Cottage food laws in Pennsylvania

The limits

Sales cap

None

You can sell

Non-hazardous foods that do not require refrigeration of the finished product — baked goods, candies, dry goods, jams/jellies, granola, acidified foods (salsas, hot sauces, pickled vegetables), fermented foods (kimchi, sauerkraut), honey, maple syrup, kombucha, and (in some cases) meat jerky.

You cannot sell

Pennsylvania's Limited Food Establishment (LFE) program excludes any food that is a 'time/temperature control for safety' (TCS) food -- i.e., perishable or potentially hazardous foods requiring refrigeration after preparation. PDA's own application packet specifically lists disallowed baked-good examples, including cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, cream/custard or meringue pastries and desserts, pudding, and any baked good containing meat or cheese. Also excluded: canned foods that are not acid or acidified foods (low-acid canned foods, e.g., most soups, gravies, un-pickled vegetables, and fruit in syrup), which may only be produced in an approved commercial cannery; and juice intended for wholesale, which must be pasteurized/HACCP-compliant and cannot be made in a home kitchen. Chocolate-covered fruit is barred unless the fruit itself has a natural pH of 4.6 or below and is used whole and uncut.

Getting set up

Permit / registration

Yes — registration as a Limited Food Establishment with PDA. Process: submit the LFE Application Packet (business plan, product list, draft labels, private-well water test if applicable) at least 60 days before operating; PDA reviews the plan, then conducts an on-site kitchen inspection before registration is issued; registration must be renewed annually.

Cost

$35 registration fee, collected at the time of the required inspection; $35 annual renewal.

Training

No formal certified food-safety course or credential is required of an LFE operator. PDA's own application packet states there are no mandated age limits for operators or employees, but that members involved 'must demonstrate basic food safety knowledge and adhere to good hygiene, processing and sanitary practices' -- a general standard the Food Inspector assesses, rather than a mandatory training program, exam, or certificate.

Kitchen inspection

Yes — required before the first sale, with ongoing routine inspections during the registration period.

Labeling

PDA requires LFE products to be labeled, at minimum, with: (1) a statement of identity (the common or usual name of the food), (2) the name and address of the manufacturer/processor, (3) ingredients listed in decreasing order by weight (including sub-ingredients), (4) an allergen declaration if needed, and (5) net weight or unit count, placed on the bottom third of the primary panel in no less than 8-point font. Baked goods made and sold directly to a Commonwealth consumer by the baker or the baker's employee are exempt from on-product labeling, but ingredient information must be available on request; baked goods not produced by the LFE itself (purchased products) require full labeling. Wedding cakes and other specialty items that cannot be labeled directly must have the required information on an invoice delivered with the item. Products sold interstate must additionally carry nutritional labeling under FDA rules (21 CFR 101), though most LFEs qualify for the FDA's small-business exemption from that requirement.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct sales from the production site, including internet sales; a separate Retail Food Facility License may be required to sell at farmers markets or events; wholesale to shops/cafes is possible for a registered LFE for some products, though a Penn State Extension guide describes wholesale as restricted for most product categories — confirm per-product with PDA.

Online sales

Yes

Delivery in state

Yes

Shipping out of state

Yes, with restrictions — Pennsylvania's LFE program is unusual in permitting interstate shipment, but doing so triggers FDA facility registration and full federal labeling requirements (including Nutrition Facts when claims are made); acidified-food interstate sales may require an FDA-approved course. Confirm specifics per product with PDA before shipping out of state.

The fine print

Statute

7 Pa. Code Chapter 46 (Food Code), issued under The Food Act (31 P.S. §§ 20.1–20.18), the Public Eating and Drinking Place Law (35 P.S. §§ 655.1–655.13), and Section 1705(d) of the Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. § 455(d)); LFE program specifically referenced as 7 Pa. Code § 46.212 in secondary sources.

Recent changes

No LFE-specific statutory amendment since 2023 was identified in this research; confirm with PDA for any pending rulemaking.

Notes

Pennsylvania's "cottage food" equivalent is legally distinct from most states' exemption model — it is a registration-and-inspection regime (Limited Food Establishment) rather than an inspection-exempt cottage food carve-out, consistent with the task's guidance to verify this distinction. The claim (from lower-authority aggregator sites) that Pennsylvania offers unrestricted "interstate commerce rights" is not fully supported by the primary PDA page, which frames interstate sales as contingent on separate FDA registration — the Interstate Shipping field above reflects that more cautious primary-source framing rather than the aggregator's stronger claim.