, which puts it outside cottage food. Refrigerated and TCS foods are licensed-food-establishment territory; there’s no home-kitchen path for them in Michigan.
Can I sell salsa, sauces, or canned vegetables?
No — salsa is specifically excluded by the statute’s definition (it’s regulated under 21 CFR parts 108/113/114), and sauces, condiments, and canned low-acid/acidified foods are out too. Vinegars, dry seasoning mixes, and jams/jellies in glass jars are the cottage-friendly neighbors.
Apple butter or jam?
Standard fruit jams, jellies, and preserves (per 21 CFR part 150) in glass jars are allowed; fruit and vegetable butters — including apple butter and pumpkin butter — are not.
Is there a limit on how much I can earn?
$50,000 a year in gross sales — $75,000 if your units sell at $250 or more. Past that, you’re on the licensed path.
Do I need a food-handler card to sell homemade food in Michigan?
No — there’s no food-handler course requirement in the cottage food law. (A free online cottage food course from MSU Extension is optional, not required.)
Does anyone inspect my kitchen?
Not routinely — no pre-approval, no scheduled visits. MDARD can investigate if someone files a complaint, and act on misbranded or adulterated product.
Can a grocery store or restaurant carry my cookies?
No — that’s wholesale, and the cottage law allows only direct-to-consumer sales (no consignment, wholesale, restaurants, or grocery stores).
Can my city stop me?
The cottage exemption lifts MDARD licensing and routine inspection, but it doesn’t override local zoning or ordinances — check with your local government, and read your HOA covenants if you have any.

Sources: MCL 289.4102 (cap, in-state online sales, label) · MCL 289.1105 (definitions, salsa exclusion) · MDARD — Selling & Samples · MDARD — Getting Started & FAQ

You won’t be doing this alone

62 porch bakers are already selling across Michigan under these exact laws. Browse their pages and learn from people two steps ahead of you — what they sell, how they price, how they talk about their bread. Cottage bakers are famously generous with what they’ve learned, and most are a DM away on Instagram.

See all 62 in the directory →List your porch shop — always free to list

This page is educational, not legal advice — we’re not lawyers, just neighbors who read Michigan’s official sources and wrote down what they say (every claim above links to its source). Michigan rewrote this law effective March 24, 2026 (2025 PA 51) — the online-sales rules and the $50,000/$75,000 cap on this page are the current ones; older guides still show the $25,000 cap and an in-person-only rule. The voluntary MSU Product Center registration (the address-substitute on labels) is authorized by statute but its live availability isn’t yet confirmed — check before relying on it. Local zoning, county DBA requirements, and sales-tax details are set locally — check yours. Always double-check the details with your own city and state before you sell. When something here and the law disagree, the law wins; if you spot that happening, tell us and we’ll fix it.