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

Last verified 16 Sep 2026 · Sources

Montana’s Local Food Choice Act (MCA 50-49-201 to 203, enacted as SB 199 in 2021) lets you sell homemade food (including meat processed personally and even raw milk from a small dairy) directly to an informed end consumer with no license, permit, registration, or inspection and no dollar cap on sales. The one required piece is telling the buyer the food hasn’t been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected under official regulation; the statute doesn’t prescribe a format, so a sign at the point of sale works as well as a printed label. Federal nutrition labeling runs on a separate track, and a real Nutrition Facts panel only becomes necessary once a nutrient content or health claim enters the picture.

Quick facts	Montana
Revenue cap	None
Permit or registration	None; no license or registration required
Sales channels	Direct to consumer only, in-state, in person
Online sales	In-state only
Required label statement	“A producer shall inform an end consumer that any homemade food or homemade food product sold … has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected per any official regulations.”
Nutrition Facts panel	Not required unless you make a nutrient or health claim
Administered by	Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), Food & Consumer Safety Section
Governing law	Montana Local Food Choice Act (MCA 50-49-203)

What Montana lets you sell from home

The Act covers “homemade food” broadly, with no blanket exclusion of TCS (time/temperature-control-for-safety) items the way most cottage food laws work, and it bars the state from requiring licensing or inspection of the home kitchen (50-49-203(1)(a)). Meat is the one carve-out: meat processed at a state-licensed or federally inspected establishment, or by any third party, may not go into a homemade food product sold under the Act (50-49-203(7)(a)). If you personally slaughter fewer than 1,000 poultry birds a year, that carve-out doesn’t apply to your poultry, but the federal poultry rules at 9 CFR 381.10(c) and the recordkeeping under 9 CFR 381.175 still do (50-49-203(7)(b)). Small dairies selling raw milk face their own testing conditions (50-49-203(8)). DPHHS’s guidance also excludes alcohol, THC-infused products (a separate marijuana license applies), CBD-infused products, dietary supplements marketed as drugs, and any product carrying a health claim (dphhs.mt.gov).

Permits, registration, and the revenue cap

There’s no fee, license, registration, or routine inspection under the Local Food Choice Act. That’s the point of it. The only ongoing obligation is the consumer-disclosure duty described below, plus the meat, poultry, and dairy conditions where they apply. There’s no revenue cap of any kind, per product or overall, a real departure from most states’ cottage food statutes.

A separate, older program still runs alongside the Act: the cottage food operation exemption at 50-50-116 and 50-50-117, MCA. That path is narrower: non-potentially-hazardous, shelf-stable products only (baked goods, jams, dried fruit, candy, popcorn, honey, per ARM 37.110.503). It also requires a one-time $40 fee, a product list, and a copy of each label filed with the local health authority (dphhs.mt.gov; mca.legmt.gov). It doesn’t replace the Local Food Choice Act; some producers use it because certain markets ask for a registration number.

Where you can sell

A sale under the Act has to be directly between you and an informed end consumer, for home consumption or a traditional community social event, entirely within Montana, with no interstate commerce (50-49-203(2)). DPHHS’s guidance names farmers markets, weddings, funerals, potlucks, church events, and school events as qualifying events, and treats a pre-arranged delivery to the consumer as a direct sale (dphhs.mt.gov). Out: selling through a retail food establishment, restaurant, or grocery store unless separately licensed and inspected, with a narrow exception for raw, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and aquaculture products (50-49-203(4)); roadside stands from a vehicle; off-site food prep at an event; and consignment sales. Advertising online is fine. The sale itself still needs an in-person handoff or an arranged in-state delivery, not a shipment by mail or courier. The older registered cottage food path carries the same limits and specifically bars consignment through a retail or wholesale establishment (50-50-116).

What has to be on the label

The Local Food Choice Act doesn’t let a state or local agency mandate a label format. Its only requirement is the consumer-disclosure duty, which can be met with a printed label, a sign at the point of sale, or a verbal statement at pickup:

“A producer shall inform an end consumer that any homemade food or homemade food product sold through ranch, farm, or home-based sales pursuant to this part has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected per any official regulations.” (MCA 50-49-203(3))

Most producers still put the following on the package voluntarily:

Product name
Ingredients, in descending order by weight
Common allergens present
Producer name and contact information
The disclosure statement above

If you register instead under the older cottage food operation program (50-50-116/117), your label follows a fixed rule at ARM 37.110.504 (the same core elements plus net weight) and carries this exact required statement:

“MADE IN A HOME KITCHEN THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT REGULATIONS OR INSPECTIONS” (ARM 37.110.504) The rule text doesn’t prescribe a type size, so use one large enough to read at arm’s length and keep it in a contrasting color.

When you need a Nutrition Facts panel

Montana’s homemade-food exemption is a state exemption from licensure and inspection, not from federal nutrition labeling. If you’re a small home producer with no nutrient content or health claim on the package, your product already fits within the FDA’s small-business or low-volume exemptions under 21 CFR 101.9, so no panel is needed day-to-day. That protection disappears the moment a claim shows up anywhere (“high protein,” “low sugar,” “a good source of fiber”) on the label, a farmers-market sign, or an Instagram caption for the same product. Once a claim exists, your product needs a standard Nutrition Facts panel built to the FDA’s rounding and %DV rules, independent of Montana’s registration status.

Getting the panel right before a claim goes on your market sign means you print your labels once. 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. A one-time $29 unlock adds every other nutrient value and %DV, every FDA format your product qualifies for, and the ingredient statement and allergen declaration, ready to print. Start your label, or compare Montana with other states on the cottage food laws hub.

Montana cottage food FAQ

Does Montana require a permit to sell homemade food?

No. The Local Food Choice Act (MCA 50-49-203(1)(a)) bars state and local agencies from requiring licensure, permitting, certification, or inspection of homemade food sold directly to consumers (mca.legmt.gov).

Is there a revenue cap for Montana cottage food sales?

No. The Local Food Choice Act sets no dollar limit on sales, unlike most states' cottage food laws.

Can I sell meat or poultry as a Montana homemade-food producer?

Only if you process it yourself. Meat or meat products processed at a state-licensed or federally inspected facility, or by any third party, can't be used (50-49-203(7)(a)). If you personally slaughter fewer than 1,000 poultry birds a year, that rule doesn't apply to your poultry, but 9 CFR 381.10(c) and the recordkeeping in 9 CFR 381.175 still do (mca.legmt.gov).

Can I sell homemade food online or ship it out of Montana?

Sales have to be directly between you and an informed end consumer, only within Montana, with no interstate commerce (50-49-203(2)). Advertising online is fine; the transaction itself needs to be an in-person handoff or a pre-arranged in-state delivery, not a mailed or courier-shipped package (mca.legmt.gov; dphhs.mt.gov).

What do I have to tell customers about my homemade food?

The statute's disclosure duty means telling the end consumer that the product \"has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected per any official regulations\" (50-49-203(3)). It doesn't dictate the format, so a printed label, a sign at a farmers-market table, or a verbal disclosure at pickup can all satisfy it.

Is there a separate Montana cottage food registration program?

Yes. Alongside the Local Food Choice Act, an older registration path for non-potentially-hazardous shelf-stable foods still exists under 50-50-116 and 50-50-117, MCA: a $40 one-time fee, a department-approved product list, and a fixed label statement under ARM 37.110.504 (dphhs.mt.gov).

Nearby states

Selling into a neighboring state means that state’s rules apply there: Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota. See the full state-by-state table.

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