The Delaware cottage food law lets you make certain shelf-stable foods in your home kitchen and sell them directly to customers, once you register with the Division of Public Health, pay a $30 annual fee, follow the state’s product and labeling rules, and sell only in person at approved venues like farmers’ markets and craft fairs. The rules are codified at 16 Del. Admin. Code 4458A, and as of December 2023 there is no annual sales cap.
What You Can Make
The Division of Public Health keeps an approved product list, and you can only sell what appears on it. Everything on that list has one thing in common: it stays safe at room temperature.
- Baked goods such as breads, cookies, cakes, muffins, brownies, fruit pies, rolls, and pastries. Cream fillings, custards, and meat fillings are out because they need refrigeration.
- Jams, jellies, and fruit preserves, following the Division’s preparation requirements.
- Candy including fudge, lollipops, chocolates, tortes, hard candy, and rock candy, so long as the finished product is shelf-stable.
Meat, poultry, and fish are off-limits. So are acidified or pickled foods, low-acid canned goods, and fermented foods. Cannabis products are prohibited. Honey, dried fruits, maple syrup, and popcorn are not part of this program at all; they belong to Delaware’s separate On-Farm Home Processing program, which has its own license and rules.
Where and How You Can Sell
Sales must be direct to the consumer, face-to-face, and inside Delaware. Approved venues are farmers’ markets, craft fairs, charitable organization events, and other venues or functions the Division approves. Wholesale to restaurants, grocery stores, or any reseller is not allowed.
Online sales are banned. You can advertise online, but the transaction itself has to happen in person at an approved venue. Mail-order shipping is prohibited too.
One boundary trips people up: roadside stands and sales from your own home are not approved cottage food venues. Those channels belong to the On-Farm Home Processing program, which has a different product list and a $50,000 annual sales cap. If a farm stand or front-porch sale is what you have in mind, look at that program instead.
How to Register
You cannot sell anything until you register your cottage food establishment with the Delaware Division of Public Health. The steps:
- Complete a state-approved food handler training course before you apply.
- Submit the cottage food registration form. It asks for a full product list, all ingredients for each product, sample labels, the venues where you plan to sell, and floor plans of your kitchen and processing areas.
- If your home is on a private well, include a water analysis showing the supply meets state drinking water standards for chemical and bacteriological content. The test has to be dated within 60 days of your application.
- Pay the $30 fee to the State of Delaware. It’s due when your establishment is inspected and approved, or at renewal.
The Division may run one or more preoperational inspections to confirm your kitchen matches your application and that you have standard operating procedures in place. Additional inspections can happen if the Division receives complaints or reports of foodborne illness. Certain products may require recipe approval or lab testing before registration is issued.
Registration runs on a fiscal year, April 1 through March 31. Register in January and your registration still expires on March 31, so plan the timing if you want a full year out of the $30.
Kitchen and Sanitation Rules
Your kitchen doesn’t need a commercial retrofit, but the rules go beyond ordinary household habits. Pets are not allowed in the kitchen at any stage of preparation or packaging. A handwashing sink has to be accessible and stocked with warm water, soap, and disposable towels.
Ingredients and finished products must be stored separately from your personal groceries. Surfaces and equipment need to be cleaned and sanitized before each use. Because the Division wants floor plans of your processing areas as part of the application, think through your workspace layout before you file.
What Has to Go on the Label
Every product needs a label with all of the following:
- The name of your cottage food business and your Delaware town or city. A full home address isn’t required.
- The common name of the product.
- A phone number or email address.
- Ingredients listed in descending order by weight.
- Net weight or unit count.
- Date of production or a lot number for traceability.
You also have to identify any of the nine major food allergens present in the product: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, and sesame. Sesame became a federally recognized major allergen under the FASTER Act in January 2023 and is explicitly named in Delaware’s current regulations.
The label must carry a disclaimer stating that the food was prepared in a kitchen not subject to routine government food safety inspections. Leaving that off is one of the fastest ways to draw enforcement attention.
Business Licensing and Gross Receipts Tax
Your Division of Public Health registration covers food safety. It doesn’t cover your general business obligations. Most Delaware businesses register through the Delaware One Stop portal, and if you operate under any name other than your own legal name, you’ll register that trade name with the Division of Revenue.
Delaware has no sales tax, but it does have a gross receipts tax that varies by business activity. Food processors currently pay 0.1991% on taxable gross receipts. New businesses are set up as quarterly filers by default, with returns due the last day of the first month after each quarter ends. At cottage food volumes the dollar amount is small, but not filing at all can create Division of Revenue problems out of proportion to the tax owed.
Cottage food income is also subject to federal and state income tax. Track revenue and expenses from the first sale. Ingredients, packaging, and your food safety course are deductible business expenses.
Insurance and Personal Liability
Delaware does not require cottage food producers to carry product liability insurance. Going without it is a real risk. If a customer gets sick and sues, your personal assets are exposed, because cottage food producers cannot operate as an LLC under this program. There is no corporate shield between you and a claim.
Standard homeowners policies usually exclude business activities from both property and liability coverage, which means a kitchen fire during production or a customer’s allergic reaction could produce a denied claim. Call your agent and ask specifically whether your policy covers food production and sales. Some insurers offer home-based business endorsements. Standalone product liability policies for small food operations generally run $25 to $50 per month, depending on limits and sales volume.
Penalties for Operating Without Registration
If the Division finds you operating without a registration, it will order your establishment immediately closed. The closure stays in place until you submit a complete application, pay the fee, and get approved. No grace period, no warning.
If the Division identifies a condition that poses an immediate health hazard, it can suspend your registration without a hearing. It can also go to court for an injunction to stop ongoing violations.
Fines are modest but escalate. A first offense runs $25 to $100. A second offense runs $100 to $150. A third conviction can result in a court order shutting your operation down entirely and barring you from the business until the court lifts the order. The reputational fallout from an enforcement action at a farmers’ market tends to cost far more than the fine.
One federal note: cottage food producers are exempt from FDA food facility registration. A home-based operation that fits the customary expectations of a private residence isn’t a food facility for federal registration purposes, so nothing needs to be filed with the FDA to run a Delaware cottage food establishment.