Last verified 16 Sep 2026 · Sources
South Carolina’s Home-Based Food Production Law (S.C. Code § 44-1-143) lets you sell non-potentially-hazardous foods from your home kitchen with no permit, license, or inspection, as long as your operation stays on the allowed-foods list. There’s no sales-dollar cap on a qualifying operation, though one earning under $1,500 net a year falls outside the law’s requirements and is limited to in-person direct sales. Every package you sell needs one line verbatim, in all caps: “PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA’S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS.” A Nutrition Facts panel isn’t required unless a nutrient content or health claim shows up anywhere on your label or in your marketing.
| Quick facts | South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Revenue cap | None (net earnings under $1,500/yr exempt from the law) |
| Permit or registration | None; no permit, license, or inspection required |
| Sales channels | Direct, online/mail, and in-state retail stores |
| Online sales | In-state only |
| Required label statement | “PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA'S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS.” |
| Nutrition Facts panel | Not required unless you make a nutrient content or health claim |
| Administered by | South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) |
| Governing law | S.C. Code § 44-1-143 (Home-Based Food Production Law) |
What South Carolina lets you sell from home
The statute limits home-based production to non-potentially-hazardous foods that don’t need refrigeration to stay safe. SCDA’s 2025 guidance lists baked goods without cream fillings, candies and chocolate, dried fruits, herbs, vegetables, coffee, and tea, honey, roasted or candied nuts and seeds, heat-dried pasta, high-acid jams and jellies from tested recipes, and infused syrups and vinegars (agriculture.sc.gov, 2025 guidance). Off the list: anything TCS (time/temperature-control-for-safety) or refrigerated, meat, poultry, and seafood, raw milk, fermented foods, cream-based fillings and icings, pickles, salsa, and pepper jelly, and (named in the statute’s definition) aluminum canned goods and charcuterie boards. If your recipe is in a gray zone (moist cakes, cream-cheese frostings, anything acidified), it’s worth checking against current guidance first.
Permits, registration, and the revenue cap
There’s no permit, license, certificate, or registration to obtain. SCDA “does not issue permits, licenses, certificates, or registrations” to home-based producers (agriculture.sc.gov); the operation is exempt from retail food establishment regulation under S.C. Regulation 61-25 as long as it meets the statute’s conditions. If you don’t want your home address on the label, you can request a free SCDA identification number instead, which “the department shall provide… upon the operator’s request” (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(D)(1)).
The law sets a floor, not a ceiling. Under subsection (G), “the provisions of this section do not apply to an operation with net earnings of less than fifteen hundred dollars annually” that would otherwise meet the definition of a home-based food operation. Below that $1,500 line, you sit outside the statute’s rules entirely, but SCDA’s guidance notes that also means selling only direct to the customer in person. There’s no cap above which an operation has to graduate to a commercial kitchen; scale is limited by the food list and channels, not revenue.
The 2022 amendment, Senate Bill 506 (2022 Act No. 208, effective May 23, 2022), expanded the allowed-foods list and added online, mail-order, and retail/grocery-store sales. Before that, the exemption was direct-to-consumer only. Separately, on July 1, 2024, Act 60 of 2023 moved DHEC’s retail food program, including this law, to SCDA, as part of DHEC’s dissolution into SCDA, the new Department of Public Health, and the Department of Environmental Services (dph.sc.gov, “DHEC Restructuring”).
Where you can sell
You can sell direct to a customer in person, by mail order, and online, and to retail and grocery stores, which must post signage that home-based products “are not subject to commercial food regulations” (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(E)). A restaurant can sell a packaged product off a shelf with a variance and the same disclosure, but not as a menu ingredient. What’s not allowed: crossing state lines. SCDA’s guidance is explicit that “SC 44-1-143 (Cottage Law) is only applicable to sales intrastate,” so a product you ship elsewhere falls under FDA’s interstate rules instead, cottage exemption or not.
What has to be on the label
Every product you package needs a label complying with federal labeling law generally, plus these state-specific elements (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(D)):
- Product name
- Ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight
- Name and address of the home-based food production operation, or the SCDA identification number in place of the address
- Allergen disclosure: SCDA applies FALCPA’s 9 major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame), either in the ingredient list parenthetically or as a “Contains” statement after it, naming species for fish, shellfish, and tree nuts
- The required disclaimer, below
“PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA’S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS.” (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(D)(4))
The statute specifies how this line must look, not just what it says: “conspicuous,” “printed in all capital letters,” and “in a color that provides a clear contrast to the background.” It sets no minimum point size or required location, but tiny gray-on-white text wouldn’t meet “clear contrast” even with the right words.
When you need a Nutrition Facts panel
South Carolina’s law doesn’t require a Nutrition Facts panel on its own. SCDA’s guidance states plainly that “nutrition labeling or having a Nutrition Facts panel on your label is not required for home-based food operations.” That tracks the federal rule: home production for direct sale is exempt from FDA nutrition labeling under 21 CFR 101.9 until a nutrient content or health claim appears. South Carolina goes further: its guidance adds that “no health claims may be made in association with foods produced in a home-based food operation” at all, so that kind of claim isn’t supposed to appear anywhere, package, farmers-market sign, or Instagram caption included. Selling to an out-of-state buyer or moving into interstate commerce has the same effect: the exemption stops applying, and a standard federal panel is expected.
If you’re planning ahead to wholesale or an out-of-state buyer, a finished panel means you can say yes when that buyer asks. 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. A one-time $29 unlock gets you the full panel in every FDA format your product qualifies for, plus your ingredient statement and allergen declaration, ready to print; or send us the recipe and we build it. Start your label, or compare other states in our cottage food laws guide.
South Carolina cottage food FAQ
Does South Carolina require a permit to sell homemade food?
No. Section 44-1-143 exempts a home-based food production operation from retail food establishment permits, licenses, and inspections as long as it stays within the law's food list and rules (scstatehouse.gov).
What agency regulates cottage food in South Carolina now?
The South Carolina Department of Agriculture, since a July 1, 2024 reorganization moved DHEC's retail food program, including the home-based food law, to SCDA (agriculture.sc.gov).
Is there a sales cap for my South Carolina home-based food business?
The statute doesn't cap gross sales. It runs the other direction: if your operation has net earnings under $1,500 a year, the section's requirements don't apply to it at all, including labeling, but you can then only sell direct to the customer in person (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(G)).
Can I sell my home-based food online or to a South Carolina store?
Yes, since the 2022 amendment (S.506, 2022 Act No. 208). The law now covers sales directly to a person, including online and by mail order, and to retail or grocery stores that post the required signage, but only within South Carolina (scstatehouse.gov; agriculture.sc.gov).
What's the exact home-based food label statement I have to use?
PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA'S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS. It must be printed in all capital letters, in a color that contrasts with the background (S.C. Code § 44-1-143(D)(4)).
Do I need a Nutrition Facts panel on a South Carolina cottage food label?
No, unless you make a nutrient content or health claim. SCDA's own guidance says a panel isn't required and adds that no health claims are allowed on home-based food labels at all, so a claim isn't just a labeling trigger, it's off the table under state law (agriculture.sc.gov).
Nearby states
Selling into a neighboring state means that state’s rules apply there: North Carolina, Georgia. See the full state-by-state table.