Arkansas Cottage Food Law: Labels, Limits & When You Need Nutrition Facts

Last verified 16 Sep 2026 · Sources

Arkansas’s Food Freedom Act (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-501 et seq., created by Act 1040 of 2021) exempts homemade food sold directly to consumers from state licensing, certification, inspection, and packaging and labeling requirements: no application, no fee, no kitchen inspection, and no revenue cap. The label rule that matters most is a short disclosure sentence the statute spells out word for word. None of this trips FDA’s Nutrition Facts requirement by itself. That happens only once you make a nutrient content or health claim, sell wholesale or across state lines, or outgrow the FDA’s small-business labeling exemption.

Quick facts	Arkansas
Revenue cap	None
Permit or registration	None; no license, registration, or inspection
Sales channels	Direct, online/mail, and third-party retail in-state
Online sales	Yes
Required label statement	“This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.”
Nutrition Facts panel	Not required unless you make a nutrient claim
Administered by	Arkansas Department of Health
Governing law	Arkansas Food Freedom Act (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504)

What Arkansas lets you sell from home

The Food Freedom Act covers “homemade food or drink products” that are non-time/temperature-control-for-safety (non-TCS): shelf-stable items that don’t rely on refrigeration to stay safe (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-503). The Department of Health’s Homemade Food Production Guidelines list baked goods without cream fillings or fresh-fruit toppings, candy and confections, jams and jellies at a pH of 4.6 or below (or water activity of 0.85 or below), dried and dehydrated goods, fruit leathers, roasted coffee and tea, popcorn, and maple syrup, sorghum, and honey flavored only with dry ingredients (healthy.arkansas.gov). Pickled and acidified vegetables qualify too, but only at a pH of 4.6 or below, verified by an ADH-approved recipe, lab testing, or your own pH-meter readings and batch records. What’s out: meat, poultry, seafood, and any TCS food (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504(b)(3)). That includes dairy, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes or melons, garlic-in-oil, raw sprouts, and low-acid canned goods above pH 4.6. Raw milk products are sold under a separate statute, reworked by Act 698 of 2025 (SB 464), independent of the Food Freedom Act.

Permits, registration, and the revenue cap

There’s nothing to file. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504(a) exempts compliant homemade food sales “from state licensure, certification, inspection, and packaging and labeling requirements,” full stop: no fee, no form, no kitchen visit. The Department of Health’s own guidance reinforces this: it doesn’t issue permits for Food Freedom Act sales, pointing you to its Homemade Food Production Guidelines instead of an application (healthy.arkansas.gov). Neither source sets a revenue or unit cap. The one carve-out is that the Department of Health can still investigate a reported foodborne illness, and the Act doesn’t touch tax, hunting, fishing, brand, or animal-health inspection law (§ 20-57-507(a)). It also preempts local government: a city or county can’t add its own rules on top of the state exemption (§ 20-57-507(b)). Act 1040 of 2021 replaced Arkansas’s older, narrower Cottage Food Act (Act 399 of 2017); the only notable change since is the 2025 overhaul of the separate raw milk statute.

Where you can sell

Sales have to run directly to an “informed end consumer”: someone told the product isn’t state-inspected who isn’t buying to resell (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-503, § 20-57-504(b)(1)). Within that limit, the channels are broad: from a retail space at your home, farm, ranch, or office; at a farmers market; through a third-party vendor’s retail location, including a grocery store or gift shop; or by phone, mail, or online order, with delivery by you, an agent, the vendor, or a common carrier (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-506(b), § 20-57-504(b)(2), (4)). If you share retail space with a licensed food service establishment, the statute requires your homemade items to stay physically separate from what’s made on-site (§ 20-57-506(c)). The statute even reaches across state lines if you stay compliant with that state’s and federal law (§ 20-57-504(b)(2)), but selling to restaurants for on-site use, or to any wholesale buyer who isn’t the end consumer, is off the table everywhere.

What has to be on the label

Arkansas’s disclosure requirements, per Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-505, are:

Producer’s name, address, and telephone number, or an Arkansas Department of Agriculture identification number
The date the product was manufactured, produced, or processed
Common or usual name of the food or drink
Ingredients in descending order of predominance
The required disclosure statement, verbatim

“This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.”

(Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-505)

This has to appear on the package label; on a bulk container, a separate written document carries it instead; for unpackaged sales, a point-of-sale placard works; and for online orders, your website has to carry the disclosures too. The statute sets no minimum type size or placement, only that the information appear in one of those forms.

When you need a Nutrition Facts panel

Selling under the Food Freedom Act exempts your product from Arkansas’s own licensing and inspection rules, but that’s a state-law exemption, not an FDA one. As a home-based, direct-to-consumer seller, you typically sit outside what FDA actively pursues for standard nutrition labeling. What ends that in practice is the same everywhere: a nutrient content or health claim (“high protein,” “low sugar,” anything with a specific FDA meaning) pulls your product into standard 21 CFR 101.9 labeling the moment it appears, including in a social-media caption. Moving beyond the Act’s own channels into broader wholesale, or shipping in a way that draws FDA jurisdiction, is the other common trigger. And if your business outgrows the FDA’s small-business nutrition-labeling exemption under 21 CFR 101.9(j), your label needs a compliant panel even without a claim.

With no cap on Arkansas sales, the panel you build once can travel with your product from the farmers market to a gift-shop shelf. Enter your recipe, then see your label: free with no card required, you see your calories, the claims you qualify for, your allergen line and the nutrient to watch, and every other value and %DV stays hidden until you unlock it. $29 unlocks every other nutrient value and %DV, every FDA format your product qualifies for, the ingredient statement and the allergen declaration, ready to print. Start your label, or see how Arkansas compares with other states on the cottage food laws hub.

Arkansas cottage food FAQ

Do I need a permit to sell homemade food in Arkansas?

No. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504(a) exempts homemade food and drink sold under the Food Freedom Act from state licensure, certification, inspection, and packaging and labeling requirements.

Is there a revenue cap for Arkansas cottage food sales?

No. Neither the statute nor the Arkansas Department of Health's Homemade Food Production Guidelines sets a dollar or unit limit on sales, as of September 2026.

What exact label wording does Arkansas require?

Arkansas law requires your name, address, and phone number (or a Department of Agriculture ID number), the manufacturing date, the product's common name, ingredients by descending weight, and this exact sentence: \"This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens.\" (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-505).

Can I sell homemade food to a store or at a farmers market in Arkansas?

Yes. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-506(b) allows sales from your own retail space or from a third-party vendor's retail location, including a farmers market stand, as long as homemade items are kept separate from anything made in a licensed food service establishment.

Can I sell my Arkansas homemade food online or across state lines?

Yes, direct to an informed end consumer. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504(b) allows sales in Arkansas or another state if you stay compliant with that state's and federal law, and your website itself has to carry the required disclosures for online orders.

Can I sell homemade dairy, meat, or seafood in Arkansas?

No. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-57-504(b)(3) excludes meat, poultry, seafood, and any time/temperature-control-for-safety food from the Food Freedom Act; dairy falls in that excluded category. Raw milk and raw milk products are sold under a separate law, most recently amended by Act 698 of 2025 (SB 464).

When does Arkansas require a real Nutrition Facts panel?

Selling under the Food Freedom Act doesn't by itself trigger FDA nutrition labeling. The panel becomes necessary once a package or ad makes a nutrient content or health claim, once your product moves into retail/wholesale or interstate commerce, or once your business outgrows the FDA's small-business nutrition-labeling exemption under 21 CFR 101.9.

Nearby states

Selling into a neighboring state means that state’s rules apply there: Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma. See the full state-by-state table.

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