Cottage food laws in Colorado

The limits

Sales cap

Through 12/31/2026: $10,000 net per calendar year from the sale of each eligible food product. From 1/1/2027: $150,000 gross per calendar year per permitted food, adjusted annually by CDPHE for inflation using the BLS CPI for Denver-Aurora-Lakewood (all items, urban consumers), rounded upward to the nearest dollar. Statute bars establishing multiple entities or contractual arrangements to circumvent the cap.

You can sell

Non-potentially-hazardous foods requiring no refrigeration: pickled fruits and vegetables, spices, teas, dehydrated produce, nuts, seeds, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butter, flour, baked goods, candies, fruit empanadas, tortillas, and other non-potentially-hazardous foods. Whole eggs up to 250 dozen per month (subject to C.R.S. 35-21-105). From 1/1/2027 additionally: packaged foods requiring time and temperature control for safety, expressly including tamales, burritos, and tortas — limited to one type of TCS product with up to five variations. Meat permitted only if federally inspected and bearing the mark of inspection, or covered by a federal or state poultry-producer exemption.

You cannot sell

Anything not non-potentially-hazardous (through 2026). From 1/1/2027 the statute expressly excludes: raw milk; low-acid canned foods; fermented or acidified foods requiring time and temperature control; alcohol beverages; foods containing cannabinoids; and foods produced using smoking as a preservation method (flavor smoking is permitted), reduced oxygen packaging, or curing. Low-acid canned and acidified products (salsas, most barbecue sauces) require a licensed facility.

Getting set up

Permit / registration

Through 12/31/2026: No — no state license, permit, or registration. From 1/1/2027: Yes — annual registration with CDPHE is required before selling any food under the section; the registration must state the types of food anticipated, and CDPHE issues a registration number. CDPHE must maintain a public electronic registry, updated monthly and shared with county and district public health agencies.

Cost

No registration fee is stated in the act. The required food safety course is priced by the provider. Confirm current fees with CDPHE.

Training

Yes — a food safety course including basic food handling, comparable to (or given by) Colorado State University Extension or a state, county, or district public health agency, with good standing maintained. CSU Extension's course runs 3.5 hours and carries a three-year certificate. From 1/1/2027, producers selling TCS foods must additionally complete a course covering time and temperature control and keep proof of completion; CDPHE may approve qualifying courses.

Kitchen inspection

Only on complaint — products are subject to sampling and inspection under C.R.S. 25-5-406 where a product is misbranded, a consumer complaint is received, or the product is suspected in an injury or foodborne illness outbreak.

Labeling

Through 12/31/2026: identification of the cottage food product; the producer's name and the address at which the food was produced; the date of production; a complete ingredient list; and the statutory disclosure — "This product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection and that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish and crustacean shellfish. This product is not intended for resale." From 1/1/2027, the address is replaced by the producer's CDPHE-issued registration number and the county where the food was prepared, and a new required element is added: a CDPHE-provided website address carrying contact information for reporting foodborne illness, verifying a producer's active registration, and reporting registration status issues.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct to informed end consumers only — residence, roadside stand, farmers market, community supported agriculture organization, festivals, fairs, and similar venues. Producer delivery directly to the consumer is permitted. Sales to restaurants, grocery stores, or any retail or wholesale establishment for resale are prohibited, as is consignment.

Online sales

Yes — the statute restricts who may buy (the informed end consumer) and the absence of a reseller, not the medium used to advertise or accept orders. Fulfillment must remain a direct producer-to-consumer transfer.

Delivery in state

Delivery by the producer directly to the consumer is permitted. From 1/1/2027, TCS products carry hard transport limits: held at an appropriate temperature, transported only once, and for no longer than two hours. That rule makes same-city delivery workable and mail order for TCS products effectively impossible.

Shipping out of state

No — the exemption is a creature of Colorado law and does not reach sales into other states, where federal rules and the receiving state's law apply.

The fine print

Statute

C.R.S. 25-4-1614 (Colorado Cottage Foods Act), originally SB 12-048 (2012), amended by HB 13-1158 (2013) and by HB26-1033, the "Tamale Act" (2026). HB26-1033 also adds C.R.S. 25-4-1614.5 (Cottage Foods Cash Fund) and amends C.R.S. 35-36-102.

Recent changes

HB26-1033 ("Tamale Act") — signed by the Governor June 4, 2026; the amendments to C.R.S. 25-4-1614 and 35-36-102 take effect January 1, 2027. Raises the cap from $10,000 net to $150,000 gross per product with annual inflation indexing; legalizes packaged TCS foods including tamales, burritos, and tortas; requires annual CDPHE registration and a public registry; adds a TCS-specific training requirement; revises label elements; and creates an enforcement regime (fines to $100 per violation, cost recovery to $1,000, and a three-strikes bar on TCS sales for repeat misbranding or non-compliance within 12 months). Appropriates $119,354 and 1.0 FTE for FY 2026-27. Sponsors: Reps. Ryan Gonzalez and Monica Duran; Sens. Robert Rodriguez and Byron Pelton. A narrower predecessor, HB25-1190, was postponed indefinitely on March 3, 2025 by the House Committee on Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources, 7-6.

Notes

The single most important practical point is the delayed effective date — the Tamale Act was signed in June 2026 but the operative amendments do not apply until January 1, 2027, so a producer reading about the expansion in late 2026 is still bound by the $10,000 net per-product cap and the non-TCS-only food list. Two changes are folded into the headline cap figure: the measure moves from net to gross as well as from $10,000 to $150,000. The cap remains per product, not aggregate. CDPHE's published producer brochure circulating through county websites predates the current law and still shows a $5,000 cap — treat any brochure figure as superseded and read the statute. Colorado has no MEHKO or home-kitchen-restaurant pathway; the Cottage Foods Act is the only home-production route.