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

Last verified 16 Sep 2026 · Sources

Vermont runs two license-exempt tiers rather than one: a cottage food operator exemption for shelf-stable home-kitchen goods, capped at $30,000 in gross annual receipts, and a separate food-processor exemption for other packaged foods, capped at $10,000. Above those numbers, Vermont offers licensed Home Bakery ($100/yr) and Home Caterer ($155/yr) categories that bring your kitchen under Department of Health inspection. Every exempt product you sell needs one specific sentence on its label, verbatim, in 10-point contrasting type. A federal Nutrition Facts panel under 21 CFR 101.9 only becomes necessary once a nutrient or health claim shows up anywhere, or once your business outgrows the exempt and home-licensed categories into standard licensed manufacturing.

Quick facts	Vermont
Revenue cap	$30,000/yr (cottage food); $10,000 (processor)
Permit or registration	None under caps; Home Bakery license $100/yr above them
Sales channels	Direct to consumer; not to restaurants or retailers
Online sales	Not addressed in VDH guidance
Required label statement	“Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health.”
Nutrition Facts panel	Not required unless you make a nutrient claim
Administered by	Vermont Department of Health, Food and Lodging Program
Governing law	18 V.S.A. ch. 85 (Food Manufacturing Exemptions)

What Vermont lets you sell from home

The cottage food exemption, defined at 18 V.S.A. § 4301, covers a “cottage food product”: food sold by a cottage food operator “that does not require refrigeration or time or temperature control for safety” (18 V.S.A. § 4301). VDH guidance lists the categories that fit: non-potentially hazardous baked goods, candy, jams and jellies, dry herbs, trail mix, granola, cereal, mixed nuts, flavored vinegar, popcorn, coffee beans, dry tea, and home-canned pickles, vegetables, or fruits meeting an equilibrium pH or water-activity standard from a National Center for Home Food Preservation recipe or a reviewed process (VDH licensing-exemption guidance, PDF). Meats, and dehydrated meats or produce, are excluded. A separate food-processor exemption, capped at $10,000 rather than $30,000, applies more broadly to establishments that “process and package food for resale,” without the cottage food list, but still excludes anything needing refrigeration or time-and-temperature control. A Home Bakery license adds bread, cakes, muffins, cookies, and other baked goods needing no refrigeration, made in an inspected home kitchen; a Home Caterer license covers prepared food sold direct to a customer and food made for cooking later at an event, reaching potentially hazardous items a bare exemption never does.

Permits, registration, and the revenue cap

Staying under $30,000 in cottage food receipts, or $10,000 in other exempt processed-food sales, requires no license and no fee, but it isn’t paperwork-free. VDH requires completing the Department’s online training for exempt food manufacturers every year and filing a license exemption in the online portal annually by January 15 (VDH licensing-exemption guidance, PDF). This is a recent framework: Act 42 (H.401), effective 1 July 2025, replaced Vermont’s old home-bakery threshold of $6,500 a year (or $125 a week) with the current $30,000 cottage food figure and created the separate $10,000 food-processor exemption (Act 42, as enacted; VTDigger, March 2025). Cross either cap, or want to make foods outside the cottage food list, and 18 V.S.A. § 4353’s fee schedule sets a Home Bakery license at $100 a year and a Home Caterer license at $155 a year, both requiring a passing opening inspection first (18 V.S.A. § 4353).

Where you can sell

VDH’s exemption guidance is specific about one restriction and silent on the rest: “food service establishments, like restaurants, may only purchase food products from licensed food manufacturers,” so cottage food and food-processor exemption products cannot be sold to restaurants or any other licensed food establishment (VDH licensing-exemption guidance, PDF). That points the exemption toward direct-to-consumer sales: from your home, at events, or by personal delivery. VDH’s guidance doesn’t say whether online orders or mail delivery within Vermont are treated separately from any other direct sale, so if you plan to ship or list online, confirm with VDH first. The statute and VDH’s exemption guidance don’t address online ordering one way or the other; the only channel they rule out is selling to restaurants and other licensed food establishments. Selling across state lines puts your product into interstate commerce, and VDH notes that “the laws of the state where you are selling the product may also apply.” Vermont’s exemption carries no authority into another state’s rules. A licensed Home Caterer selling at a farmers market or public event may also need a separate Temporary Food Service License for that event.

What has to be on the label

Every cottage food or food-processor exemption product needs, per VDH’s licensing-exemption guidance:

The name of the food product
The ingredients, listed in descending order of predominance by weight
Allergen information as required under federal labeling law
Net weight or net volume of the product
The name and address of the operation
The required home-kitchen disclosure statement, verbatim

“Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health.”

That sentence must appear “in at least 10-point type in a contrasting color to the background label” (VDH licensing-exemption guidance, PDF). It applies to the exempt tiers; VDH’s home-based licensing page doesn’t list it for a licensed Home Bakery or Home Caterer, which are inspected rather than exempt, though the standard identity, ingredient, net-weight, and allergen elements still apply.

When you need a Nutrition Facts panel

A few things move you onto a standard Nutrition Facts label built to 21 CFR 101.9:

You make a claim. A nutrient content or health claim (“low sugar,” “good source of fiber”) anywhere on a package or in an ad triggers standard nutrition labeling, exemption or no exemption.
You cross into licensed retail or wholesale. Selling to restaurants, grocery stores, or other licensed food establishments isn’t covered by either exemption or by the home-based licenses; that’s standard, licensed food manufacturing territory.
You sell across state lines. Interstate sales bring in federal rules and whatever the receiving state requires, on top of anything Vermont asks for.

Knowing which of those three applies to you means you print the right label the first time. Enter your recipe, then see your label: its shape and calorie count, the claims you qualify for and your allergen line are free, no card required, and every other value and %DV stays hidden until you unlock it. $29 unlocks every other nutrient value and %DV: the full panel in every FDA format your product qualifies for, plus your ingredient statement and allergen declaration, editable afterward at no extra cost; or send us the recipe and we build it. Start your label, or compare other states in our cottage food laws guide.

Vermont cottage food FAQ

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Vermont?

Not if you stay under the caps. If you make shelf-stable items in your home kitchen, the cottage food operator exemption runs up to $30,000 a year in gross receipts, and a separate food-processor exemption covers other packaged foods up to $10,000 a year (18 V.S.A. § 4353, as amended by Act 42).

What is Vermont's cottage food revenue limit?

$30,000 or less in gross annual receipts from cottage food sales, effective 1 July 2025 under Act 42 (H.401). Before that the limit was $6,500 a year, or $125 a week.

What exact wording does a Vermont home-kitchen label need?

\"Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health,\" in at least 10-point type in a color that contrasts with the label background (Vermont Department of Health licensing-exemption guidance).

Can I sell my Vermont cottage food products to a store or restaurant?

No. The exemption guidance is explicit that food made under a license exemption cannot be sold to restaurants or other licensed food establishments. Those channels require a food manufacturing or retail license.

What if I go over the $30,000 cottage food cap?

You move out of the exemption and into a licensed category: a Home Bakery license ($100 a year) for baked goods, a Home Caterer license ($155 a year) for prepared food, or standard food-manufacturing licensing, all of which require a Department of Health opening inspection.

When does my Vermont cottage food need a real Nutrition Facts panel?

Once your label or ad makes a nutrient content or health claim, or once your sales move into licensed wholesale, retail, or interstate commerce, your product needs standard labeling under 21 CFR 101.9 regardless of revenue.

Nearby states

Selling into a neighboring state means that state’s rules apply there: New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. See the full state-by-state table.

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