Cottage food laws in Wisconsin

The limits

Sales cap

Not confirmedUnverified — confirm with DATCP. Wisconsin has no statutory cottage food law; home bakers operate under a standing court order (Kivirist v. DATCP, Lafayette County Case No. 2016CV06) that bars DATCP from enforcing licensing requirements against home bakers who sell non-potentially-hazardous baked goods directly to consumers. Neither DATCP's program page nor its official May 2025 fact sheet on the order states a dollar or volume sales cap as one of the exemption's conditions. A University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension guide lists the exemption's conditions (home kitchen, baked items only, not potentially hazardous, sold direct to Wisconsin consumers, properly labeled) without a sales cap among them — notably, the same document does state explicit dollar caps for other license exemptions in the same list (e.g., $5,000/year for maple syrup sold to other processors, $5,000/year/person for home-canned 'Pickle Bill' goods). That pattern is suggestive that no cap applies to home-baked goods, but no source states affirmatively that there is no cap, so it is reported as unverified rather than confirmed.

You can sell

Non-potentially-hazardous baked goods only — items exposed to dry heat above 140°F in a closed chamber such as an oven (including items made in waffle makers or Dutch ovens)

You cannot sell

Potentially hazardous baked goods; any food requiring refrigeration or that supports pathogenic microorganism growth; items produced via dehydration (dehydrator-dried goods do not qualify for the exemption); non-baked-good home-canned items are separately addressed under Wisconsin's "Pickle Bill" (not detailed here — distinct provision)

Getting set up

Permit / registration

No, for qualifying home-baked goods sold direct to consumer, per the standing court order; Yes (a license under ATCP 70 or ATCP 75) for any commercial-kitchen operation or wholesale distribution of baked goods

Cost

None for the exempt home-baker category

Training

Not confirmedUnverified — confirm with DATCP. Neither DATCP's HomeBakers.aspx page nor its official fact sheet on the Kivirist v. DATCP court order mentions any training, certification, or examination requirement for exempt home bakers. The UW–Madison Division of Extension's licensing guide lists the exemption's conditions (home kitchen, non-hazardous baked items, direct sale to Wisconsin consumers, proper labeling) without including training among them, and separately notes that 'specialized training' (e.g., HACCP) applies only to certain wholesale food manufacturing activities, not to the home-baker exemption. Absence of a stated training requirement in these sources is not the same as confirmation that none exists.

Kitchen inspection

No, for the exempt category

Labeling

Home bakers operating under Wisconsin's court-order exemption must label their products, but neither DATCP's own guidance nor other available sources spell out the required label content (e.g., specific required elements such as producer name/address, ingredients, or a disclosure statement). The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension's licensing guide lists 'Items must be properly labeled' as one of the four conditions a home baker must meet to qualify for the exemption, without further detail on what the label must contain. DATCP's own home-baker materials do not mention labeling content at all.

Where you can sell

Permitted venues

Direct-to-consumer sales only; no wholesale distribution; must be made in the operator's own home kitchen (not a rented or outside commercial kitchen)

Online sales

Not confirmedUnverified — confirm with DATCP. Neither DATCP's HomeBakers.aspx page, its fact sheet on the Kivirist v. DATCP order, nor the UW–Madison Extension licensing guide addresses the sales method (online, phone, in-person, etc.) used to reach the consumer. The exemption's stated condition is only that sales be made 'directly to consumers' within Wisconsin; how the sale is arranged is not discussed in any source reviewed. (Note: a separate Wisconsin licensing exemption for honey does explicitly permit internet sales, but that provision applies only to honey, not to home-baked goods, and cannot be extended to home bakers.)

Delivery in state

Not confirmedUnverified — confirm with DATCP. The exemption requires that baked goods be 'sold directly to consumers' within Wisconsin, but no source reviewed specifically addresses whether delivery or mail-based fulfillment (as opposed to in-person handoff) is permitted for exempt home bakers.

Shipping out of state

The court-order exemption that lets Wisconsin home bakers sell non-potentially-hazardous baked goods without a license applies only to sales made directly to consumers within Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension's licensing guide lists, as one of the exemption's required conditions, that items be 'sold directly to consumers in the state of Wisconsin.' A sale to an out-of-state consumer would fall outside the scope of the court order and is not confirmed to be covered by the exemption; separately, federal rules independently govern interstate shipment of food regardless of state law.

The fine print

Statute

Wis. Stat. §§ 97.29(1)(dm) and 97.30(1)(bm); commercial licensing requirements at ATCP 70 and ATCP 75; underlying case law from a May 31, 2017 Lafayette County Circuit Court order

Recent changes

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed a prior circuit court order on November 19, 2024 in litigation over the scope of the home-baker exemption, reaffirming that DATCP's licensing requirements apply outside the narrow exemption; the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied further review on April 10, 2024 (per DATCP's own page — note the dates as reported may reflect appellate proceedings occurring out of the order they are commonly summarized in; confirm the precise sequence and current legal status directly with DATCP, as Wisconsin's cottage food legal landscape has been actively litigated and could change again)

Notes

Wisconsin has NO legislatively-enacted cottage food law — its home-baker allowance exists solely because of ongoing litigation against DATCP's retail-food-establishment licensing requirement, and DATCP's own page signals the legal landscape remains contested (the Nov. 2024 Court of Appeals reversal referenced on DATCP's page suggests the scope of the exemption may be narrower or more legally precarious than in the other seven jurisdictions researched). Given the active litigation, this entry should be re-verified frequently and any reader should be pointed to DATCP directly for the current operative legal status before relying on it. Home-canned goods (the "Pickle Bill") are governed separately from the baked-goods exemption described above and were not fully detailed in our research pass. Confirmed from a university extension or Institute for Justice source rather than the agency's own page: Interstate Shipping Allowed, Labeling Requirements.