Cottage food laws in Hawaii

The limits

Sales cap

None per current guidance following Act 195 (2024) and the August 2025 rule amendments — Note: older, pre-2024 sources describe a $50,000 cap that appears to have been removed; confirm current status with DOH Food Safety Branch

You can sell

Non-potentially-hazardous (non-TCS) foods; as of the August 2025 rule amendment, pickled/fermented/acidified plant foods with a finished pH of 4.2 or below (or water activity below 0.88) are also allowed; hand-pounded poi is specifically permitted under the administrative rule

You cannot sell

Not confirmedUnverified — a complete authoritative list could not be confirmed. Hawaii's homemade food exemption (HAR Title 11, Chapter 50, as amended by Act 195 (2024), rules effective August 24, 2025) is understood to exclude time/temperature-control-for-safety (TCS) foods generally (e.g., cream/custard/meringue fillings, cheesecakes, meat, fish, shellfish, most dairy) while newly permitting pickled/fermented/acidified plant foods meeting a pH ≤ 4.2 or water activity < 0.88 threshold — but this picture is drawn from non-primary aggregator sources, not from DOH's own list. Confirm with Hawaii DOH Food Safety Branch (health.hawaii.gov/san/).

Getting set up

Permit / registration

No — homemade food operations are exempt from permitting. HAR § 11-50-3 provides that a person operating a food establishment that produces or packages only homemade food products in a home kitchen “shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter,” subject to the conditions in that section.

Cost

None

Training

Yes — operators must obtain food safety certification in accordance with HAR § 11-50-20(c). A DOH-approved or ANAB/ANSI-accredited food handler course satisfies this; DOH offers free workshops. Certification is renewed every three years.

Kitchen inspection

No routine inspection — the exemption removes homemade food operations from the permitting and inspection provisions of HAR chapter 11-50. DOH retains general authority to act on complaints and foodborne illness reports.

Labeling

Food must be labeled in accordance with HAR § 11-50-35(c), and the product must be identified as a homemade food product on the principal display panel. The commonly cited disclosure is “Made in a home kitchen not routinely inspected by the Department of Health” — confirm the exact current wording and the full element list in § 11-50-35(c) with Hawaii DOH Food Safety Branch before printing labels.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct to consumer; since Act 195 (2024), also wholesale to permitted establishments

Online sales

Yes, per the 2024 Act 195 expansion

Delivery in state

Yes, in-state shipping allowed since the 2024 Act 195 expansion

Shipping out of state

No — no provision identified permitting shipment outside Hawaii; federal rules generally bar interstate shipment of cottage food

The fine print

Statute

Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Title 11, Chapter 50 (Food Safety Code); Act 195 (2024) / House Bill 2144 (signed July 3, 2024); rule amendments effective August 24, 2025

Recent changes

Act 195 (2024), signed July 3, 2024, with implementing rule amendments effective August 24, 2025. Reported to expand the exemption to allow online ordering, in-state mail order and shipping, certain pickled, fermented, and acidified plant foods (pH at or below 4.2 or water activity at or below 0.88), and wholesale to permitted food establishments. Note that the HAR § 11-50-3 text reproduced by secondary legal databases still reads “distribute food products only directly to the consumer” and may predate these amendments — confirm the current rule text with DOH.

Notes

The Hawaii DOH website blocked direct automated verification (403 Forbidden) during this review; details above are drawn from a search-tool summary of the DOH news release and cross-checked against Forrager and the Institute for Justice. Confirm the exact sales-cap status, required training course, and full labeling checklist directly with DOH Food Safety Branch at https://health.hawaii.gov/san/. No MEHKO-specific statute distinct from the HMF program was identified for Hawaii.