VirginiaCottage Food Laws

No permit is required for Virginia's home kitchen food processing exemption, and there is no revenue cap. The tradeoff is that Virginia restricts online sales, shipping, and delivery for the exemption, so plan on direct, in-person sales of shelf-stable foods.

Cooked, ready-to-eat meals fall outside the home kitchen exemption, which covers shelf-stable items. The path to yes for cooked food is a licensed or commissary kitchen. Baked goods, candies, jams, and dry mixes you can sell directly.

Yes, for exempt shelf-stable foods sold directly to customers, with no permit and no cap. Local zoning rules still apply to on-site pickup, and the exemption limits online and shipped sales, so keep transactions direct and in person.

No. Virginia's exemption is one of the strictest in the country here: you cannot use a shopping cart, "buy now" buttons, order forms, or accept orders online. You can advertise online with product photos, prices, and a phone number, but the order itself must be placed by phone, and sales stay direct — pickup, farmers markets, home, or events running no more than 14 consecutive days. A pending 2026 bill, HB402, would loosen this.

General cottage foods — baked goods without TCS fillings, jams and jellies, dried foods, candies, and honey up to 250 gallons — carry no revenue cap. Pickles and other acidified vegetables at pH 4.6 or below are allowed too, but under a separate $9,000-a-year limit that HB759 raised from $3,000 in 2024. Excluded items include all TCS foods, meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, low-acid canned goods, pesto, hummus, and garlic-in-oil.

Virginia does not require state registration for basic cottage food sales. The cited state sources do not list a revenue cap. Direct in-person sales are the safest channel to confirm before taking online or delivery orders.

Not for the basic cottage food path, based on the state sources cited on this page. Virginia may still have label, food-category, local zoning, or other business rules, so check the official source before you sell.

Virginia's cottage food rules mainly cover foods that do not need time or temperature control for safety. Common no-go categories include tcs, meat, poultry, dairy, eggs.