Yes, you can sell what you bake in Tennessee.

The 2-minute version

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

One law to sell in Tennessee — and it’s the simplest one in the country

Most states make you choose between two or three legal paths. Tennessee has exactly one — the Tennessee Food Freedom Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 53-1-118). It exempts homemade food from all state licensing, permitting, inspecting, packaging, and labeling laws. No application, no registration, no fee, no agency to notify, and no inspection — the Health Department can step in only to investigate a reported foodborne illness. You follow the rules below and the law applies to you automatically.

Two tiers under one law. The Act splits only on whether your food needs refrigeration — same $0/no-cap freedom, two answers, and the dividing line is the refrigerator. When you outgrow it: if you want to ship across state lines, sell refrigerated foods through a store or online, sell the excluded products (red meat, fish/shellfish, raw milk, alcohol), or supply restaurants for resale, you leave the homemade exemption and become a regulated food manufacturer or permitted food-service establishment — a real step up with fees and inspections that many porch shops never need.

Sources: Public Chapter 862 (2022) — § 53-1-118 · Public Chapter 431 (2025) — TCS expansion · TDA — Food Freedom Act · TDA — outgrowing it (food manufacturing)

Where you can sell

Shelf-stable foods — sell almost anywhere in Tennessee. The Act allows sales “in person or remotely, including, but not limited to, a sale by telephone or internet” — so your porch, farmers markets, phone orders, and an online store are all fine. It also lets an agent or third-party vendor, “such as a retail shop or grocery store,” sell your shelf-stable items, so retail-shelf and consignment placement are allowed. And delivery may run through “a third-party carrier,” which means in-state shipping is explicitly allowed for shelf-stable foods.

Refrigerated (TCS) foods — in person only. Since July 1, 2025, refrigerated homemade foods may be sold, but the Act allows only two channels: “the producer to the consumer, in person,” or “an agent of the producer, in person, such as a farm stand located on the property where the food was prepared.” No shipping, no online fulfillment by carrier, no store shelf — refrigerated items have to pass hand-to-hand.

The hard boundary — Tennessee only. Every Food Freedom Act sale must be an intrastate sale “made within this state”; the exemption does not apply to sales other than intrastate sales. Shipping a package across a state line takes you out of the exemption and into federal (FDA) territory plus the destination state’s rules.

Your city and county can’t ban you. The Act preempts county, municipal, and other political jurisdictions “from prohibiting and regulating the production and sale of homemade food items.” A city or county cannot prohibit or regulate a Food Freedom Act porch shop’s food sales. (General state tax law still applies — see “Getting set up.”) One thing the Act doesn’t squarely address: selling to a restaurant for resale or as an ingredient. We won’t claim a flat prohibition the statute doesn’t write — the safe read is that restaurant supply isn’t within the consumer-sale exemption, so ask TDA before you build on it.

Sources: Public Chapter 862 (2022) — channels, intrastate, preemption · Public Chapter 431 (2025) — TCS in-person rule · TDA — Food Freedom Act

What you can sell

Sources: Public Chapter 431 (2025) — TCS + excluded list · Public Chapter 862 (2022) — homemade-food definition · 9 CFR 381.10 (poultry exemptions) · TDA — Egg Law (fresh shell eggs)

The rules that actually matter

• No sales capNeither Public Chapter 862 nor Public Chapter 431 contains any annual revenue limit, income limit, or production-volume limit — confirmed by reading the full text of both acts. Sell as much as you can make.
• $0 to the state, and no scheduled inspectionNo registration, permit, license, inspection, or fee exists under the Act — TDA confirms it issues no permits or licenses and conducts no inspections for these products. Nobody inspects your kitchen on a schedule; the Department of Health may step in only to investigate a reported foodborne illness.
• Refrigerated foods are in-person onlyThe single most important qualifier on the whole page: a cheesecake (or any TCS food) can be sold under the Act, but only hand-to-hand — no shipping, no online carrier, no store shelf. Shelf-stable foods have no such limit.
• Tennessee onlyThe exemption covers intrastate sales; out-of-state sales fall outside it for every kind of food.
• Canning carries a real safety cautionTennessee’s exclusion-based law doesn’t bar home-canned low-acid foods (green beans, canned vegetables) the way most states do — but low-acid canning carries a genuine botulism risk, and we found no TDA guidance blessing it. The law not prohibiting something isn’t the same as it being safe; learn proper processing before you sell. (Taxes still apply too — the Act doesn’t exempt you from any applicable tax law.)

Sources: Public Chapter 862 (2022) · Public Chapter 431 (2025) · TDA — Food Freedom Act

Getting set up

This is where Tennessee shines: there is no state food step. No form, no fee, no registration, no inspection — the exemption is automatic when you follow the rules. The whole checklist:

Sources: Public Chapter 862 (2022) · TDA — Food Freedom Act · TN Dept. of Revenue — business tax

Labels and disclosure

Where the information goes depends on how you sell: on a label affixed to a packaged item or bulk container; on a placard at the point of sale if it’s neither packaged nor bulk (a market table); on the webpage for internet-only sales. For telephone or custom orders you don’t have to display it — but you must verbally (or in writing) disclose to the buyer that the item “is produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection, and may contain allergens,” and have the name, food name, and ingredients readily available on request. Tennessee requires exactly these items — no minimum type size, no permit number, and no “cottage food operation” string, because there’s no registration.

Sources: Public Chapter 862 (2022) — consumer-information items + disclaimer · TDA — Food Freedom Act

What changed recently

• Refrigerated foods added — effective July 1, 2025Public Chapter 431 (SB 484 / HB 130), signed by Gov. Lee, extended the Food Freedom Act to refrigerated (TCS) foods like cheesecake and pasteurized dairy, added the excluded-ingredient list (no raw milk, alcohol, fish, shellfish, or red meat; poultry only under federal exemptions), and limited refrigerated foods to in-person sales only. Shelf-stable foods and their channels (including in-state shipping and store shelves) were untouched.
• The original Act — effective July 1, 2022Public Chapter 862 (2022) created the $0/no-cap shelf-stable exemption, the label/disclaimer rules, and local preemption — and repealed Tennessee’s older “domestic kitchen” cottage-food exemption, so there’s no legacy cottage-food registration regime running alongside it. The Act fully replaced the old law.
• No 2026 change — but read the act, not the agency pageThe 114th General Assembly (2025–2026) adjourned with no further enacted amendment to § 53-1-118. One heads-up: TDA’s Food Freedom Act page is thin — it links the acts but doesn’t spell out the 2025 refrigerated-foods split inline, so read the act itself for the channel rules. Where the page and the acts diverge, the acts control.

Sources: Public Chapter 431 (2025) · Public Chapter 862 (2022) · TN General Assembly — bill status

Common questions

Can I ship cheesecake from Tennessee?

No. Cheesecake is a refrigerated (TCS) food, and since July 1, 2025 those may be sold under the Food Freedom Act only in person — producer to consumer face-to-face, or at a farm stand on the property where it was made. No carrier shipping, no online fulfillment, no store shelf for refrigerated items. (Shelf-stable goods like cookies, by contrast, can be shipped — within Tennessee.)

Can I ship cookies or jam from Tennessee?

Yes — within Tennessee. The Act explicitly allows delivery by a third-party carrier for shelf-stable items. But every Food Freedom Act sale must be intrastate — the exemption doesn’t cover sending a package across a state line.

Do I need a license, permit, or registration in Tennessee?

No. There’s no Tennessee Food Freedom Act license, permit, registration, or fee — anyone selling you one is selling something that doesn’t exist. TDA confirms it issues no permits and runs no inspections under this law. (You may still owe general business and sales tax — that’s tax law, not a food credential.)

Is there a limit on how much I can earn in Tennessee?

No — Tennessee has no sales cap, income limit, or volume limit on homemade food. That’s one of the most generous setups in the country.

Does anyone inspect my kitchen in Tennessee?

No — there’s no pre-approval and no scheduled visits. The Department of Health may step in only to investigate a reported foodborne illness.

Can my city or county shut down my porch shop?

Not for being a homemade-food operation — the Act preempts local governments from prohibiting or regulating the production and sale of homemade food items. (General state tax rules still apply.)

Can a grocery store carry my goods in Tennessee?

Shelf-stable goods, yes — the Act lets a retail shop or grocery store sell your non-refrigerated items to the buyer. Refrigerated items, no — those are in-person only.

Can I sell pickles or canned vegetables in Tennessee?

The law doesn’t list them as prohibited — Tennessee’s exclusion-based structure means acidified and canned foods aren’t carved out. But low-acid canning carries a real botulism risk and we found no TDA guidance endorsing it; learn proper processing before you sell. This is the one place “legal” and “safe to wing it” aren’t the same thing.

Can I sell fresh eggs in Tennessee?

That’s a different law. Fresh shell eggs fall under the Tennessee Egg Law, not the Food Freedom Act; own-flock producers have a licensing exemption but still owe the Egg Law’s candling, grading, and labeling rules — check with TDA. (Eggs baked into a homemade product are just an ingredient and ride under the Act.)

Can I sell to a restaurant in Tennessee?

The Act covers sales to the consumer and through a retail/grocery agent; it doesn’t squarely authorize selling to a restaurant for resale or as an ingredient. We won’t claim a flat prohibition the statute doesn’t write — ask TDA before you build on restaurant supply.