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. The exemption stops applying once your gross annual sales reach $100,000, raised from $30,000 by Act 801 of 2026 with effect from August 1, 2026 and that threshold covers everything on the low-risk list, baked goods included. Bread, cake, cookie and pie makers carry extra conditions on top: specific kitchen sanitation rules, no hired help and and no selling to a shop for resale. 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 caps annual cottage food sales at $100,000 gross annual sales, applied to all low-risk foods including baked goods. CHANGED 2026-08-15: raised from $30,000 to $100,000 by 2026 Act 801 (House Bill 403), signed by the Governor June 8, 2026 and effective August 1, 2026, so it is already in force.
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 | $100,000 gross annual sales, applied to all low-risk foods including baked goods; it is a cutoff rather than a ceiling, because the exemption stops applying at $100,000 or more |
| How it works | CHANGED 2026-08-15: raised from $30,000 to $100,000 by 2026 Act 801 (House Bill 403), signed by the Governor June 8, 2026 and effective August 1, 2026, so it is already in force. The enrolled act text amends and reenacts R.S. 40:4.9(B) with the coding note "Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions": "thirty thousand" is struck and "one hundred thousand" is added. CAUTION: the codified text at legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=98431 has NOT been updated and still prints "thirty thousand dollars" with a history line ending at Acts 2022, No. 357, so the code page alone will look like it disagrees. Note also that the $50,000 figure reported earlier was the original House version; Senate amendments raised it to one hundred thousand. Subsection E defines low-risk foods and its first item is baked goods, expressly including breads, cakes, cookies and pies, so the threshold reaches bakery items too. The bakery-specific provisions in Subsection A are additional conditions on baking at home, not a separate uncapped track. CORRECTION 2026-07-27: this page previously stated that bakery items carried no cap. They do. |
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.
From the team behind this library
The Cottage Food Launch Kit
Want the whole path in one place? The kit turns everything on this page into one ordered walkthrough for Louisiana: your state requirement sheet, a fill-in label template with the exact required wording, the allowed-foods checker, the ordered checklist and your first-market plan. Follow it in an evening.
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 of breads, cakes, cookies or pies to a retail business or to an individual for resale | No. R.S. 40:4.9(C): "No individual who prepares breads, cakes, cookies, or pies in the home for sale to the public pursuant to this Section shall sell such foods to any retail business or individual for resale." Subsections A, B, D, E and F carry no comparable restriction on the other low-risk categories |
| Sale of the other low-risk foods (candies, cane syrup, dried mixes, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, pickles, acidified foods, sauces, syrups, spices) to a retail business or for resale | Not clearly authorized. The statute's resale prohibition at R.S. 40:4.9(C) reaches only bakery items, so it does not bar these. Nothing affirmatively authorises the channel either and LDH guidance could not be read (ldh.la.gov returned 403 on every route), so this is recorded as unresolved rather than permitted |
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 |
Wondering how Louisiana compares? See what a cottage food license costs in every state, from the no-fee states to the priciest permits.
