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Cottage Food Approved Products

Cottage Food Approved Products

  • Allowed: Not 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, spices, nuts, or 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
    • No pies or cakes that require refrigeration to assure safety like banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue or custard pies; cheesecake; and cakes with glaze or frosting that requires refrigeration (e.g., cream cheese frosting)
    • No breads with fresh or frozen vegetables added
    • No breads with soft cheese or large chunks of hard cheeses

  • Not allowed:

    No beverages, including fruit/vegetable juices, Kombucha tea, and apple cider. Beverages are not allowed to be produced under the Cottage Food Law.

  • Allowed: Not 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
    • 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.)

  • Allowed: Not Allowed:
    Yes: Peanut butter, almond butter, or other nut butters. Peanut butter made from ground peanuts or other similar nut butters are allowed.
    • No sauces and condiments, including barbeque sauce, hot sauce, ketchup, or mustard
    • No salad dressings
    • No salsas, tomato sauces, spaghetti sauces PHF/TCS Faq info
    • No apple butter, pumpkin butter, or other fruit butters
    • No Hummus

  • Allowed: Not Allowed:
    • Granola
    • Dry herbs and dry herb mixtures
    • Dry baking mixes
    • Dry dip mixes
    • Dry soup mixes
    • Dehydrated vegetables or fruits
    • 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
    • Non-potentially hazardous dry bulk mixes sold wholesale can be repackaged into a Cottage Food product. Similar items already packaged and labeled for retail sale cannot be repackaged and/or relabeled.
    • Freeze-drying of some non-Potentially Hazardous Foods or non-Temperature Controlled for Safety Foods foods like candies or raw fruits is allowable under the cottage food law if the freeze-drying is conducted in a commercial freeze dryer to completion. ( may not freeze cut melon or cut tomatoes)
    		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.

  •  Not allowed:

    • No kombucha tea: Under the Michigan Food Law, you must be licensed to sell fermented foods and beverages, the production of which is considered a specialized process.
    • No fermented green olives subjected to processes (such as lye treatment or washing with low-acid foods) that raise the pH above 4.6, with subsequent addition of acid or acid foods to reduce the pH to 4.6 or below

  • Not Allowed:

    • No ice or ice products
    • No Potentially Hazardous Foods or Temperature Controlled for Safety Foods such as ice cream, meat, cooked vegetables
    • No freeze-drying of foods that require special processing for safety, such as commercially prepared pickles, salad dressings, juices, beans, etc. These are not allowed as a Cottage Food.
  • Allowed:

    Not allowed:
    • Whole and sliced dehydrated fruits.
    • Fruit "chips" are permitted under the Cottage Food Law. The dehydrated fruits must be shelf stable and must be packaged and labeled for sale according to the Cottage Food Law requirements.
    • No canned fruits or vegetables like salsa or canned peaches
    • No canned fruits or vegetable butters like pumpkin or apple butter
    • No cut melons

  • Allowed: Not Allowed:

    The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reviewed and approved the two below recipes if they are followed exactly with no changes in proportions of ingredients, additions, or subtractions:

    		 No other buttercream frostings. Other Buttercream recipes in Come and Bake It: Original Edition, in other recipe books, or online sources have not been reviewed or approved for use.

  • Allowed: Not Allowed:
    Fruit jams and jellies (as defined in 21 Code of Federal Regulations part 150) in glass jars that can be stored at room temperature.
    • 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 due to increased risk of botulism

  • 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 Cottage Food Law exemptions.
     
  • Allowed: Not 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
    • 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: Not 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.
    • No cut tomatoes or chopped/shredded leafy greens
    • No food products made with cooked vegetable products
    • No raw seed sprouts

  • Allowed: Not allowed:
    Vinegar and flavored vinegars No garlic in oil mixtures