Cottage food laws in Maryland

The limits

Sales cap

$50,000 per year (raised from a lower prior cap by HB 178, effective 2022)

You can sell

Non-perishable, non-potentially-hazardous items only: baked goods (breads, cakes, cookies, donuts, muffins, pastries, scones), hard candies/brittles/cotton candy, unflavored honey, dry goods (cereals, coffee, tea, herbs, spice blends), and shelf-stable snacks (popcorn, granola, crackers, chocolate-covered items using commercial chocolate, marshmallows). Statute also references high-acid fruit jams and jellies.

You cannot sell

Perishable/potentially hazardous items — chocolate-covered fresh fruit, fudge, truffles, dried vegetables, pasta, pickles, salsas, sauces, nut butters, fermented foods, kombucha, meat jerky, and most refrigeration-dependent foods

Getting set up

Permit / registration

No license required by MDH for direct sales within the cottage food limits; an online Cottage Food Business registration/ID-number request is available (optional, to use in place of a home address on labels). A food license IS required if selling through a retail store/co-op or if non-cottage/potentially-hazardous items are sold alongside cottage items.

Cost

None for standard registration; retail-store sellers must complete a paid ANSI-accredited food handler course (roughly $7 for a course like Learn2Serve)

Training

No for direct/home/farmers-market sales; Yes (ANSI-accredited food safety training) if selling through a retail store or food co-op

Kitchen inspection

No for direct sales within cottage food limits; not required for retail-store sales either per MDH guidance, though a food license process may apply for non-cottage food sales

Labeling

Product name, ingredients list, allergen declarations, business name, address (or the optional ID number in place of address), net weight, and the required statement (minimum 10-point type): "Made by a cottage food business that is not subject to Maryland's food safety regulations." Retail-store sales require additional producer phone number, email, and production date.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct sale from the cottage food business residence, farmers markets, public events, personal delivery, mail delivery within the state, and to retail food stores/co-ops (with training)

Online sales

Yes with restrictions — statute doesn't explicitly authorize online sales, but mail delivery is expressly permitted, which sources interpret as supporting online order-taking; confirm exact scope with MDH

Delivery in state

Yes — personal delivery and mail delivery are explicitly listed as permitted sales channels

Shipping out of state

No — sales must be within Maryland

The fine print

Statute

Md. Code, Health–General § 21-330.1; COMAR 10.15.03.02-B(17-1) & (17-2); COMAR 10.15.03.27

Recent changes

The confirmed baseline remains HB 178 (2022), which raised Maryland's cottage food annual sales cap to $50,000, effective October 1, 2022. A 2025 bill, SB 701, proposed further expanding the definition of "cottage food product" to include refrigerated baked goods (cheesecakes, custard/meringue/cream pies, fresh fruit tarts) effective October 1, 2025, and this change is widely reported as enacted on cottage-food blogs and directories. However, that claim could NOT be confirmed against a primary or acceptable-secondary source — see contradiction noted below. Confirm current status directly with MDH's Office of Food Protection.

Notes

MDH's own guidance PDF (Updated_CF_Guidelines_2025.pdf) exists but could not be machine-read during our research; the details above are corroborated via the Justia mirror of the statute and the Forrager legal database cross-check. Confirm the 2025 guideline update's specific content and the online-sales question directly with MDH before publishing. Confirmed from a university extension or Institute for Justice source rather than the agency's own page: Recent Changes.