Virginia Cottage Food Laws

Virginia cottage food laws make it super easy to get started. In fact – you can start today! Unless you’re going to be a pickle vendor, there is not limit on the money you can make each year either.

Virginia also offers a Home Food Processing license which requires several steps but does open your menu up quite a bit. Below we are focusing on the easy and fast method; Home Food Exemption Program.

HOW TO START YOUR COTTAGE FOOD BUSINESS IN VIRGINIA – LICENSING

To start your cottage food business in Virginia, simply follow the steps below:

STEPS TO START

Always contact your local city / county office and verify if a business license is required prior to starting.

This is simply done by calling the main number to your city and letting them know you are starting a cottage food business and ask if you need a business license.

1. Pick foods to offer from the “allowed” food types listed below.
2. Get a local business license in your City/County – if required
3. Get labels made (see label example and requirement below)
4. Start baking/cooking, marketing and selling

The One Law Behind It All

Virginia’s home food sales run through a single key statute: § 3.2-5130 of the Code of Virginia, administered by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS).

Normally, any home that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food for sale counts as a food establishment. That means periodic VDACS inspections and a $40 annual fee. But § 3.2-5130 carves out three exemptions that let you skip both the inspections and the fee, as long as you stay within the rules.

Those three exemption categories are:

1. Low Risk Foods
2. Acidified Foods
3. Honey Processing

Each one has its own list of allowed products, its own limits, and its own quirks. Let’s take them one at a time.

📌 Quick take: The exemption isn’t a blanket “anything goes from home” pass. It’s three specific lanes. Figure out which lane your product fits into, follow that lane’s rules, and you’re good to go.

---

Category 1: Low Risk Foods

These are the shelf-stable, don’t-need-refrigeration foods most people picture when they think “homemade goods for sale.”

✅ What You Can Sell

• Candies
• Jams and jellies (that aren’t low-acid or acidified low-acid products)
• Dried fruits
• Dried herbs
• Dry seasonings
• Dry mixtures
• Coated and uncoated nuts
• Vinegars and flavored vinegars
• Popcorn and popcorn balls
• Cotton candy
• Dried pasta
• Dry baking mixes
• Roasted coffee
• Dried tea
• Cereals
• Trail mixes
• Granola
• Baked goods that don’t require time or temperature control after preparation

Where You Make Them

In your own private home. That’s the requirement — no rented commercial kitchens or shared community spaces under this exemption.

💡 A note on baked goods: The magic phrase is “does not require time or temperature control after preparation.” Cookies, breads, and many pastries qualify. But anything that needs refrigeration to stay safe — think cream-filled or custard-based items — falls outside this exemption.

---

Category 2: Acidified Foods

Love making pickles or salsa? This is your lane — but it comes with the tightest rules of the three.

✅ What You Can Sell

• Pickles with an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower
• Acidified vegetables with an equilibrium pH of 4.6 or lower, including pickled products, salsa, chow-chow, relishes, and similar vegetables

❌ What You Can’t Sell

• Canned fermented foods
• Canned acid foods
• Canned foods that require refrigeration for safety
• Canned fruits
• Low-acid canned vegetables

💰 The $9,000 Sales Cap

Here’s the one that trips people up: producers of acidified foods must not exceed $9,000 in total annual gross sales across all acidified products combined. Keep careful, ongoing records of your sales, because VDACS can ask to examine them.

🧪 The pH Testing Requirement

Because acidified foods carry a real botulism risk, pH isn’t optional guesswork. Your product’s equilibrium pH must be 4.6 or lower to inhibit the bacteria that cause botulism.

A few essentials:

• Buy an electronic pH meter. Pocket-sized units run around $100. Paper test strips are not accurate enough for home-processed foods.
• Test equilibrium pH, not just the brine. The acid needs time to distribute evenly. For foods processed less than two months, finely grind a sample in a blender before testing. For foods processed more than two months ago, testing the brine is acceptable since the contents should be in equilibrium.
• Test each product separately. A different product means a different pH test.
• Follow the same recipe every batch. Consistency is what keeps your product safe.

⚠️ Get expert eyes on your process. VDACS strongly advises having your process reviewed by a competent process authority, and encourages completing a recognized Better Process Control School course. When you’re working with botulism risk, this isn’t a corner to cut.

---

Category 3: Honey Processing

If you keep your own hives, this exemption is refreshingly simple.

The Criteria

• You process and prepare pure honey from your own hives in your private home
• You sell less than 250 gallons of honey annually
• You don’t process and sell other foods beyond what the low-risk and acidified exemptions already allow

❌ What Doesn’t Qualify

Infused honey products don’t make the cut. Once you add flavorings, it becomes a value-added product rather than pure honey — and it falls outside this exemption.

The Bonus

Unlike the other two categories, pure honey currently has no restrictions on where you can sell it or who you can sell it to. That’s a meaningful perk for beekeepers.

---

What You Can and Can’t Do Online

This is the rule that catches the most sellers off guard, so read it closely.

✅ You CAN advertise online

VDACS interprets the law to allow advertising — just not selling — over the internet. So you can:

• Maintain a website or social page with lists, descriptions, photos, and videos of your products
• Post your prices and the dates and locations of upcoming in-person sales
• Offer a phone number, email, or messenger so customers can reach you and arrange an in-person sale
• Accept electronic payment during in-person transactions (PayPal, Venmo, Square, and the like)

❌ You CANNOT sell online

Under the cottage law, you cannot “offer for sale” online. That means your web presence cannot:

• Include an order form customers fill out electronically
• Accept payment electronically for a remote order
• Offer shipping — you may not ship products by mail or parcel courier to anyone

📌 The bottom line: Advertise freely, but the actual sale and hand-off must happen in person. No shipping, no online checkout, no mailed orders.

---

Where You Can Sell

For low-risk and acidified foods, you have three approved venues:

1. From the private home where the product was made, to an individual for personal consumption
2. At a farmers market, to an individual for personal consumption
3. At a temporary event that runs no more than 14 consecutive days

❌ Where You Can’t Sell

• To other businesses (grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants)
• For resale
• On the internet
• Across state lines

Everything stays direct-to-consumer and inside Virginia. (Remember, pure honey is the exception with no location restrictions.)

---

Labeling Requirements

Every product package must display this information on the principal display panel:

1. Your name, physical address, and telephone number
2. The date the product was processed
3. This exact statement:

“NOT FOR RESALE — PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION”

On top of that, standard labeling still applies: the product name, net weight statement, manufacturer’s name and address, ingredient list (with subingredients), and possibly nutritional information.

A couple of practical notes:

• If your product is too small for a readable label, or is sold to be eaten on-site, a sign at the point of sale can substitute for a label.
• Honey has its own required statement: “PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION. WARNING: Do Not Feed Honey to Infants Under One Year Old.”

---

No Registration, No Fee, No Inspection

Here’s the encouraging part. If you operate within one of these exemptions, you are not subject to VDACS’s periodic inspections, and you do not owe the $40 annual fee.

You still have to comply with all applicable food laws and regulations — the exemption removes routine inspection, not your responsibility for safe food. And if you ever receive a bill from VDACS for the annual fee by mistake, call them at 804-786-3520 or email [email protected] to sort it out.

---

Quick Reference: The Three Exemptions at a Glance

Feature	Low Risk Foods	Acidified Foods	Honey
Example products	Candies, jams, baked goods, granola, roasted coffee	Pickles, salsa, relishes (pH ≤ 4.6)	Pure honey from your own hives
Sales cap	None specified	$9,000/year total	Under 250 gallons/year
pH testing	Not required	Required (equilibrium pH ≤ 4.6)	Not applicable
Where you can sell	Home, farmers market, temporary event (≤14 days)	Home, farmers market, temporary event (≤14 days)	No location restrictions
Online sales	Not allowed	Not allowed	Not allowed
Inspection & fee	Exempt	Exempt	Exempt

---

Your Pre-Launch Checklist

Ready to start? Run through this before your first sale:

Check event rules. Farmers markets and event organizers may have their own requirements.what you’d like to serve is okay. (see regional contact info and numbers below)

Identify your exemption category. Is your product a low-risk food, an acidified food, or pure honey? That determines everything else.

Confirm your product qualifies. Is it on the allowed list? For baked goods, does it stay safe without refrigeration?

Make it in your private home. No rented or shared kitchens under these exemptions.

For acidified foods, get a pH meter and confirm your equilibrium pH is 4.6 or lower. Consider a process authority review and a Better Process Control School course.

For acidified foods, track your sales so you stay under the $9,000 annual cap.

For honey, stay under 250 gallons a year and skip the infused products.

Build a compliant label with your name, physical address, phone number, process date, standard label info, and the exact “NOT FOR RESALE” statement (plus the infant warning for honey).

Set up your sales channels. Home, farmers markets, and temporary events (14 days or fewer) — direct to the consumer only.

Keep it in Virginia and in person. Advertise online all you want, but no online sales, no shipping, no out-of-state customers.

Confirm you won’t owe the fee. Operating within the exemption means no $40 annual fee and no routine inspections — but you still follow all food safety laws.

Real Life Cottage Food Entrepreneurs and Opportunities

• Cakes – teacher turns kitchen into bakery
• Doughnuts – cottage mini donut vendor
• Fruit jams and jellies – additional information here
• Kettle corn – real kettle corn vendors from home
• Popcorn (plain and flavored) – see a real home vendor here
• Talk and Join hundreds of others here: VendorsUnited.com

COTTAGE FOOD LABEL EXAMPLE

Below is an example label:

Using VistaPrint.com or similar – you can quickly create professional labels that not only serve to meet the state cottage food guidelines but also serve for marketing your awesome business and products.

You’ll find some fantastic examples of this from members inside VendorsUnited.com

ALLERGENS ON LABELING

The FDA lists nine (9) major food allergens. Listing any of these on your label is a smart business practice and will certainly help your customers choose a product.

• Milk
• Eggs
• Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)
• Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)
• Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans
• Sesame seeds

Simply add to your label: “CONTAINS: SOYBEANS” Some go as far to announce that a certain allergen is used in the same kitchen.

Some states require you list any potential allergens and potential for any cross contamination even if the allergen is not used in the recipe.

FDA Allergen Labeling Example: Contains Wheat, Milk, Egg, and Soy

WHERE CAN I SELL MY COTTAGE FOOD PRODUCTS

Virginia Cottage Food Laws – Sales Rules

All sales are restricted to:

Farmers markets
Home
Pickup

Inside kitchenincome.com you can find out how many cottage food entrepreneurs are getting sales faster than they can make the food.

FOOD HANDLER TRAINING AND BEST PRACTICES

Virginia does not require you take a food safety / handler course.

Many of our VendorsUnited.com members are proud to display their food safety certificates as a way to ensure their customers that they care. This helps your business.

However, knowing the safe handling practices will protect you and your customers, it is always a good idea to take a quick online class and get certified.

There are many short courses you can take online and actually get certified and be able to share that with your customers.

• Short courses that provide food handling and safety certification
• Free info from the FDA – food safety

COTTAGE FOOD lIABILITY INSURANCE

We live in a society that likes to sue. I can sue you for wearing that color shirt. No kidding!

Of course I probably won’t win, but at the very least, it’s gonna cause you stress and some costs.

Liability insurance is a MUST.

It can be expensive – but several years ago, I found FLIP and by far, they gave me the most protection (coverage) and allow you to run your cottage food business without fear of being sued.

WHY? Because they provide the lawyers. And their lawyers… they are good!

Of course you should price shop around with your local agent or a national brand company, but rest assured, I’ve done all the legwork for you.

Alternatively, some folks opt to get bonded. You’ve heard the saying before: “licensed and bonded”.

A bond is usually provided from an insurance bonding company or your own insurance company. My first time, I got a bond at State Farm.

A bond is expensive comparatively but is less out of pocket in the beginning. Of course, it’s way, way less insurance / coverage too.

A $10,000 bond may cost $50 annually while a $2,000,000.00 liability policy may cost a few hundred a year.

No matter what you decide… knowing you’re insured against frivolous lawsuits is worth every penny.

VIRGINIA COTTAGE FOOD LAWS IMPORTANT LINKS

• VIRGINIA Home Food Processing Exemption Program Outline and FAQ
• VIRGINIA Cottage Food Code
• Virginia Department Of Agriculture Important Links
• Virginia FULL Home Processing License

VIRGINIA COTTAGE FOOD CONTACT INFO

Regional Contact Info (Regional Map Here)

Virginia Regional Map

UPDATES TO VIRGINIA COTTAGE FOOD LAWS

From time to time, links, info, rules and numbers change, are updated or made obsolete.

Although I spend time daily with hundreds of vendors (many of which are cottage food businesses) – I can miss an update.

If you find a broken link or outdated state information… please let me know and I’ll send you a special thank you for helping me maintain the best site on the internet for the cottage food industry.

My goal has always been to have a central place that is absolutely free for those starting out or existing entrepreneurs who use their homes and kitchens to make real incomes.

Please send to [email protected] / or post inside the private VendorsUnited.com group.

Need more resources? Check it out HERE (Helpful Resources)

Take a peek at the best vendors on the planet, the community that rocks the food vending world: Vendors United…

Disclaimer

This information is provided to help those interested in starting a cottage food business. It is not a document made by the state government. This information is not provided as law nor should be construed as law. Always use the contact information for each state to confirm compliance and any changes.

Did we help you? Help us to share this information…