Yes, you can sell what you bake in Nebraska.

The 2-minute version

The whole story in a few cards. Everything below is detail — with the actual law linked, so you never have to take our word for it.

Two ways to sell — pick your path

Nebraska runs on one cottage food law (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280), but it has a built-in fast lane. The split is about where and what you sell, not two different programs. The cleanest way to see it: the course and the registration are the toll for everything past a farmers-market table. A shelf-stable cookie seller at one farmers market pays no toll; the moment you add a craft show, a website, mail shipping, or a cheesecake, you’re on Path B — free, but you register first.

When you outgrow it: selling wholesale to restaurants or grocery stores, preparing food somewhere other than a private home kitchen, or making one of the prohibited categories (meat, raw milk, low-acid canned goods, fermented foods) leaves the cottage exemption — that’s an NDA food establishment permit under § 81-2,270, with application, fees, and inspection. That’s a real step up; most porch shops never need it. (Three side doors aren’t cottage food but are worth knowing: a religious, charitable, or fraternal bake sale of shelf-stable food is exempt outright; a charitable fundraising event is exempt if a placard notes the kitchen is unregulated; and shell eggs can’t be sold as cottage food but can be sold with an NDA “egg number.”)

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,245.01 · NDA — Cottage Food Program · NDA — program guide (PDF)

Where you can sell

Every cottage food sale in Nebraska runs directly to the person buying it — that’s the boundary the whole exemption is built on.

Around town: the law names “a farmers market, fair, festival, craft show, or other public event” — and that list is explicitly “including, but not limited to,” so it’s a floor, not a ceiling. (Reminder: the farmers-market lane is the only venue that skips the course + registration; everything else here is the registered path.)

From your home: pickup at or delivery from your private home is named in the statute.

Online: the law contemplates online sales — the consumer notification has to appear “on the producer’s website, if such website exists, and in any print, radio, television, or Internet advertisement.” NDA’s guide confirms the notice goes up “wherever items are sold (online or in person).”

Shipping: shelf-stable goods “may be delivered by United States mail or a commercial mail delivery service.” Refrigerated (TCS) goods must be “delivered only by the producer to the consumer in person,” kept at a safe temperature, and not transported for longer than two hours — no mailing refrigerated items.

The hard boundary — never wholesale. No selling to restaurants, grocery stores, or other retail establishments, and no consignment — every sale is producer-to-consumer. NDA states it plainly: “Cottage food is not permitted for wholesale to restaurants, grocery stores or other retail establishments.”

Out-of-state shipping is a federal question, not a Nebraska one. Nebraska’s law allows mail delivery of shelf-stable goods without naming a state line — but once a package crosses into another state you’re in federal (FDA) territory plus the destination state’s own rules, which Nebraska’s statute doesn’t resolve. We won’t tell you “ship anywhere”; if interstate sales matter to your porch shop, confirm the destination state’s rules first.

Your city can’t add food-safety rules on top. Section 81-2,280(8) supersedes and preempts any local ordinance, rule, or resolution regulating food safety and handling that doesn’t conform to the section. A market or craft-show organizer can still set its own vendor rules, though — that’s the organizer’s call, outside the food law.

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,245.01 · NDA — program guide (PDF)

What you can sell

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · NDA — program guide (PDF)

The rules that actually matter

• No sales capNebraska’s cottage food law sets no annual revenue or volume ceiling — none in § 81-2,280, NDA’s page, or its program guide.
• No wholesale, everDirect sales to the consumer only — no restaurants, grocery stores, other retail establishments, or consignment. Wholesale is the licensed food-establishment path.
• Private home kitchen onlyThe exemption is for food prepared “at a private home.” LB262 (2024) tightened this so a mobile unit or trailer no longer qualifies — NDA: “Cottage food cannot be prepared anywhere other than a private home kitchen.”
• Refrigerated (TCS) foods carry extra dutiesAn ingredient list on the label, temperature maintenance, and in-person-only delivery within a two-hour transport window.
• No kitchen inspection, no permitA qualifying home is excluded from the “food establishment” definition — which is exactly what removes the permit and inspection.
• Well water gets tested onceIf you produce with private well water, you must test it for nitrate or bacteria before producing, and include proof at registration.

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,245.01 · NDA — program guide (PDF)

Getting set up

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · NDA — Cottage Food Program · NDA — registration form

Labels

Nebraska prescribes the notice’s content, not one fixed quotable string, and sets no point-type floor — so unlike Florida or Ohio there’s no font minimum to hit. NDA’s posted notice (above) is the wording to use verbatim. The label maker below builds the package label and the posted notice for both paths — the only difference is internal: refrigerated foods add the ingredient list.

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · NDA — program guide (PDF)

What changed recently

• LB262 reshaped the law — operative mid-July 2024 (this is the current version)The 2024 Legislature (LB262) amended both §§ 81-2,280 and 81-2,245.01; the changes became operative three calendar months after the session adjourned (it adjourned April 18, 2024, so mid-July 2024). LB262 rebuilt the allowed-foods rule around the nine prohibited TCS categories — which is what opened non-prohibited refrigerated foods like cheesecake; added the well-water-testing registration element; and tightened “private home” so mobile units and trailers no longer qualify. (UNL’s program announcement gives the effective date as July 19, 2024 — a day off from the bare three-calendar-month count; either way the current law has been in force since mid-July 2024.)
• LB245 (2025) was housekeeping — it left cottage food aloneLB245 harmonized the Nebraska Pure Food Act with the 2022 FDA Food Code, revised the food-establishment definition, and updated the § 81-2,270 food-establishment fee schedule (annual fees due Aug. 1, 2025) — it did not change the substance of the cottage food exemption. So the registered-path rules above are the same before and after LB245.
• 2026 session — no cottage-food billNo 2026 bill amends § 81-2,280; the “Real Food Act” (LB1194) heard that session concerns state dietary guidelines, not cottage food.

Sources: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-2,280 · LB262 (2024) slip law · Unicameral Update — LB245 (2025) · LB1194 (2026)

Common questions

Does Nebraska cap how much I can earn?

No. There’s no annual revenue or volume limit in Nebraska’s cottage food law — it’s one of the no-cap states.

Do I need a license or registration in Nebraska?

Only registration, and it’s free. If you sell shelf-stable goods only at a farmers market, you don’t even need that — no course, no registration. For anything else (other venues, online, shipping, refrigerated foods), you take a food-safety course and register once with NDA before selling, at no cost.

Is registration really free?

Yes — there’s no fee in the statute and NDA charges none. The food-safety course for the registered path is free at several providers (NDA lists examples like the UNL Cottage Food Law online course).

Can I sell cheesecake from home in Nebraska?

Yes — once you’re registered. Cheesecake built on commercially pasteurized dairy is allowed; NDA names cheesecake and ice cream specifically. As a refrigerated (TCS) food it carries the ingredient label, temperature, and in-person-delivery rules. It’s not on the farmers-market lane, which is shelf-stable only.

Can I ship my products?

Shelf-stable goods, yes — by US mail or a commercial carrier (this is the registered path). Refrigerated foods, no — those must be handed from you to the buyer in person, kept cold, within a two-hour transport window.

Can I sell online or take orders on a website?

Yes — the law assumes you can (it requires the consumer notice on your website and in ads), and NDA confirms the notice goes up wherever items are sold, “online or in person.” Online sales are on the registered path.

Can a grocery store or restaurant carry my goods?

No — that’s wholesale, and cottage food is direct-to-consumer only. Wholesale is the licensed food-establishment path.

Do I need a food-safety course?

For the registered path, yes — one of the approved courses, completed before you register and sell. The farmers-market-only shelf-stable lane is the exception: no course there.

Does anyone inspect my kitchen?

No — a qualifying home is exempt from “food establishment” status, so there’s no permit and no routine inspection.