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Selling homemade food in Delaware means your label has to follow the Cottage Food Regulations, 16 DE Admin. Code 4458A (Delaware Health & Social Services, Division of Public Health, Office of Food Protection); adopted pursuant to 16 Del.C. §122, enabling authority 16 Del.C. Ch. 33. Here is exactly what that label must show in 2026 — the required fields, the allergen rule, and the verbatim disclaimer and its font size — sourced to the statute and dated.
Print this statement on the label, word for word:
Per §8.2.5 the entire label (which includes this statement) shall be printed in at least 10-point type in a color that provides a clear contrast to the background label. The regulation prescribes the statement wording verbatim in §8.2.4 (capital "NOT") but sets no separate placement rule beyond the 10-point/contrasting-color requirement.
Delaware prescribes an unusually long, exactly-worded statement — verified verbatim including the capital "NOT" (§8.2.4) — and, unlike most states, puts the producer's location on the label only as "town/city, Delaware" (no street address). The 10-point minimum and the contrasting-color rule (§8.2.5) apply to the WHOLE label, not just the statement.
§8.2.5 applies the 10-point minimum AND the contrasting-color requirement to the whole label, not just the statement. Every element — ingredients, allergen sources, net weight, the statement — must be at least 10-point and clearly legible against the background.
§8.2.1 requires "town/city, Delaware" — do not print a full street address to mimic other states, and do not drop the word Delaware. A phone number OR email of the CFE is a separate required element alongside it.
A CFE is registered on the Delaware State Registry and must DISPLAY its registration certificate at farmers markets/craft fairs/approved venues (§3.1.3.4, §4.1.1.1), but §8.2 does not require the registration number on the product label. Do not invent a permit-number field.
§3.1.3 limits a CFE to direct sales to consumers in Delaware; §3.1.3.2 bans online sales yet expressly permits online advertising and marketing; §3.1.3.3 bans wholesale/reseller sales. Labels must reflect a product that cannot lawfully be shipped or sold out of state — even though you may promote it on a website.
Timeline: Registration is not instant: the application must include §5.0 food-safety training, and approval runs "up to and including the on-site [preoperational] inspection" (§3.3.3, §1.6.1), plus a private-well water-compliance check if applicable (§3.3.7) — allow a few weeks to schedule the inspection. Registration covers a fixed year of April 1–March 31 (§3.1.2) and must be renewed annually.
Cost: $30 annual registration fee per CFE (§3.1.1). Add the §5.0 food-safety training and, if on a private well, bringing the well into compliance with DE public drinking-water rules (§3.3.7) — but there is no per-label or statement fee.
Cottage food laws get revised, and a new disclaimer or font size can quietly make your label non-compliant. Leave your email and we'll write to you only when Delaware's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
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Make my Delaware label →Delaware requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This food is made in a Cottage Food Establishment and is NOT subject to routine Government Food Safety Inspections.” It must be set at a minimum of 10-point type.
No. Delaware does not require a permit or registration number printed on the label.
At minimum: product name — the common name of the food; your business / producer name; the address of the cottage food operation; a complete ingredient list, in descending order by weight (sub-ingredients included); an allergen declaration — the 9 major FDA allergens, in the ingredient list or a “Contains:” line; net weight, in US customary and metric units; the state's required disclaimer at a minimum of 10-point type (see below); the date the food was made; a telephone number for the operation.
No. CottageCompliance gives general information based on each state's published rules, dated to when we last verified them. Always confirm with your state or local agency before selling.
Source: https://regulations.delaware.gov/AdminCode/title16/4458A (16 DE Admin. Code 4458A, Cottage Food Regulations, §8.2 Labeling; verbatim text retrieved from the official Delaware Administrative Code API at https://regulations.delaware.gov/api/AdminCode/regulation, citing 23 DE Reg. 52 (07/01/19) and 27 DE Reg. 432 (12/01/23)); https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/hsp/foodprot.html (DHSS Office of Food Protection) Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.