Ohio Cottage Food Law (2026): Cottage Food vs Home Bakery

Ohio gives home food makers two separate paths:

• Cottage food production operation: no license, but limited to specific non-TCS foods.
• Home bakery: licensed and inspected by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), and allowed to make baked goods that need refrigeration, such as cream pies or cheesecakes.

Pick the path that matches your menu.

Path 1: Cottage food (no license)

A cottage food production operation makes non-TCS foods in the owner's primary residence in Ohio. The Hamilton County Public Health pamphlet, which explains the state rules (updated May 2026), adds some practical limits:

• Only the owner prepares food, in their own residential kitchen.
• The home may have only one stove or oven used for cooking. A double oven is fine.
• Commercial-grade cooking equipment isn't allowed.

Allowed foods include bread, brownies, cookies, cake, fruit pie, cobbler, unfilled baked donuts, candy, dry baking mixes, dry cereal, dry herbs and herb blends, dry seasoning blends, dry soup mixes, dry tea blends, flavored honey from an exempt beekeeper, freeze-dried candies, fruit butter, fruit chutneys, fruit jams and jellies, granola and granola bars, maple sugar from an exempt syrup producer, nut snack mixes, pizzelles, popcorn (including kettle corn, caramel corn, and popcorn balls), roasted coffee, and waffle cones.

Path 2: Home bakery (licensed)

If you want to make TCS baked goods, such as cheesecakes, custard, cream, meringue, or pumpkin pies, you need a Home Bakery license from ODA. That includes a kitchen inspection. Selling away from home also requires a temporary or mobile license from your local health department.

Where you can sell cottage food

The local health department guidance lists these venues, all within Ohio:

• Directly to the end customer from the home where the food is made
• Through licensed food operations and retail food establishments
• At farm markets and farmers' markets
• To a licensed restaurant, for sale or for use in its dishes
• At a festival or celebration organized by a political jurisdiction, for up to 7 days

Craft fairs, religious festivals, art shows, and similar events need a temporary or mobile license from the local health department.

Online sales: the sources disagree. The Hamilton County Public Health pamphlet says cottage foods may not be sold on the internet. The Institute for Justice lists online orders as allowed. Until ODA publishes clear guidance, treat online sales as off-limits, or confirm with ODA in writing.

Packaging rules

Cottage foods must be packaged and labeled before they leave your home. Reduced-oxygen (vacuum-sealed) packaging isn't allowed.

The Ohio label

Ohio Revised Code 3715.023 requires:

1. Name and address of the cottage food business
2. Name of the product
3. Ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight
4. Net weight and volume
5. "This product is home produced." in 10-point type

Local guidance adds:

• Net quantity in both U.S. and metric units
• Sub-ingredients
• An allergen statement starting with "Contains", covering the nine major allergens including sesame

Under ORC 3715.023(B), a properly labeled cottage food is an acceptable product for licensed retail food establishments and restaurants to sell or cook with. That's why Ohio allows wholesale when many states don't.

Nutrition Facts

The Ohio guidance is direct: if you make any nutritional claim, such as "low fat", "low sodium", or "reduces heart disease", the label must include a Nutrition Facts panel. For mostly-sugar candies where many nutrients are zero, the simplified display is often the right choice.

Official source

Ohio Department of Agriculture, Division of Food Safety — Cottage Foods and Ohio Administrative Code chapter 901:3-20, and Ohio Revised Code 3715.023. Practical summary: Hamilton County Public Health cottage food pamphlet (PDF).