Looking for Arkansas Cottage Food Laws and Regulations: How to sell your homemade foods in Arkansas in 2024? Scroll down this page and follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions . There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above. If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days .
If you have questions or feedback, please let me know ! There are affiliate links on this page. Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Date of the enactment of the cottage food law: February 2011;
revised 2017.
Revisions: HB 1118, Effective Date: 3/9/2021, it now allows online sales, and allows interstate sales, as long as the producer
"complies with all federal regulations regarding food safety".
Allowed foods include only the following:
Don't give up. You may still be able to make and sell it commercially, through a startup approach.
First, you may be able to rent space in a local licensed commercial kitchen .
Second, if that doesn't work, you may be able to get a co-packer to make the food for you .
Kitchens where Cottage Food items are prepared do not need to be licensed or inspected by the health department.
Cottage Food Production Operations must label all of their food products properly, which includes specified information on the label of each unit of food product offered or distributed for sale.
All processed packaged foods bear a label stating the
It is recommended that honey manufacturers/processors include this additional statement to their product label: "Honey is not recommended for infants less than twelve (12) months of age".
Here is a free Microsoft Word label template which you can download and edit . These labels are already formatted to fit on Avery Template 22820 Print-to-the-Edge Oval, Labels 2" x 3-1/3", 8 per Sheet, Glossy White. You can get the label stock online (see at right).
Depending on the size of your business, your label must comply with Federal label regulations and with the new nutritional labeling law. You can download a copy of the FDA Food Labeling Guide here it s an illustrated booklet that should answer all your questions. You may see that the sample label does not include a "nutritional panel" (calories, fat, protein, vitamins, etc.) . This is because if you sell (in the U.S. only) fewer than 10,000 units and hire fewer than 10 full-time employees yearly; you do not have to have a nutrition panel on your label, nor file a small business nutritional labeling exemption notice with the FDA.
Cottage Food items can only be sold direct from the manufacturer to the customer either from
The farmers' market can be a physical location or an online market (added in 2017). Nothing in the law prevents farmers' markets, cities or counties from having more restrictive cottage-food regulations. The Cottage Food law did not include any language to prevent cities or counties from passing ordinances with more restrictions
Note: Homemade items produced to be sold at a store or an online store are NOT allowed under the Cottage Food law and are not exempt from Department of Health permitting.
Beyond the requirements, common sense, good practices and reducing liability suggests you should do the following.
It's best to use a pH meter, properly calibrated on the day
used. I use this one, which is reliable and inexpensive
.
And this pH meter is really good, but isn't always available
.
Short-range paper
pH test strips, commonly known as litmus paper
, may be used
instead, if the product normally has a pH of 4.0 or lower and the
paper's range includes a pH of 4.6.
Keep a written record of every batch of product made for sale, including:
Although inspections are not required, you should consider doing the following:
Water bath canner with a jar rack
Pressure canners for gas, electric and induction stoves: Presto 23Qt or T-fal 22Qt
Canning scoop (this one is PERFECT)
Get the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book
This page was updated on
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Want to make a donation? pickyourown.org does not charge either farmers or consumers! I do all of the programming, web design and updates myself. If you'd like to make a donation to help me pay to keep the website going, please make a donation to me at Benivia through our secure donation processor. Just click the button below and follow the instructions:
All images and text
© Copyright Benivia, LLC 2008-2019 Disclaimer
and Privacy Policy
.
Permission is given to link to any page on www.pickyourown.org
but NOT to copy content and republish it. Those copying content from this website and publishing it will be vigorously legally prosecuted.
Sitemap
Click the image below for a complete weather forecast.