Free tool · Cottage food label rules

Vermont cottage food label rules

What has to be on the label when you sell homemade baked goods in Vermont, and the limits that matter at a market. Checked September 2026.

Another state Confirmed in official sources

Your label must include

Product name
Business name and physical address (not a P.O. box)
Ingredients in descending order of predominance
Net weight or volume
Allergen information per federal requirements
Nutrition Facts only if a nutrient content or health claim is made
Home kitchen statement

Required statement

“Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health.”

Statement must be in at least 10-point type in a color that provides a clear contrast to the background of the label.

Brown Butter Toffee Cookies

Sunny Crumb Co. · 123 Palm Ave, Your City, VT 00000

Ingredients: enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), brown sugar, toffee bits (sugar, butter, almonds, soy lecithin), eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, sea salt.

Net wt. 4 oz (113 g) · 2 cookies

Contains: wheat, milk, eggs, tree nuts (almond), soy.

Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health.

Sample label for illustration, made from the checklist above. Your own label has to match your recipe and your state’s exact rules.

Key limits in Vermont

Permit: Registration: no license and no fee if gross annual receipts are $30,000 or less, but you must file a free licensing-exemption filing in the Health Department’s online portal every year before January 15.
Training: Required: the Health Department’s free ‘License Exempt Food Processors and Cottage Food Operators Online Training’ (completion attested in the annual exemption filing).
Sales cap: $30,000 gross annual receipts (above that, a home bakery license is required: $100 fee)
Where you can sell: Direct to consumers only, including farmers markets; may not sell to restaurants or other licensed food establishments; no sales across state lines.
Online & shipping: Official guidance does not address online/phone orders, delivery or in-state shipping; out-of-state sales are not allowed.
Law: Cottage food operation licensing exemption, 18 V.S.A. §§ 4353, 4358 as amended by Act 42 of 2025 (H.401); Vermont Manufactured Food Rule (emergency rule adopted July 1, 2025; rule effective 1/15/2026)

What we could not confirm (2)

Whether online/phone orders, delivery or in-state shipping are allowed; official guidance is silent
Whether consignment or sales through non-food retail shops are allowed (guidance only bars restaurants/licensed food establishments)

Check with: Vermont Department of Health, Food & Lodging Program

Last change to the law: Act 42 of 2025, effective July 1, 2025 (replaced the old $125/week home bakery exemption); Manufactured Food Rule effective January 15, 2026

Sources

Made by BakersKeep

Set up this label once. Print it for every cookie.

BakersKeep builds your Vermont label from each recipe: ingredients in order, allergens and the required statement. Change a recipe and every label updates. It also prices your cookies, takes pre-orders and writes the week’s posts.

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This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and counties can add their own. Confirm with Vermont Department of Health, Food & Lodging Program before you print. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

Vermont cottage food label rules

Your label must include

Required statement

Set up this label once. Print it for every cookie.

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