Cottage food laws · South Dakota
Selling homemade food in South Dakota.
South Dakota is one of the easiest states in the country to start a porch shop — and it’s free. Shelf-stable goods — breads, cookies, cakes, candies, jams, dry mixes — you can sell today, just by labeling them: no license, no registration, no permit, no inspection, no sales cap. The one upgrade worth knowing about: anything that needs the fridge or freezer — cheesecake, cream pies, kuchen, fermented foods, frozen produce — is fair game too, but only after a one-time food-safety course (about $40, good for five years). Either way, there’s one hard rule South Dakota never bends: you have to sell it in person and hand it over yourself.
Verified against South Dakota Codified Laws ch. 34-18 and the South Dakota Department of Health’s Farmers Market Guidance
Last checked June 13, 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.
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 shelf-stable goods?
Breads, cookies, cakes, candies, jams, dry mixes — fully exempt from South Dakota licensing, registration, and inspection. Put the right label on it and sell straight to your neighbors. No registration, no fee, no training.
Want to sell cheesecake?
Cold foods — cheesecake, cream pies, fermented foods, frozen produce — open up after a one-time food-safety course (about $40, the course provider’s fee, good five years). It’s a training requirement, not a license: this path is still license-free and inspection-free.
The one hard rule
Either path, South Dakota holds one firm line: you sell in your physical presence and you (or a household member) personally hand the food to the buyer. No mail, no shipping, no internet sales, no stores, no wholesale.
Two ways to sell in South Dakota — pick your path
In shortSouth Dakota runs one homemade-food exemption with two doors inside it, and one question decides which: does what you make need to stay cold? Shelf-stable → free, start today. Refrigerated or frozen → take a one-time food-safety course first (about $40, every five years). Either way: no license, no inspection, in-person sales only.
South Dakota runs one homemade-food exemption with two doors inside it, and the question that decides which door you’re using is simple: does what you make need to stay cold? The cleanest way to see it: a cheesecake can’t go out on the shelf-stable path — it has to stay refrigerated — but South Dakota names cheesecake right in the statute as something you can sell once you’ve taken the food-safety course and keep it at or below 41°F. Same homemade kitchen, same porch — the course is the only thing standing between you and selling it.
Shelf-stable
If everything you sell is shelf-stable, you need nothing but a correct label — no license, no registration, no permit, no inspection, no training, no fee, no sales cap. The law just exempts you. You make it at your primary residence, label it, and sell it in person.
The one hard line: it’s in-person, direct-to-buyer only — no shipping, no internet sales, no stores.
Pick this path if: everything you sell sits safely on a shelf at room temperature — breads, cookies, cakes and kuchen that don’t need refrigeration, hard candies, jams and jellies, high-acid pickles and salsas (pH 4.6 or lower), nuts, grains, seeds, dry mixes, or home-ground flour.
The food-safety course path
If what you make has to stay cold or frozen, you take an approved food-safety course first — the Department of Health-certified course is run by SDSU Extension, self-paced online, with a registration fee (about $40 at the provider) good for five years. It’s a training requirement, not a state license.
After that you’re still license-free and inspection-free — you just keep the cold foods at the right temperature, label them, keep your training record, and sell in person. (For home-canned goods, you can take the course or get each recipe verified in writing by a third-party processing authority — see “Getting set up.”)
Pick this path if: you want to sell cheesecake, cream or custard pies, refrigerated kuchen, time/temperature-controlled sauces or pesto, fermented foods like kombucha, kimchi, or sauerkraut, or frozen fruit and produce.
Beyond both paths: if you want a store to stock your goods, to ship or sell over the internet, to sell low-acid canned goods (green beans, soups, meats), fresh-cut produce, juices, take-and-bake doughs, or prepared meals, you’ve left the homemade-food exemption — that’s a licensed food service establishment with a commercial kitchen, a $100 one-time fee plus a $90+/year license, and Health Department inspections — most porch shops never need it.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-35 · SDCL 34-18-36 · SDCL 34-18-36.1 · SDCL 34-18-38 · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance · SDSU Extension — food-safety course
Where you can sell
In shortThis is the part South Dakota holds the firmest line on. Make it at your primary residence, sell it in your physical presence at an allowed venue, and personally hand it over. No shipping, no internet sales, no stores or wholesale — on either path.
Read this before you build your porch shop around anything else. The exemption only applies if all three of these are true: you make the food at your primary residence; you sell it in your physical presence — at your primary residence, a farmer’s market, a roadside stand, or another temporary sale venue; and you, or someone living at your residence, personally hand the food to the buyer at the moment the sale is completed.
No shipping, no mail order. Personal in-person delivery is a written condition of the exemption, so mailing your goods — even within South Dakota — isn’t allowed on this path.
No selling over the internet, no stores, no wholesale, no resale. The Health Department names “via the internet” and sales “from a retail store” as examples of indirect sales that would require a state license: “The home processed foods … cannot be sold wholesale (indirect). … Indirect sales would require a state license.”
One honest gray area. South Dakota’s law is about physical presence and personal delivery. Whether you can advertise online, or take an order online and then hand the goods over in person, isn’t spelled out — the agency’s “via the internet” language targets internet sales and fulfillment, not advertising. If your plan depends on taking online orders for in-person pickup, that’s worth a quick call to the Health Department before you rely on it (605-773-4945).
Sources: SDCL 34-18-38 · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
What you can sell
In shortThe shelf-stable path covers non-temperature-controlled food, high-acid home-canned goods, and dry goods. The course path adds fermented foods, refrigerated baked goods (cheesecake by name), and frozen produce — held cold. Meat, poultry, dairy, honey, eggs, and low-acid canning stay outside the law entirely.
Path A — shelf-stable, no training
- Breads, rolls & lefse
- Cookies & cakes
- Hard candies
- Jams, jellies & high-acid pickles
- Nuts, grains & seeds
- Dry mixes & home-ground flour
The law exempts non-temperature-controlled food, home-processed canned goods, and baked goods prepared at a residence. High-acid home-canned goods — jams, jellies, fruit sauces, salsas, dill pickles — are allowed only if the pH is 4.6 or lower (or water activity 0.85 or lower). And whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables, plus intact salad greens and herbs, need no license and no label.
Path B — needs the food-safety course
- Fermented foods (kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut)
- Cheesecake & cream/custard pies
- Kuchen & soft pies
- TCS sauces & pesto
- Frozen fruit & produce
Once you’ve completed the training, South Dakota names exactly what it unlocks: non-heat-processed fermented foods kept at or below 41°F; kuchen and TCS baked goods — including soft pies, cheesecake, and baked goods with a custard or cream filling, plus sauces and pesto that need temperature control — kept at or below 41°F; and home-processed frozen fruit and produce kept at or below 0°F. Cheesecake is named in the statute itself — legal once you’ve taken the course and keep it cold.
Not allowed under this law at all
- Low-acid canned goods
- Fresh-cut produce & sprouts
- Juices & ciders
- Take-and-bake doughs
- Meat, poultry, fish, dairy, honey & eggs
- Soap & lotion
Low-acid canned goods (peas, beans, corn, soups, meats, nut butters — pH above 4.6 or water activity above 0.85) are out, as are fresh-cut produce and sprouts, juices and ciders, take-and-bake doughs and unbaked pizzas/pies, and other prepared food and drink (sandwiches, casseroles, smoothies, salads, flavored oils). Meat, poultry, jerky, fish, dairy, honey, and eggs fall outside this law entirely, under other state and federal agencies; non-food items like homemade soap or lotion aren’t covered either.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-35 · SDCL 34-18-36 · SDCL 34-18-36.1 · SDCL 34-18-34 · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
The rules that actually matter
In shortNo sales cap on either path. In-person, direct-to-buyer only. Cold foods are the line between the two paths, and they carry hold-temperature and keep-cold-label rules. Canned goods have a pH rule; selling by weight adds a scale rule.
- No sales cap — on either pathNo dollar limit appears anywhere in the homemade-food sections of the law, and the Health Department states it plainly: “There are no monetary limits on the amount of sales.”
- In-person, direct-to-buyer onlyNo internet sales, no shipping, no stores, no wholesale, no resale — you or a household member must personally hand over the food. This is the line South Dakota holds firmest, on both paths.
- Cold foods are the line between the two pathsAnything that needs refrigeration or freezing puts you on the course path. Refrigerated foods must stay at or below 41°F, frozen ones at or below 0°F — and the label must say to keep them cold or frozen.
- Canned goods and scales have their own rulesNo canned good may be sold unless its pH is 4.6 or lower (or water activity 0.85 or lower) — that’s what keeps it shelf-safe. And if you sell anything by weight, the scale must be a legal-for-trade NTEP-approved scale, certified every other year by the state Office of Weights and Measures ($28 certification fee). Local zoning, home-occupation permits, and a state sales-tax license are separate, and set elsewhere.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-36 · SDCL 34-18-36.1 · SDCL 34-18-38 · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
Getting set up
In shortPath A is nothing to file — confirm your products are shelf-stable, label them, and sell in person. Path B adds one step before you sell cold foods: the approved food-safety course (about $40, every five years), or, for canned goods, a third-party recipe verification.
Path A — shelf-stable (nothing to file)
- Confirm everything you sell is shelf-stable and on the allowed listNo foods that need refrigeration; if you home-can, keep the pH at 4.6 or below (or water activity at 0.85 or below).
- Make a correct labelAll nine required elements, including the verbatim disclaimer — copy the sample below.
- Sell in person at an allowed venue and hand it over yourselfYour home, a farmer’s market, a roadside stand, or another temporary venue.
That’s the entire process — no license, no registration, no permit, no inspection, no training, no fee. (Local zoning and a sales-tax license are separate matters outside the food law.)
Path B — refrigerated, frozen, fermented, or canned
- Take the approved food-safety course before you sellThe law requires producers of these foods to “every five years, complete food safety training approved by the department,” available online. The Department of Health-certified course is run by SDSU Extension — self-paced and online. The fee (about $40, good for five years) comes from SDSU Extension, the course provider — not from the statute, which sets no price. It’s a training requirement, not a state license. Confirm the current fee on the course page before you rely on it.
- Keep your training recordsRetaining proof of timely completion is a written duty in the statute.
- Canned-goods alternativeInstead of the course, you may keep written verification of each recipe from a third-party processing authority — someone with knowledge of thermal processing for sealed containers who verifies your method and that the pH/water-activity thresholds are met. (The Health Department lists SDSU Extension and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Food Innovation Center as processing authorities.)
- Label it, hold it cold (or frozen), and sell it in personSame in-person, personal-delivery rule as Path A — plus the keep-refrigerated/frozen line on the label.
Still no kitchen inspection and no home-kitchen registration on this path either — the course (or recipe verification) is the only added step.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-36 · SDCL 34-18-36.1 · SDCL 34-18-38 · SDSU Extension — food-safety course · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
Labels
In shortSouth Dakota uses one label rule for both paths — keyed to the individual producer, with the product name, both a physical and a mailing address, a phone number, the date made, ingredients, and a verbatim disclaimer. The only path-specific element is a keep-refrigerated/frozen directive on the cold-foods path.
The South Dakota label (both paths)
- Name of the product
- Name of the producer — the individual person who makes the food, not a business or operation name.
- Physical address of production, the mailing address of the producer, and the telephone number of the producer — South Dakota requires all three, not pick-one-of.
- The date the product was made or processed
- Ingredients
- Cold-foods path only: a directive to keep refrigerated or frozen (the only element that differs between the two paths).
- The verbatim disclaimer: “This product was not produced in a commercial kitchen. It has been home-processed in a kitchen that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish.”
Whole, uncut produce and intact greens and herbs need no label at all. The Health Department shows loose, unpackaged baked goods as needing a label “if packaged” — but the statute itself states the requirement for “food prepared at a residence” without that split, so treat the “if packaged” gloss as agency interpretation and label anything you package. The disclaimer is character-exact from the statute (the DOH PDF drops the comma before “and crustacean shellfish” — the statute controls, so keep it).
Sources: SDCL 34-18-37 · SDCL 34-18-34 · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
What changed recently
In shortThe current two-path law is the 2022 HB 1322 expansion (effective July 1, 2022), which added the course path that unlocks cold foods including cheesecake. Two 2025 bills that would have changed it did NOT become law; no 2026 homemade-food bill surfaced.
- The big expansion (current law) — July 1, 2022House Bill 1322 (2022 Session Laws ch. 106) rewrote the homemade-food exemption — broadening allowed foods, adding the food-safety-course path that unlocks refrigerated/frozen/fermented foods (cheesecake by name), and confirming the no-cap, in-person, personal-delivery model. It took effect July 1, 2022. (The 2020 SL ch. 143 tune-up amended the label and exemption-conditions sections ahead of that rewrite.)
- Two bills that did NOT become law — 2025HB 1179 (“clarify certain labeling and sales requirements for homemade food items”) and HB 1187 (“authorize the sale of home-processed poultry and pork …”) both failed — each deferred to the 41st legislative day (South Dakota’s procedural device for ending a bill) in February 2025. So the law’s seller-facing facts are unchanged since 2022, and home-processed meat and poultry are still outside the exemption.
- No homemade-food bill found — 2026No bill amending the homemade-food sections surfaced in the 2026 session.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-35 · 2022 HB 1322 (SL 2022 ch. 106) · 2025 HB 1179 · 2025 HB 1187
Common questions
- Can I sell cheesecake from home in South Dakota?
- Yes — but not on the free shelf-stable path. Cheesecake is named right in the statute as a refrigerated food you can sell once you’ve completed the approved food-safety course (about $40, good for five years) and you keep it at or below 41°F. The course is a training requirement, not a license.
- What’s the difference between the two paths in South Dakota?
- Both are free of any license, registration, and inspection. The shelf-stable path needs nothing but a label. The refrigerated/frozen/fermented path adds one food-safety course (about $40, renewed every five years) — and that’s the only thing standing between you and selling cheesecake, cream pies, fermented foods, and frozen produce.
- Is there a limit on how much I can sell in South Dakota?
- No. There’s no dollar cap in the law, and the Health Department states there are “no monetary limits on the amount of sales.”
- Can a store carry my cookies in South Dakota?
- Not under this law — selling through a store is an indirect sale that requires a state food service license. The homemade-food exemption is in-person, direct-to-buyer only.
- Can I ship my baked goods, or sell them online, in South Dakota?
- No — not on the homemade-food exemption. Personal in-person delivery is a written condition, and the Health Department names internet sales as an indirect sale requiring a license. Selling online or shipping means stepping up to a licensed establishment.
- Can I sell salsa or pickles from home in South Dakota?
- Yes, if they’re high-acid — home-canned salsas, dill pickles, jams, and fruit sauces are allowed on the shelf-stable path as long as the pH is 4.6 or lower (or water activity 0.85 or lower). Low-acid canned goods (green beans, corn, soups) are not allowed under this law.
- Do I need a food-handler card or a permit in South Dakota?
- No card and no permit on either path. The shelf-stable path has no training at all; the cold-foods path requires the one approved food-safety course (renewed every five years) — a training requirement, not a license.
- Can I sell meat, eggs, or honey from my porch in South Dakota?
- Not under this law — meat, poultry, jerky, fish, dairy, honey, and eggs all fall outside the homemade-food exemption, under other state and federal agencies. (A 2025 bill to allow home-processed poultry and pork failed.)
- Can my kid run a stand in South Dakota?
- Yes — there’s no minimum age and nothing to file, so a kid selling shelf-stable cookies or candy from a roadside or porch stand operates under the same free rules, with the same in-person sale and label requirements.
Sources: SDCL 34-18-35 (core exemption) · SDCL 34-18-36.1 (course-path foods) · SDCL 34-18-38 (exemption conditions) · SD DOH — Farmers Market Guidance
You won’t be doing this alone
2 porch bakers are already selling across South Dakota 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.
This page is educational, not legal advice — we’re not lawyers, just neighbors who read South Dakota’s official sources and wrote down what they say (every claim above links to its source). South Dakota’s homemade-food exemption is generous — no license, no fee, no cap — but it draws one firm line: sales must be in person, and you (or a household member) must hand the food over yourself. No shipping, no online sales, no stores. We don’t pin down the exact food-safety course price because that’s set by the course provider (SDSU Extension), not the statute — check the current fee on their page. Local zoning, home-occupation permits, and sales-tax registration are separate and 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.