Cottage food laws in Maine

The limits

Sales cap

None — Maine's Home Food License has no revenue cap

You can sell

Shelf-stable, non-potentially-hazardous foods made in a home kitchen: baked goods without cream fillings/cream-cheese frostings, jams, jellies, fruit butters, pickles, relishes, salsas, candies, honey, dried fruits/vegetables/pasta/cereals, vinegars, dried herb mixes. High-acid/pH-sensitive items (BBQ sauces, some pickles, chocolate sauces) require Process Authority (University of Maine) recipe review and pH/water-activity testing before approval.

You cannot sell

Potentially hazardous/perishable foods requiring refrigeration (e.g., cream-filled baked goods, meat- or dairy-based items), low-acid pressure-canned goods above pH 4.6 that haven't passed process review

Getting set up

Permit / registration

Yes — Home Food Processor License from DACF, which includes a mandatory home kitchen inspection

Cost

The Home Food Processor (Home Food License) fee is $20 per year, payable to Maine DACF. (Canned, acidified/low-acid shelf-stable products additionally require separate process-authority review, e.g. through the University of Maine Food Testing Services, before licensing — a cost outside the license fee itself.)

Training

Not confirmedUnverified — no food safety training or certification course is listed as a mandatory condition of licensure in DACF's official 'Home Food License 101' guide or in Code of Maine Rules Chapter 345 (Home Food Manufacturing). DACF's guide points operators to University of Maine Cooperative Extension food-safety training resources, but frames these as helpful resources rather than a licensing requirement. Confirm directly with DACF whether any training is mandated.

Kitchen inspection

Yes — DACF inspects the home kitchen (two-bay sink, adequate hot water, refrigeration/freezer temps, cleanable surfaces, water/septic testing if private source) before licensing

Labeling

No label required for direct home sales to the consumer. For sales beyond that (farmers markets, wholesale, retail), labels must include product name, net weight, ingredients in descending order by weight, business name and address, and allergen declarations.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct-to-consumer from the home, farmers markets, roadside stands, events, and — unlike most cottage food states — retail and wholesale distribution with proper labeling

Online sales

Yes

Delivery in state

Yes

Shipping out of state

No — sales restricted to within Maine (note: one older secondary source claimed the license permits sales "throughout the state of Maine and the United States"; this conflicts with aggregator consensus that interstate sales are prohibited — treat interstate shipping as prohibited pending confirmation)

The fine print

Statute

Maine's home food processor (cottage food) licensing program is codified as Chapter 345, 'Home Food Manufacturing,' of the Code of Maine Rules (01-001 CMR Ch. 345), administered by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Division of Quality Assurance and Regulations (DACF/QAR). The underlying statutory authority sits in Title 22 of the Maine Revised Statutes governing food establishment licensing (22 M.R.S. §§ 2153, 2167–2169); the full precise cross-reference list to Title 22 should be confirmed directly against the current codified rule, since it was corroborated via a secondary (MOFGA) summary rather than read verbatim in the rule text itself.

Recent changes

Food Sovereignty ordinance movement continues to expand; at least 16 Maine municipalities (starting with Sedgwick) have adopted local food sovereignty ordinances that remove state licensing/inspection requirements for direct, local homemade-food sales, operating as a distinct legal track from the state Home Food Processor License. No statutory changes to the state license itself confirmed since 2023.

Notes

Not confirmedMaine has TWO distinct legal pathways: (1) the statewide Home Food Processor License (permissive, no sales cap, requires inspection), and (2) local Food Sovereignty ordinances adopted town-by-town, which exempt direct local sales of homemade food (including some perishable/fermented items) from state licensing entirely — these ordinances apply only within the adopting municipality and do not cover sales outside it. Fee amount and formal training requirement are unverified due to conflicting secondary sources and an unparseable primary PDF; confirm both directly with Maine DACF (207-287-3841 or qar.dacf@maine.gov style contact via the permits page) before publishing exact figures.