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What Foods Are Not Allowed Under Florida's Cottage Food Law?

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

The basic rule

Florida's cottage food law, Fla. Stat. 500.80, lets you sell certain foods made in a home kitchen directly to the consumer — in person, by mail or delivery within Florida, and online — with no FDACS license, permit or inspection. This only works if the food is non-potentially-hazardous and your gross sales stay under $250,000 a year.

Not every food qualifies. Some foods need refrigeration or careful handling to be safe, and Florida's law does not cover them as cottage food.

Foods that are not allowed as cottage food

Foods that need time or temperature control for safety don't qualify, including:

• Cheesecake
• Cream or custard fillings
• Flan
• Tres leches
• Meat
• Fish
• Dairy-based sauces
• Cut fresh fruit
• Low-acid canned foods
• Pickles and fermented foods — unless acidified and tested according to FDACS guidance

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

Other limits — not just about the food itself

Even a qualifying food can fall outside cottage food protection if you sell it the wrong way:

• Wholesale — selling to stores or restaurants isn't covered. Cottage food is direct-to-consumer only.
• Shipping out of state — not allowed under this law.
• Over the cap — if your gross sales go over $250,000 a year, cottage food no longer applies.

What you can sell instead

According to FDACS's cottage food list, allowed examples include: breads, rolls, biscuits, cakes without cream fillings, pastries, cookies, candies, confections, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit pies, dried fruits, dry herbs and seasonings, homemade pasta, cereals and granola, coated or uncoated nuts, vinegar and flavored vinegars, popcorn, dry baking mixes, roasted coffee, and tea blends.

Every one of these still needs the required label, and still counts toward the $250,000 cap.

When a different license applies

If your food needs refrigeration, you want to sell wholesale, ship out of state, or go over the cap, cottage food no longer covers you — you'd need a different license.

A food truck or cart that prepares or serves food is a separate case: it's licensed by DBPR's Division of Hotels and Restaurants (not FDACS), needs a plan review and a commissary or approved base, and passes inspection. Since Fla. Stat. 509.102, a city or county can't charge a separate local license or permit just for the truck, though it can still regulate where and when you operate. A cart or tent selling only prepackaged non-hazardous foods may fall under FDACS instead — ask both agencies which one applies to your setup. See DBPR — Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicles.

Sales tax is separate from all of this: cottage food and food-truck sales are generally subject to Florida sales tax, so you register with the Florida Department of Revenue before selling. Ask DOR about specific rates and exemptions.

What to do next

This is general information, not legal advice, and it can be wrong. The free tool reads what you type — your product, how you plan to sell it, and what you expect to make — and tells you whether it looks like cottage food, what's not allowed, the exact label wording the law requires, and which agency to ask if a license applies. Nothing you enter is stored. Confirm a specific product with FDACS and a truck 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.