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What Must Go on My Cottage Food Label in Florida?

Use the free tool — Cottage Food & Food Truck Check FL

What is a Florida cottage food operation?

Florida's cottage food law, Fla. Stat. 500.80, lets you make certain non-potentially-hazardous foods in your home kitchen and sell them directly to the consumer — in person, by mail or delivery within Florida, and online. Below $250,000 in gross annual sales, you need no FDACS license, permit or inspection. Examples the law and FDACS allow: breads, rolls, biscuits, cakes without cream fillings, pastries, cookies, candies, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit pies, dried fruits, dry herbs and seasonings, homemade pasta, cereals and granola, coated or uncoated nuts, vinegar, popcorn, dry baking mixes, roasted coffee and tea blends. See FDACS — Cottage Foods.

What can't be sold as cottage food

• Foods that need time/temperature control for safety: cheesecake, cream or custard fillings, flan, tres leches, meat, fish, dairy-based sauces, cut fresh fruit
• Low-acid canned foods, and pickles or fermented foods unless acidified and tested per FDACS guidance
• Wholesale sales to stores or restaurants
• Shipping out of state
• Sales over $250,000 a year

If you're not sure about a specific product, ask FDACS directly — do not guess.

What your label must say

Fla. Stat. 500.80 spells out exactly what belongs on every cottage food label:

• The name and address of the cottage food operation
• The name of the product
• The ingredients, listed in descending order of predominance by weight
• The net weight or net volume
• Allergen information as required by federal law
• Nutrition information, if a nutritional claim is made
• In at least 10-point type: "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations."

This is the exact statutory list — nothing more, nothing less. The full version of this tool can generate this label text for each product you name, but it's still worth checking against FDACS's own guidance.

Food trucks and carts are different

A mobile food dispensing vehicle that prepares or serves food is licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants at DBPR, not FDACS. It needs a plan review and a commissary or approved base, and it must pass inspection. Since Fla. Stat. 509.102, a city or county may not charge a separate local license, permit or fee for the truck itself, though it can still regulate where and when trucks operate on public property, and apply zoning. A cart or tent selling only prepackaged non-hazardous food may instead fall under FDACS — ask both agencies which one licenses your setup. See DBPR — Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicles.

Sales tax

Cottage food and food-truck sales are generally subject to Florida sales tax, and sellers register with the Florida Department of Revenue before selling. Rates and exemptions (for example, for bakery items sold for off-premises consumption) can vary — ask floridarevenue.com.

What to do next

This free tool reads what you tell it about your own product and sales plan — no account, nothing stored — and shows you, product by product, whether it fits cottage food or needs a license, the label elements that apply, and which agency covers a truck or cart. It is not legal advice. Confirm a specific product with FDACS, and confirm a truck or cart setup with DBPR, before you sell.

Cottage Food & Food Truck Check FL explains Florida's cottage food law and food-truck licensing in plain language; it can be wrong, and it is not legal advice. The $250,000 cap, the allowed-foods list and the label statement are from Fla. Stat. 500.80 and FDACS guidance as published; confirm a specific product with FDACS. Nothing you enter is stored.