Louisiana Cottage Food Law (2026): Rules, Limits and How to Start
Do you need a license to sell homemade food in Louisiana?
Louisiana exempts home food preparers from Department of Health licensing under RS 40:4.9, with no registration and no food safety training required. Breads, cakes, cookies and pies carry no sales cap, but every other qualifying cottage food (jams, candy, pickles, sauces and similar) is capped at $30,000 in gross annual sales. None of it can contain animal muscle protein or fish protein.
Louisiana lets most home food sellers start without a state license, with a permit or registration reserved for certain foods or sales channels. Foods like baked goods, including breads, cakes, cookies and pies and candies are the common starting point. The page below shows exactly which step applies to your product.
Louisiana sets no dollar limit on cottage food sales, so the ceiling on your growth is your own kitchen and time rather than a statutory cap. The other rules that matter, the label, the allowed foods and where you can sell, are in the tables below.
The parts new Louisiana sellers most often get wrong are the exact label disclosure wording. Each one has its own row below, with the official source beside it.
How much can you sell? The Louisiana sales cap
The annual sales limit for a Louisiana cottage food operation.
| Item | Louisiana rule |
|---|---|
| Annual sales cap | No annual dollar cap in Louisiana |
| How it works | The cap structure comes from HB 828 (2022), which set the $30,000 threshold for non-bakery cottage foods while leaving bakery items uncapped. Selling a bakery item alongside capped items does not require separate accounting under the statute text reviewed, but the caps apply per category. |
What foods can you sell in Louisiana?
Allowed and prohibited categories under current Louisiana law.
| Allowed (examples) | Prohibited |
|---|---|
| Baked goods, including breads, cakes, cookies and pies; Candies; Cane syrup; Dried mixes; Honey; Jams, jellies, preserves; Pickles and acidified foods; Sauces, syrups, spices. | Any product containing animal muscle protein or fish protein; CBD, unless it is an FDA-approved food additive; Any otherwise unwholesome food. |
Louisiana cottage food label requirements
Every package you sell needs a label with the elements below in legible print.
- The disclosure statement above (not required for raw, unprocessed honey)
Louisiana requires this disclosure statement, word for word:
The food was not produced in a licensed or regulated facility.
Reproduced from Louisiana's cottage food labeling requirements. Confirm the current wording with Exemption from Louisiana Department of Health before you print a run of labels.
Get the free Louisiana cottage food checklist
The one-page map of the steps, in order, so you can see the whole path at a glance.
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Where can you sell in Louisiana?
The venues and channels Louisiana cottage food operators may use.
| Channel | Allowed in Louisiana? |
|---|---|
| Direct to consumer | Yes |
| Sale to a retail business or to an individual for resale | No |
Registration, training and inspection
Registration and permits. No registration with LDH or LDAF. Preparers must hold a current parish sales tax certificate to collect and remit local sales and use tax.
Food safety training. No food safety training requirement is specified in RS 40:4.9.
Kitchen inspection. RS 40:4.9 does not specify an inspection provision. Treat as not routinely inspected under the exemption, subject to confirmation.
The fees a Louisiana cottage food seller can expect.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| RS 40:4.9 cottage food exemption | No state fee |
| Parish sales tax certificate | varies by parish |
