OhioCottage Food Law

No. Ohio Revised Code § 3715.021 requires no registration, no fees, no inspections, and no food-safety training to sell cottage food. You can start today. This is one of the most permissive regulatory frameworks for home food sales in the United States. The only scenario where you'd register is if you want the Home Bakery License path — that's a separate, optional program.

No. Ohio does not cap cottage food sales, so you can scale as large as your kitchen allows. If you need to move into perishable items or sell wholesale to stores and restaurants, the Home Bakery License is the upgrade path — $25 to $50 a year, with a kitchen inspection.

Cottage food is the no-registration path for shelf-stable items. The Home Bakery License is a separate Ohio Department of Agriculture program that lets you sell perishable baked goods (cream pies, cheesecakes, etc.), wholesale to retail stores and restaurants, and operate with a formal inspection regime. If you're selling cookies, jams, or candy direct-to-consumer, stay in cottage food. If you need perishables or wholesale reach, apply for the Home Bakery License.

Anything potentially hazardous or temperature-controlled: meat, poultry, seafood, jerky, cream-filled pastries, cream cheese frosting, custards, puddings, dairy-based foods, fresh or cut produce, pickles, salsas, hot sauces, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, acidified and low-acid canned foods, garlic-in-oil, and cannabis products are all off the list under Ohio's cottage food rules. Many of these are legal under the Home Bakery License path instead.

Yes to online sales and yes to in-state shipping. Interstate shipping is not allowed under Ohio cottage food law. Third-party delivery is not explicitly addressed in statute, so treat it as a gray area. Wholesale to retail stores and restaurants IS allowed under cottage food rules in Ohio — unlike most states, which restrict cottage food to direct-to-consumer only.

HB 134 would create a Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) registration in Ohio — similar to California's MEHKO — allowing TCS foods including dairy, meat, poultry, and seafood from a home kitchen. It passed the House in November 2025 and is currently in the Senate. If it becomes law, it would open a new path for prepared-meal sales. Until then, prepared meals aren't cottage food in Ohio.

Ohio does not require state registration for the cottage food lane. There is no state revenue cap in the current data. Ohio allows online orders, in-state shipping, seller delivery for cottage food sellers in the current data.

Not for the cottage food lane in the current data. Ohio may still have label, food-category, local zoning, or other business rules, so check the official source before you sell.

Ohio's cottage food lane is mainly for foods that do not need time or temperature control for safety. Common no-go categories include tcs, acidified foods, low acid canned goods, meat, poultry.