Colorado Cottage Food Act: Allowed Foods, Labeling, and Sales Limits

The Colorado Cottage Food Act lets you sell certain homemade, shelf-stable foods directly to consumers in Colorado without a commercial kitchen, a food establishment license, or routine health inspections, provided you complete a food safety course, label products correctly, and keep net sales under $10,000 per product per year. The law is codified at C.R.S. 25-4-1614 and has been in effect since 2012.¹ A bill introduced in the 2026 legislative session, HB 26-1033, would substantially expand what you can sell and how much you can earn, so it’s worth watching if you’re planning a home food business.

Foods You Can Sell

The Act covers foods classified as “nonpotentially hazardous,” meaning they stay safe at room temperature. The statute lists what qualifies:

Baked goods including breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, fruit pies, candies, fruit empanadas, and tortillas, as long as they don’t contain fillings or toppings that need refrigeration
Jams, jellies, preserves, and fruit butters
Pickled fruits and vegetables with a finished pH of 4.6 or below (you need to test the first batch of each recipe)
Spices, teas, flour, dehydrated produce such as fruit leathers and dried herbs, nuts, and seeds
Honey and whole eggs, capped at 250 dozen eggs per month

The statute ends with “other nonpotentially hazardous foods,” which sounds flexible, but the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) reads that phrase narrowly. If a product needs refrigeration to stay safe, it doesn’t qualify.¹

What’s Not Allowed

Anything that can grow dangerous bacteria at room temperature is prohibited. That includes all meat products, jerky and bacon among them, as a standalone product or as an ingredient in something else. Sauces are also banned: barbecue, hot sauce, pasta sauce, and salad dressings. Salsa surprises a lot of new producers, but fresh salsa needs refrigeration and doesn’t qualify.²

Baked goods filled or topped with cream, custard, or meringue fall outside the permitted category. Cheesecakes and anything with cream cheese icing are out for the same reason. When you’re not sure about a recipe, contact the CDPHE or your local health department before you start selling it.

Food Safety Training

You have to complete a food safety course before you sell your first item. The statute requires training in basic food handling comparable to what the Colorado State University Extension Service or a state, county, or district public health agency offers.¹ Nationally accredited food handler programs, including ones accredited through the ANSI National Accreditation Board, generally satisfy this if the content covers food handling fundamentals.

Your certificate is good for three years, and you’re expected to keep it current under whatever renewal terms your course provider sets.² Keep it somewhere you can find it. There are no routine inspections under current law, but if a complaint is filed, a health department representative may ask to see proof of training.

Labeling Requirements

Every package needs a label in English carrying the following:

The product name
Your full name, the address where the food was prepared, and a current phone number or email
The date the food was made
A complete ingredient list in descending order by weight
The exact statutory disclaimer: “This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection and that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish. This product is not intended for resale.”

The disclaimer has to be legible to the average customer.¹ One gap to be aware of: the statutory disclaimer lists eight allergens and does not include sesame, which became the ninth federally recognized major allergen under the FASTER Act effective January 1, 2023.³ Colorado hasn’t updated the disclaimer text, but if your products contain sesame, disclosing it voluntarily is the responsible move.

You don’t need a nutrition facts panel. The FDA’s small business nutrition labeling exemption covers operations with fewer than 10 full-time employees selling fewer than 10,000 units of a product annually, which fits nearly every cottage food producer.⁴ Adding a nutrient content claim like “sugar free” to your label voids the exemption, so keep marketing language plain.

Where You Can Sell

All sales have to be direct to the end consumer, and all sales have to happen inside Colorado. You can sell from your home, at a roadside stand, at a farmers’ market, through a community-supported agriculture organization, or at similar venues. Online sales are permitted, but you have to deliver or mail the product to the customer yourself. Interstate sales are prohibited.¹

Selling to grocery stores, restaurants, or any retail outlet for resale is not allowed, and neither are consignment arrangements. If you sell at a farmers’ market, either you or someone who can answer questions about ingredients and preparation needs to be at the booth. If you ship, the package has to be secure enough for the product to arrive in good condition, and you’re on the hook if it deteriorates in transit.

The $10,000 Per-Product Cap

Net sales cannot exceed $10,000 per calendar year for each distinct food product. The cap is per product, not per business. If you sell three flavors of jam, each flavor has its own $10,000 limit, because every individual flavor or variety counts as a separate product.¹ Blow past the cap on any single product and that product moves into commercial territory, requiring a food establishment license and standard health department compliance.

Sales Tax and Business Registration

Cottage food income is subject to Colorado sales tax and state income tax. CDPHE directs producers to register at mybiz.colorado.gov and file Colorado Retail Sales Tax Returns through Revenue Online.² If you only sell at occasional events, a Special Event Tax license may fit better than a standard sales tax license. Colorado sales tax is layered: state, county, and municipal rates stack, and some home-rule cities run their own systems. Check the state’s DR 1002 publication for the rates that apply where you live and sell, and check with your city or county clerk about local business license requirements.

Federal Taxes

Cottage food income is self-employment income. Report it on Schedule C and expect self-employment tax of 15.3% on net earnings. If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for the business, the simplified home office deduction gives you $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, capped at $1,500 and limited to gross business income for the year.⁵ Ingredient costs, packaging, booth fees, and the food safety course fee are deductible on Schedule C.

Insurance

Standard homeowners policies usually exclude or sharply limit business activity, so if a customer gets sick and files a claim, your homeowners insurance will likely deny it. Product liability policies for food businesses typically start around $300 a year for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Some farmers’ markets require proof of product liability coverage before they’ll rent you a booth, so build the cost in early.

HB 26-1033 and What Could Change

House Bill 26-1033, introduced in the 2026 legislative session, would reshape the Act if it passes. The main changes:

Producers could sell foods requiring refrigeration and foods containing meat, both currently prohibited
The per-product cap would rise from $10,000 to $150,000 per calendar year, adjusted for inflation
Producers would have to register with CDPHE before selling, and the department would maintain a public registry
CDPHE or local health agencies could conduct random inspections of home kitchens and issue fines
Producers selling temperature-controlled foods would need extra training on time and temperature management

The bill also includes a sunset date of September 1, 2028 for the entire Cottage Food Act, subject to legislative review.⁶ The direction of the bill is a shift from a low-regulation, shelf-stable model to something closer to a licensed home food operation with active oversight. Track it on the Colorado General Assembly site if you’re planning a business that depends on the current rules.

What Happens If You Break the Rules

Enforcement under current law is complaint-driven. The state doesn’t inspect cottage food kitchens on its own. If someone reports a problem, CDPHE or your local health department may contact you, investigate, and evaluate your operation. If they find you’re producing foods not permitted under the Act, you’ll be required to stop producing and distributing the disallowed product immediately. Repeated or serious violations can shut you down entirely.

Most enforcement actions start because a producer drifted outside the permitted food list without realizing it. Stick to the permitted foods, keep your training certificate current, label everything the way the statute requires, and stay under the revenue cap. When in doubt about a new product, ask CDPHE before you sell it.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Code Title 25 – Section 25-4-1614
2
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Cottage Foods Act
3
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Allergies
4
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Small Business Nutrition Labeling Exemption Guidance
5
Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction
6
Colorado General Assembly. HB26-1033 Expanding the Colorado Cottage Foods Act