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What Can I Make?

Cottage Food
What Can I Make?

Allowable Food Products List

The rules under Michigan's Food Law were developed to protect the health and safety of Michigan citizens and to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Some foods are allowed for sale under the Cottage Food exemptions based on their relatively low risk for foodborne illness. Cottage food producers can help reduce the risk of foodborne illness even further by following safe food handling and storage practices and maintaining good hygiene in their home kitchens. Proper labeling is also important, especially for people who may be allergic to certain ingredients. 

 What are the requirements for Cottage Foods?

Certain non-potentially hazardous foods (time and/or temperature controls not required to assure food safety—meaning foods that can safely be kept at room temperature and do not require refrigeration) meet the requirements for cottage foods and can be prepared in a home kitchen and sold directly to consumers without a license. Many of these items are identified by MDARD.

You may use the search bar to find specific foods or browse by category below.

What Can I Make?

  • Allowed:
    • Baked goods, cookies
    • Cakes, including celebration cakes (birthday, anniversary, wedding, cupcakes)
    • Pies that are shelf stable
    • Cooked fruit pies, including pie crusts made with butter, lard, or shortening
    • Breads
    • Quick breads and muffins (e.g., pumpkin or zucchini bread, blueberry muffins)
    • Breads with shredded hard cheeses incorporated into the dough prior to baking
    • Breads with herbs (fresh or dried), spices, nuts
    • Breads with finely chopped and dried or freeze-dried vegetables and/or fruits incorporated into the dough prior to baking
    • Jalapeno cheddar bread that is made with shredded hard cheese, incorporated into the dough. Jalapenos must be chopped or pulverized and dried, freeze-dried, or commercially pickled and patted dry prior to being incorporated into the raw dough

    Not Allowed:
    •  No pies or cakes that require refrigeration to assure safety like banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue or custard pies; no cheesecake; no cakes with glaze or frosting that requires refrigeration (e.g., no cream cheese frosting)
    •  No breads with fresh or frozen vegetables added
    •  No breads with soft cheese or large chunks of hard cheeses
  • Allowed:
    • Powdered drink mixes
    • Dry tea mixes
    • Ground coffee or roasted coffee beans
    Not Allowed:
    • No beverages, including fruit/vegetable juices, Kombucha tea, and apple cider. Beverages are not allowed to be produced under Food Law exemptions for Cottage Food Operators.
    •  No concentrates
    •  No ready-to-drink beverages, including lemonade
  • Allowed:
    • Confections and candies (made without alcohol)
    • Cotton Candy
    • Chocolate-covered pretzels, marshmallows, graham crackers, Rice Krispies treats, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, or other non-Temperature Controlled for Safety Foods
    • Coated or uncoated nuts
    • Hard candies, lollipops, and peppermint candies
    • Maple candy
    • Freeze-dried candy
    • Flavored maple syrups
    • Flavored honey
    Not Allowed:
    • No caramel apples
    • No confections that contain alcohol, like truffles or liqueur-filled chocolates. (You can make and sell confections that use flavoring, flavoring extract (e.g., rum flavoring or lemon flavoring), but not actual alcoholic beverages (e.g., rum extract, rum, sparkling wine/Champagne, Grand Marnier, Chambord, etc.)
    • No simple syrups
    • No elderberry syrups
  • Allowed:
    • Vinegar and flavored vinegars
    • Peanut butter or almond butter made from ground nuts or other similar nut butters are allowed
    • Flavored oils with no dried or fresh garlic
    Not Allowed:
    • No sauces and condiments, including barbeque sauce, hot sauce, ketchup, or mustard
    • No salad dressings
    • No salsas, tomato sauces, spaghetti sauces
    • No apple butter, pumpkin butter, or other fruit butters
    • No hummus
    • No garlic in oil or garlic-flavored oil
  • Allowed:
    • Granola
    • Dry herbs and dry herb mixtures
    • Dry baking mixes
    • Dry dip mixes
    • Dry soup mixes
    • Dehydrated or freeze-dried vegetables or fruits are allowed, except melon, tomato, or leafy greens
    • Dried pasta made with or without eggs
    • Dry bread or 'instant' bread mixes
    • Dried herbal teas that are labeled and advertised to be consumed as a conventional food, with no health claims
    • Shelf stable dry bulk mixes can be repackaged into a Cottage Food product
    • Freeze-dried candies or other shelf stable novelties
    Not Allowed:
    • No tinctures, herbal teas with dosing instructions or advertised with health claims. These are not considered conventional foods and may be required to be licensed and regulated as a Dietary Supplement.
    • No freeze-dried or dehydrated sourdough starter
    • No freeze-dried or dehydrated melon, tomato or leafy greens
    • No freeze-dried dairy or products that require refrigeration prior to being freeze-dried, such as ice cream
  • Allowed:
    • Vinegar and flavored vinegars are allowed

     Not allowed:

    • No fermented foods or beverages including, but not limited to, kombucha, olives, or sourdough starter

  • Not Allowed:

    • No ice or ice products
    • No foods requiring refrigeration such as ice cream, meat, cooked vegetables
  • Allowed:
    • Whole and sliced dehydrated fruits
    • Whole and sliced fruits as a garnish on a cake or pastry
    • Baked fruit pies and pastries
    Not Allowed:
    • No canned fruits or vegetables like salsa or canned peaches
    • No canned fruits or vegetable butters like pumpkin or apple butter
    • No cut or dehydrated melons or tomatoes
  • Allowed:
    • Icings and frostings made with all shelf-stable ingredients that do not require refrigeration for safety
    • Commercially prepared, shelf-stable frostings that do not require refrigeration for safety
    • Buttercream only from one of the two lab-tested, reviewed and approved recipes below, if they are followed exactly with no changes in proportions of ingredients, no subtractions, and no additions (other than food coloring or flavoring extracts):
    Not Allowed:
    • No frostings made with ingredients that require refrigeration for safety
    • No buttercream frostings other than commercially prepared, shelf-stable or the two lab-tested, reviewed and approved recipes listed
    • No cream cheese frostings or icings
  • Allowed:
    Not Allowed:
    • No vegetable jams/jellies (e.g., hot pepper jelly)
    • No low-sugar or no-sugar jams or jellies
    • No other non-fruit based jams/jellies
    • No fruit or vegetable butters

  • Not Allowed:

    • No meat and meat products like fresh and dried meats (jerky)
    • No fish and fish products like smoked fish
    • No dehydrated meats. Meats are a Potentially Hazardous Food/Temperature Controlled for Safety (PHF/TCS) food and are not allowed under the Food Law exemptions for Cottage Food
     
  • Allowed:
    • Popcorn is allowed
    • Roasted coffee beans or ground roasted coffee are allowed
    • Extracts that are used for flavoring foods, like vanilla extract (and other extracts of foods that do not require temperature control for safety) are allowed
    Not Allowed:
    • No milk and dairy products like cheese or yogurt
    • No fresh pastas
    • No CBD, cannabis, or foods with these products
    • No dietary supplements as a tincture, syrup, tea, capsule, powder, or any other form that require a license to produce and/or sell
    • No pet food or treats. A commercial feed license is required to make in a home kitchen.

    Honey and maple syrup are not considered cottage foods, because the regulatory requirements and exemptions have some significant differences. They do, however, have their own set of licensing exemptions under the law. Please see the Michigan Maple Syrup and Honey Licensing Exemptions for more information.

  • Not allowed:

    • No canned pickled products like corn relish, pickles, or sauerkraut
    • No pickled fruits or vegetables, such as beets, cocktail onions, or cherry peppers
    • No fruit or vegetable salsas

    Pickled and acidified foods pose a risk of botulism

  • Allowed:
    • Whole and sliced dehydrated vegetables except cut tomatoes, cut leafy greens, or sprouts
    • Vegetable or herb "chips", such as kale or root vegetable chips
    • Cultivated or wild foraged mushrooms that are raw or dried. You must be able to provide proof that wild foraged mushrooms were identified by a certified mushroom expert. For more information, visit MDARD's wild foraged mushrooms page.
    Not Allowed:
    • No cut tomatoes or chopped/shredded leafy greens
    • No food products made with cooked vegetable products
    • No raw seed sprouts
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