The short version: In Missouri you can sell homemade baked goods, canned jams and jellies, and dried herbs and herb mixes from your home kitchen with no sales cap and no state food permit or license. The state law, RSMo 196.298, says these home operations are not food service establishments and says local health departments "shall not regulate the production of food" there. You must sell directly to consumers (not to stores or resellers), keep online sales inside Missouri, and label every product as made in an uninspected kitchen. The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) also leaves out hot pepper, sugar-free and no-sugar-added jams and anything that needs a fridge.
Checked on the Missouri Revisor of Statutes, DHSS's Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance and the Missouri House bill page, October 6, 2026: the statute still shows the version that took effect August 28, 2022, and HB 3108, a 2026 bill to widen it, was never heard in committee. Rules on shipping, markets and business licenses vary by city and county, so call your local health department before you sell. This is general information, not legal advice.
If you want Missouri customers to order ahead for pickup or delivery, you can set up a Homegrown storefront and try it free for 7 days.
Missouri lets you sell homemade food without any food permit from the state and with no limit on how much you earn. The trade-off is a short list: only three kinds of food qualify under the cottage food law. This guide covers exactly what you can sell, what is left out, how to label it, where you can sell it, what your city might add, and how to start this week.
Ready to begin? Follow our step-by-step guide to starting a cottage food business in Missouri, and keep this page open for the rules behind each step.
No, Missouri cottage food sales have had no cap since HB 1697 took effect on August 28, 2022. Before then, the law covered only home producers with "an annual gross income of fifty thousand dollars or less" from these foods. HB 1697 deleted that line from RSMo 196.298, and DHSS's guidance now says "there is no longer a limit to how much a cottage food producer can make annually."
Here is the whole law at a glance, with where each rule comes from. "DHSS guidance" means the department's Missouri Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance, which explains how the state reads the law. The guidance says it does not bind state or local agencies, so where it adds to the statute we say so.
Scroll sideways to see where each rule comes from.
| Missouri rule | Detail | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Annual sales cap | None (the old $50,000 cap ended in 2022) | RSMo 196.298 as changed by HB 1697; DHSS guidance |
| Food permit or license | None for cottage food | DHSS guidance, questions and answers |
| Local health department | May not regulate how you make the food; still keeps complaint records | RSMo 196.298.3 |
| Allowed foods | Only 3 categories: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, dried herbs and herb mixes | RSMo 196.298.1 |
| Who can sell | Only you, or a member of your household who knows the food well | DHSS guidance |
| Where you can sell | Directly to consumers; online only when you and the buyer are both in Missouri | RSMo 196.298.1 and 196.298.5 |
| Out of state, wholesale, stores | Not allowed | RSMo 196.298; DHSS guidance |
| Label | Name, address and a not-inspected statement in the law; DHSS adds four more | RSMo 196.298.4; DHSS guidance |
| Food safety training | No statewide food handler certification; some local agencies require it for food establishments, and St. Joseph requires none for cottage food | DHSS food safety FAQ; St. Joseph Health Department |
| Governing law | RSMo 196.298 (2014 law, changed by HB 1697 in 2022) | Missouri Revisor of Statutes |
We read the statute on the Missouri Revisor of Statutes site and the DHSS guidance (cover date August 2023) linked from DHSS's food safety page on October 6, 2026.
Some local pages are out of date. On October 6, 2026, the Lincoln County Health Department's cottage food page still said "Cottage food operations can sell up to $50,000 of products per year." The statute dropped that cap in 2022. If a county page and the statute disagree, the statute is the law, but call the county anyway so you know how it reads its own page.
No, Missouri does not require a state food permit or license for a home cottage food operation. DHSS's guidance answers the question directly: "There is no food permit or license for cottage food production operations, but products must meet the labeling requirements listed by law."
The law gets there in two steps. RSMo 196.298 says a cottage food production operation "is not a food service establishment" and is not subject to the state's health or food code laws, other than this one section and its rules. It also says a local health department "shall not regulate the production of food" at a cottage food operation. That is why there is no kitchen inspection before you start.
Three things can still apply:
No food permit from the state, but check your city hall. Skipping the state sales tax license is the costly miss: DOR's penalty starts at $500 for the first day. Our guide to whether you need a business license to sell food from home walks through how to find out.
Missouri's cottage food law covers exactly three kinds of food and nothing else: oven-baked treats, canned jam or jelly, and dried herbs. RSMo 196.298 names "a baked good, a canned jam or jelly, or a dried herb or herb mix," and DHSS's guidance calls these "the only items that can be prepared out of the individuals' home."
"Potentially hazardous" is the state's term for food that needs temperature control to stay safe. DHSS describes it as food that "requires temperature control for food safety" and can grow germs quickly. A plain sugar cookie is fine. A cream pie is not.
Local health departments give real examples. Springfield-Greene County and St. Joseph both list cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes, breads, muffins and fruit pies such as apple, cherry and berry as allowed. Baking is the biggest category on Homegrown. In our October 6, 2026 pull of the Homegrown catalog, 1,461 of 2,893 products sat in the Bakery category their vendors chose, from 184 vendors. Not all of them would pass Missouri's test, because that category also holds cheesecakes and cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. For pricing and packaging, our guide to selling baked goods from home walks through both.
Anything outside the three categories, and anything that needs a fridge, is out. DHSS's guidance lists these 12 foods that cannot be sold under the cottage food law, and ends the list with "And more":
Food plates are out too. A plate of fried chicken and sides needs a fridge, contains meat and is not one of the three categories, so selling dinners from home generally means an inspected kitchen; ask your local health department.
DHSS's guidance also names three kinds of jam that fall out. DHSS says "No Sugar Added," "Sugar Free," and hot pepper jams and jellies "could have an altered pH or water activity" that makes them potentially hazardous, so "they cannot be sold under the Missouri Cottage Law." pH is a measure of how acidic a food is; water activity is how much free moisture it holds.
DHSS adds two more in its questions and answers. Meringue and cream pies "are potentially hazardous foods" and need an inspected kitchen. Jams made with Splenda or a similar sweetener must be tested for pH and water activity, and DHSS says to contact your local health department for instructions.
City health departments go further on baked goods. St. Joseph and Springfield both list pumpkin pies, meringue pies, and cream cheese frosting or filling as not allowed. If your top product is a pumpkin pie or a cupcake with cream cheese frosting, check with your county or city health department before you list it.
In a pull of the Homegrown catalog on October 6, 2026 (2,893 products from 311 vendors in many states), 10 listings from 4 vendors were hot pepper jams or jellies, such as Hot Pepper Jam, Jalapeño Jelly and Raspberry-Chipotle Jam. Another 5 listings from 2 vendors were sugar-free or no-sugar-added jams (one, Sugar Free Busting Banana, comes from a jam vendor whose regular Busting Banana is listed as a jam). We counted by reading every product name and description that matched jam, jelly, preserves or marmalade as whole words, flagging pepper, chile and sugar-free words, then reading every other product those vendors list. Dr Pepper Jelly was left out because the pepper is the soda. Each of those vendors sells under its own state's rules. In Missouri, DHSS's guidance keeps all 15 out of the cottage food law, so they are the first jars to drop from a menu you bring here.
Missouri has a second path for some homemade foods, and it lives in the Missouri Food Code, not in the cottage food law. The Food Code's definition of a "food establishment" leaves out, "where local codes allow, individual stands" that sell only certain low-risk foods. DHSS's guidance calls this the "exemption in the Missouri Food Code."
The food list is longer. The Food Code names "breads, cookies, fruit pies, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butters, honey, sorghum, cracked nuts, packaged spices and spice mixes, dry cookie, cake, bread, and soup mixes," and says the list is not limited to those. It still excludes low-acid canned foods and acidified foods such as pickles. DHSS's guidance adds that freeze-dried foods that do not need a fridge, such as candy, "may fall under the exemption," but only where local laws allow.
The health department that covers your city or county decides whether the exemption exists where you live. DHSS says local agencies may use the state Food Code or their own code, and under a local code "other non-potentially hazardous foods may or may not be exempted from routine inspection."
Swipe the table to compare the two paths side by side.
| Question | Cottage food law (RSMo 196.298) | Food Code exemption (individual stands) |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides if it applies | State law applies statewide, though St. Joseph and Springfield say their health department has the final say on whether a food is potentially hazardous | Your local public health agency; only "where local codes allow" |
| Foods covered | Baked goods, canned jams or jellies, dried herbs and herb mixes | Low-risk processed foods, including fruit butters, honey, sorghum, cracked nuts, spice mixes and dry mixes |
| Where you sell | From home, directly to consumers, and online inside Missouri | From an individual stand, directly to the end consumer |
| Who can sell | You or a household member who knows the food (DHSS) | You or an immediate family member living in your home who knows the food |
| Label | Name, address, not-inspected statement; DHSS adds name of food, ingredients, net weight, allergens | Name and address, name of the food, ingredients in order of amount, net weight, not-inspected statement (DHSS adds allergens) |
| Sign at the table | Not in the statute | A visible placard when food is sold, sampled or served in unpackaged single portions |
| Test for "low risk" | Not potentially hazardous, per DHSS | Water activity of 0.85 or less, or pH of 4.6 or below at 75°F; DHSS has final say |
Built from RSMo 196.298, the Missouri Food Code's "Food Establishment" definition, part (3)(h), and DHSS's Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance, all read on October 6, 2026.
Pure honey has its own route. DHSS treats pure honey that a beekeeper harvests and packs on the farm as a raw agricultural commodity, like whole uncut fruit and vegetables, so it can be sold to the end consumer without being a food establishment. If you sell honey under the Food Code stand exemption, the Food Code recommends a label line warning that honey is not recommended for babies under 12 months old.
DHSS's food safety page links both the cottage food statute and the Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance under "Exempted Foods." The guidance says to contact the Environmental Health program at your local public health agency for any food that does not fit one of the exemption categories.
You can start as soon as your calls and paperwork are done, because there is no state application to wait on. Here is the order that saves the most back-and-forth:
Make every call in one morning and write down the name of each person you spoke to and what they said. Two calls, one to the county or city health department and one to city hall, cover the local questions this guide cannot answer for your town.
Every Missouri cottage food label needs your name and address and a statement that the food was not inspected. That part comes from the law itself: RSMo 196.298.4 says the label "shall include the name and address of the cottage food production operation and a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department."
DHSS's guidance asks for six items in all, and the label "must be legible to the consumer":
The exact wording of the statement differs by agency. DHSS names itself. Springfield-Greene County asks for a statement naming the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, and its farmers market page uses "Product was prepared in a kitchen not inspected by the health department." A line that names both DHSS and the local health department covers the statute's own words, and the sample label below uses one. Ask the health department for your area if it wants a specific sentence.
A simple compliant label for a loaf that weighs 14 ounces might read: *"Ozark Apple Butter Bread. Your Name], [Street Address, City, MO ZIP]. Ingredients: flour, sugar, apples, eggs, butter, cinnamon, baking soda, salt. Contains: wheat, eggs, milk. Net wt. 14 oz (397 g). This product was prepared in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services or the local health department."* See our [cottage food labeling guide for templates.
You must sell directly to the end consumer, not to a store or reseller. The statute covers food made "for sale at the individual's home" and sold "only directly to consumers," and DHSS's guidance says the person selling must be you or a household member who knows the food well.
Allowed channels:
Not allowed:
The statute does not say whether you can mail an order to a buyer who also lives in Missouri. It only requires that you and the buyer both be in Missouri. St. Joseph's health department reads it more tightly: "No delivery via mail is allowed." DHSS's guidance does not address mail inside the state. Until your health department tells you otherwise, plan on hand delivery and pickup, and read our guide on whether you can ship cottage food before you buy boxes.
All three local health department pages we read say yes, but the state's own guidance points somewhere else. St. Joseph says Missouri cottage food producers sell "at farmers' markets, roadside stands, and special events," Lincoln County lists "farm markets, church bake sales, etc.," and Springfield's Farmers Market Guidelines say baked items, jams and jellies made at home need no permit, though its farmers market permit page adds that some jams and jellies may need a Better Process School or product testing. DHSS's guidance, asked whether cottage food can be sold out of a mobile establishment, says individual stands may be allowed "under the exemption in the food code" if local laws allow, with a label and a placard. Confirm with your health department before market day. Our Missouri farmers market vendor permit guide covers what market managers usually ask for.
Cooking at the market is a different business. DHSS says someone making fresh salsa on site at a farmers market is a food establishment "subject to food safety regulations and inspection." Springfield-Greene County charges $144 for a Farmers' Market Food Permit, prorated by month, for vendors who prepare samples or portions of potentially hazardous food at the market.
Yes, Missouri cities and counties can add their own business license, zoning and market rules on top of the state law. DHSS's guidance says local public health agencies can "adopt local food ordinances that are equal to or more stringent than current state regulations." The cottage food law keeps them out of your production, but cities still control business licenses, zoning and, for the Food Code exemption, which stands are allowed.
Here is what three local agencies said when we read their pages on October 6, 2026:
Swipe to see each health department's answer.
| Local agency | What its page says | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| City of St. Joseph Health Department (February 2024 guidance) | No permits, inspections or training from the state or the city; a city business license is required, and a city fire inspection permit may be (city code section 16-35); online sales by home delivery or pickup, "No delivery via mail" | Get the business license, ask the fire marshal about a fire inspection permit, skip shipping |
| Springfield-Greene County Health Department | Home food making is a home occupation under city code; follow zoning; label statement names the county health department; freeze-dried candy listed as an allowed example | Check zoning and use the county's statement wording |
| Lincoln County Health Department | Sales from home, events, farm markets and church bake sales; still lists a $50,000 yearly cap, and its food list adds honey, sorghum, cracked nuts, fruit butters and packaged spices, which comes from the Food Code's exemption for stands, not the statute's three cottage food categories | The cap ended in 2022; confirm the rest by phone |
Each page loaded October 6, 2026. Springfield's freeze-dried candy example differs from DHSS, which says freeze-dried foods are not covered by the cottage food law and may fit the Food Code exemption where local laws allow.
The pattern: the state sets the floor, and your city or county tells you what the paperwork looks like. DHSS's directory page says Missouri has 115 local public health agencies, so neighboring towns can give different answers on shipping, stands and business licenses.
Probably yes, because Missouri's Department of Revenue requires a retail sales license before your first retail sale. Its FAQ says "taxpayers are required to have a Missouri retail sales license prior to making sales," and its small business registration page names farmers markets and craft shows as special events where anyone selling to a final consumer "must register for retail sales tax." The license itself is issued "at no cost to the licensee" under RSMo 144.083.
What to know:
For the bigger picture on reporting, see our guide on sales tax at farmers markets.
Missouri's 2022 change made online ordering legal for cottage food, as long as every buyer is in Missouri. That makes a real ordering page worth having: one link where Missouri customers pick a pickup time or a delivery address, pay up front, and land in one list instead of 20 text threads.
Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually (or $12.50 billed monthly), with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30, which the vendor pays. You get a storefront with built-in payments, pickup scheduling and local delivery with your own radius, and Homegrown calculates and remits sales tax on the orders placed through it. New stores get a 7-day trial with no charge until day 8. It suits a Missouri baker who takes weekly pre-orders and hands them off at the porch or the market.
Here is how it compares with two other ordering tools, on one $20 order and on 50 of them:
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Option | Monthly plan | Trial | Platform or service fee | Card processing | Customer pays on a $20 order | Vendor pays on a $20 order | Vendor pays in a month of 50 orders at $20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homegrown | $10 billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) | 7 days, no charge until day 8 | None (0% commission) | 2.9% + $0.30 (vendor pays) | $20.00 | $0.88 plus the plan | $54.00 ($56.50 on monthly billing) |
| Hotplate, default | $0 | No plan, so no trial | 5% + $0.55, charged to the customer | 2.9% + $0.30 (vendor pays) | $21.55 | $0.88 | $44.00 |
| Hotplate, vendor covers the fee | $0 | No plan, so no trial | 5% + $0.55, covered by the vendor | 2.9% + $0.30 (vendor pays) | $20.00 | $2.43 | $121.50 |
| Square Online, Free plan | $0 (Plus is $49 a month per location) | No plan cost, so no trial | None | 3.3% + 30¢ online | $20.00 | $0.96 | $48.00 |
We checked these on each company's own page on October 6, 2026: Homegrown's signup page, Hotplate's pricing page and its post "What Hotplate does" (which says "we charge a fee to your customer" by default and that 80% of chefs keep the default), and Square's online store plans page. Card processing is figured on the $20 price; a platform that charges it on the full total with tax runs a few cents higher. Sales tax is left out of every row.
Monthly fees to the vendor at 50 orders of $20 each
Source: each company's pricing page, October 6, 2026. Fees only, 50 orders at $20; the Hotplate default row leaves $77.50 in fees with your customers.
The fair read: on fees alone, Hotplate's default ($44.00) and Square's Free plan ($48.00) cost the vendor a little less than Homegrown ($54.00) at 50 orders a month. Hotplate gets there by adding its 5% + $0.55 fee, $1.55, to each customer's $20 order while the vendor pays 2.9% + $0.30 processing, and every Hotplate order is placed through a "drop," a pre-order window with a set start and end time. Square Online's Free plan has no monthly cost but charges 3.3% + 30¢ on online card payments.
What Homegrown does not do matters just as much:
If that fits how you sell, set up your Missouri storefront and have it live in about 15 minutes.
There is no legal ceiling, so your income is set by demand and by how much you can bake. With the $50,000 cap gone, the real limits are your oven, your weekends and your local customers. Missouri's three allowed categories reward going deep: a signature bread, a small jam line or a distinctive herb blend beats a thin, broad menu.
Ways to get the most out of it:
A simple way to size it: 40 loaves a week at $10 each is $400 a week before costs, or $20,800 over 52 weeks. Under the pre-2022 law, a baker at $1,000 a week would have hit the $50,000 cap in the 50th week. Today nothing stops them.
Here are five avoidable mistakes to watch for in Missouri, and every one is about what you sell or where it goes:
Two more to watch:
The last change to Missouri's cottage food law that actually became law took effect on August 28, 2022, through HB 1697. It did two things to RSMo 196.298:
Nothing in HB 1697 changed the three food categories, the direct-to-consumer rule or the label statement.
HB 3108 is a 2026 House bill, titled "Modifies provisions relating to homemade food," that would replace RSMo 196.298. As introduced, it would cover a wider set of "homemade food" products, let third parties such as retail shops sell non-potentially hazardous homemade food, eggs and dairy, and set conditions for some meat sales. It is not law. The Missouri House's bill page shows its last action as "04/16/2026 - Public Hearing Scheduled, Bill not Heard," and the statute on the Revisor's site still showed the 2022 version on October 6, 2026.
A bill that has been introduced is not a change in the law, so HB 3108's wider food list is not allowed today. Until a bill passes and takes effect, the three categories in RSMo 196.298 are the cottage food law. Check the statute on the Missouri Revisor's site before each new season; the page shows the effective date at the top.
Missouri is now very open on caps and state food licensing. The main constraint is still its short three-category food list. Check the statute and call your local health department before each new season.
You need an inspected kitchen as soon as your food falls outside the cottage food law and any local exemption. DHSS's guidance says those products "may have to be produced in an approved commercial kitchen and are subject to routine inspection" by the local health department.
DHSS names the foods that need inspection by a local agency, and ends the list with "And more":
That list puts sampling under inspection, while the Food Code stand exemption covers food "sold, sampled or served." The two read differently, so ask your health department before you hand out samples.
Salsa, pickles and BBQ sauce take extra steps. DHSS says a producer "must submit their recipe and procedures to a process authority," may need to attend a "better process control school," and must test the pH of every batch and keep records. Selling to stores or restaurants puts you under the DHSS Manufactured Food program, and Springfield's page notes that program does not allow food made in a residence.
Some products go to a different agency. DHSS says eggs need a Missouri dealer's or limited retailer egg license from the Missouri Department of Agriculture to be packaged, pet foods and treats go through the Department of Agriculture, and meat needs a USDA or Missouri Department of Agriculture mark of inspection. If your plan is pet treats, our dog treat guide covers that path.
No. HB 1697 removed the $50,000 cap effective August 28, 2022. Under RSMo 196.298 today, Missouri cottage food sales are unlimited, and DHSS's guidance confirms there is no longer a limit on what a cottage food producer can make.
Not a state food license. DHSS's guidance says the state issues no food permit for these home operations, and the statute bars local health departments from regulating how you make the food (they can still investigate an outbreak). Your city may still require a business license, and the Department of Revenue requires a retail sales license before you make retail sales.
Only three categories: oven-baked products, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or herb mixes. DHSS excludes no-sugar-added, sugar-free and hot pepper jams, plus anything that needs refrigeration, such as cream pies. St. Joseph and Springfield also list cream cheese frosting.
Yes, for in-state sales only. RSMo 196.298 allows internet sales when both you and the buyer are in Missouri. Plan on pickup or hand delivery; St. Joseph's health department says mail delivery is not allowed, and out-of-state shipping is never allowed.
No. Missouri cottage food must be sold directly to the consumer by you or a household member. Wholesale and resale through grocery stores, coffee shops or restaurants are not permitted, and DHSS says wholesaling moves you under its Manufactured Food program.
The statute requires your name, your address and a line saying neither DHSS nor your local health department inspected the food. DHSS's guidance adds the common name of the food, ingredients in descending order by weight, the net weight and allergens. Ask your local agency whether it wants specific wording.
Because peppers or less sugar can change a jam's pH or water activity, which can let germs grow. DHSS says these products "vary so greatly" that they cannot be sold under the Missouri cottage food law. For jams made with a sugar substitute, it says the product must be tested and you should contact your local health department.
No state registration exists for cottage food. You may still need a city business license (St. Joseph requires one) and a Missouri retail sales license for sales tax. Our guide on whether you need an LLC to sell food from home covers the business-structure side.
These guides cover the next steps for Missouri vendors once the rules make sense. Each one is live on the Homegrown blog and goes deeper on one step from this page. If you plan to sell this season, start with the first two:
Missouri's no-cap, no-state-food-license setup makes it easy to start, as long as your product fits the three allowed categories and your labels carry the required statement. Your first week can be simple: make the two local calls, register for sales tax, print labels for two or three products, and open orders to the Missouri customers who already ask you for bread or jam. Keep a list of who buys, because repeat buyers are what turn a weekend hobby into steady income once there is no cap holding you back. Take pre-orders from Missouri customers with a Homegrown storefront for porch pickup and local delivery, then compare the rules in nearby states like Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, and Illinois.
*This guide is general information, not legal advice. Cottage food rules change, so verify your state's current rules in DHSS's Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance and with the health department for your county before selling. Last checked: October 6, 2026.*
Planning to sell at a farmers market? See our Missouri farmers market vendor permit guide for the permits you will need on market day.
