Guides to selling and labeling homemade food
Before you print a label, it helps to know the rules. These guides answer the questions home food sellers ask first: what a cottage food law is, when you actually need a Nutrition Facts panel, and how to write the ingredient, allergen, and net weight lines correctly.
How to Start a Cottage Food Business
The order of steps to start selling homemade food legally.
What Is a Cottage Food Law?
The home-kitchen exemption that lets you sell homemade food.
Do You Need a Nutrition Facts Label to Sell Homemade Food?
When the Nutrition Facts panel is required and when it is not.
Food Allergen Labeling: The 9 Major Allergens
The nine major allergens and how to declare them.
How to Write an Ingredient List for a Food Label
Heaviest first, common names, and breaking out sub-ingredients.
How to Put Net Weight on a Food Label
Where net quantity goes and how to format it.
FDA Food Labeling Requirements for Small Businesses
The core elements every packaged food label needs.
The Nutrition Facts Label Explained
What every part of the Nutrition Facts panel means.
How Nutrition Facts Numbers Are Rounded
Why the panel shows round numbers, and the FDA steps behind them.
How to Set the Serving Size on a Nutrition Label
Why the FDA, not you, sets the serving size.
Nutrition Analysis: Database or Lab Testing?
The two ways to get your numbers, and when each one fits.
The Small-Business Nutrition Facts Exemption
How a small business can skip the panel by filing with the FDA.
Nutrition Facts Label Formats: Standard, Tabular, and Linear
The panel formats the FDA allows, and when your package size lets you use each.
Added Sugars on a Nutrition Facts Label: What Counts
What the added sugars line means, and why honey and syrup usually count.
The Principal Display Panel: What Goes on the Front of a Food Label
What the front of a food package has to show, and where.
Can You Label Your Food Gluten-Free? The FDA Rule
What the gluten-free claim legally requires before you can print it.
Can You Label Your Food Sugar-Free? The FDA Rule
What sugar-free and no sugar added legally require before you print them.
Can You Label Your Food Low-Fat or Fat-Free? The FDA Rule
The fat limits behind low-fat, fat-free, and reduced-fat claims.
Can You Label Your Food High-Protein? The FDA Rule
The Daily Value cutoffs behind high-protein and good source of protein.
Can You Label Your Food Keto or Low-Carb? The FDA Rule
Why keto and low-carb are marketing words the FDA has not defined.
Can You Label Your Food All Natural? The FDA Rule
What natural means when the FDA has never officially defined it.
Can You Label Your Food Low-Calorie or Calorie-Free? The FDA Rule
The calorie limits behind calorie-free, low-calorie, and light.
Can You Label Your Food Low-Sodium? The FDA Rule
The sodium limits behind low-sodium, sodium-free, and no salt added.
Can You Label Your Food High-Fiber? The FDA Rule
The Daily Value cutoffs behind high-fiber and good source of fiber, plus the fat catch.
Can You Label Your Food Cholesterol-Free or Low-Cholesterol? The FDA Rule
The cholesterol and saturated-fat limits behind cholesterol-free and low-cholesterol.
Can You Label Your Food Light or Lite? The FDA Rule
What light and lite legally require, from calories and fat to color and texture.
How Much Does a Nutrition Facts Label Cost?
What a nutrition label really costs, from lab testing to a one-time panel.
Can You Label Your Food Healthy? The FDA Rule
What the new FDA definition of healthy requires before you print it.
Can You Label Your Food Organic? The USDA Rule
What the word organic legally requires, and the small-seller exemption.
Can You Label Your Food Non-GMO? The Rules
What non-GMO and bioengineered labeling actually require of a small seller.
Can You Label Your Food Vegan or Plant-Based? The FDA Rule
Why vegan and plant-based are undefined claims you still have to get right.
Can You Label Your Food Dairy-Free? The Rules
Why dairy-free is undefined, how non-dairy differs, and what milk labeling still requires.
Can You Label Your Food Nut-Free or Peanut-Free? The Rules
Why nut-free and peanut-free are undefined, high-liability claims to make with care.
Can You Label Your Food Fresh? The FDA Rule
The narrow FDA meaning of fresh, and why freshly baked plays by different rules.
Can You Label Your Food Preservative-Free? The Rules
When no preservatives is honest, and why no artificial preservatives is often the truer claim.
Can You Label Your Food No Artificial Flavors or Colors? The Rules
What no artificial flavors and no artificial colors each rule out before you print them.
Build and preview any label free. Pay $24once when you want the clean, watermark-free file to print. These guides are general information, not legal advice. Cottage food and food labeling rules vary by state and change over time, so confirm current requirements with your state's cottage food program and the FDA before you sell.