Cottage food laws in North Dakota

The limits

Sales cap

None (confirmed via 2025 legislative testimony: "we are not capped to yearly sales limits")

You can sell

North Dakota's cottage food law does not enumerate a specific list of allowed food types; instead, N.D.C.C. § 23-09.5-01 defines 'cottage food product' broadly and non-exhaustively as baked goods, jams, jellies, 'and other food and drink products' produced by a cottage food operator. The only categorical restrictions are on meat and poultry: § 23-09.5-02(3) prohibits sale of uninspected meat products outright, and (as amended by SB 2386, effective immediately upon signing March 21, 2025) permits uninspected poultry products only if the operator slaughters no more than 1,000 birds raised by that operator per calendar year, does not buy/sell poultry products from other sources, and the product is not adulterated or misbranded. IMPORTANT UPDATE: SB 2386 (2025) also repealed the prior blanket prohibitions on interstate commerce and on internet/phone/mail/consignment sales for North Dakota cottage food — this is a major recent change not fully reflected in the currently documented profile and should be flagged for the Interstate Shipping / sales-channel fields elsewhere in this reference.

You cannot sell

Sale of uninspected products made from meat (any part of an animal, vertebrate or invertebrate, or animal byproduct) is generally barred, except uninspected poultry products where: (1) the operator slaughters no more than 1,000 poultry raised by the operator per calendar year; (2) the operator does not buy or sell poultry products except those from poultry the operator raised; and (3) the poultry product is not adulterated or misbranded.

Getting set up

Permit / registration

No — cottage food operators are not subject to licensing or routine home-kitchen inspection under N.D.C.C. ch. 23-09.5.

Cost

None

Training

Not confirmedUnverified — no food safety training or certification requirement appears in N.D.C.C. ch. 23-09.5 (Cottage Food Production and Sales). The ND HHS program page likewise does not state a training mandate, instead pointing operators to optional NDSU Extension and CDC home-canning-safety resources. Because the statute's silence cannot be read as confirmation that no requirement exists (it could be imposed elsewhere, e.g., in administrative guidance not yet reviewed), this remains unverified — confirm with ND HHS.

Kitchen inspection

No — per ND HHS, cottage food products are "not inspected by a health department."

Labeling

North Dakota cottage food operators must inform the end consumer that the product is 'not certified, labeled, licensed, packaged, regulated, or inspected,' and must display a consumer advisory sign at the point of sale or place a label on the product bearing the exact statement: 'This product is made in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the state or local health department.' Products requiring refrigeration (e.g., items with cream, custard, meringue, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, or cream cheese) must additionally be labeled with safe-handling instructions and a disclosure that the product was transported and maintained frozen.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct to consumer, including farmers markets, events, and the producer's home. As of the 2025 amendment, consignment sales are also permitted (see Recent Changes).

Online sales

Yes, as of SB 2386 (effective March 21, 2025) — previously prohibited under N.D.C.C. § 23-09.5-02(3).

Delivery in state

Yes, as of SB 2386 (effective March 21, 2025) — mail and telephone-order transactions are now allowed; previously prohibited.

Shipping out of state

Yes for most cottage foods, effective March 21, 2025 under SB 2386 — North Dakota is one of only a handful of states that explicitly permit interstate shipment of cottage food (the FDA does not regulate or prohibit interstate sale of cottage foods). Exception: the amendment added a new bar on selling poultry products in any transaction involving interstate commerce (N.D.C.C. § 23-09.5-02(3)(c)), and uninspected meat generally remains barred from sale regardless of interstate status.

The fine print

Statute

N.D.C.C. ch. 23-09.5 (Cottage Food Production and Sales), enacted as HB 1433 effective August 1, 2017; § 23-09.5-02(3) amended by SB 2386 (2025).

Recent changes

SB 2386, signed by Governor Kelly Armstrong on March 21, 2025 with an emergency clause (effective immediately). It amended N.D.C.C. § 23-09.5-02(3) to remove the prior bans on (a) transactions involving interstate commerce and (b) transactions conducted over the internet or phone, through the mail, or by consignment — while adding a new bar specifically on interstate sale of poultry products. The bill passed the Senate 44-2 and the House 90-1, with strong support from military-spouse cottage food business owners and the Institute for Justice.

Notes

North Dakota is one of a small group of "food freedom" states (with Maine, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, per a National Environmental Health Association policy analysis) that exempt cottage food operations from most regulatory oversight — no sales cap and no home inspection. SB 2386 (2025) now makes it one of the only U.S. states that permits interstate shipment of (non-poultry) cottage food. North Dakota HHS divides food-and-lodging regulatory jurisdiction between the state and several local city/county health districts for retail food establishments generally, so local variation is possible for retail food licensing — but the cottage food exemption itself (ch. 23-09.5) is a state-level statutory exemption from licensing and inspection, so local variation should not apply to the core cottage food exemption. Confirm with your local health unit if you operate in a jurisdiction with a delegated local food program. No MEHKO-specific law was identified in the sources reviewed.