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Selling homemade food in Florida means your label has to follow the Florida Cottage Food Operation (Fla. Stat. §500.80). 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:
At least 10-point type, in a color that clearly contrasts with the background.
Florida runs a pure exemption, not a permit or registration program: under Fla. Stat. §500.80 you need no license, no inspection, and no fee from FDACS to start, as long as gross sales stay at or under $250,000 per year — one of the highest sales caps in the country. The trade-off is that Florida bans wholesale entirely: you may sell direct to the consumer in person, from your home, at farmers markets and roadside stands, and by mail order or your own website, but never to grocery stores, restaurants, or any reseller. Only shelf-stable, non-potentially-hazardous foods qualify (breads, cakes, cookies, candies, jams/jellies, honey, dried herbs, popcorn, nuts).
Mail order and website sales are allowed, but only within Florida. Cottage food made under §500.80 may not be shipped across state lines — an out-of-state order requires a licensed/inspected facility. Restrict your shipping zone to Florida addresses.
Florida cottage food is strictly direct-to-consumer. Placing your jams on a boutique's shelf or supplying a cafe is a prohibited wholesale sale, even inside Florida. Keep every sale end-consumer only.
Each package must carry the statement that the food was 'made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations,' plus the operation's name and address, product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight/volume, and allergen declarations per federal law. A missing line is the most common violation.
Cheesecakes, cream/custard pies, cream-cheese frostings, garlic-in-oil, fermented or canned low-acid vegetables, and meat/fish jerky are not permitted. If it needs refrigeration to stay safe, it is outside the cottage food list.
Timeline: Same day. Florida requires no application, permit, or inspection before you sell — the exemption is automatic once you meet the conditions. Realistic steps: (1) confirm your product is on the allowed non-hazardous list; (2) build a compliant label with the required exemption statement and allergen info; (3) start selling direct to consumers. Budget a few hours to design and print labels.
Cost: $0 — no permit required. Florida charges no FDACS fee for a cottage food operation. Your only out-of-pocket costs are label printing/packaging (roughly $10–$50 for a starter batch).
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 Florida's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
Enter your recipe and get a print-ready label with the exact Florida wording, ingredients ordered by weight and allergens auto-declared. Free watermarked preview; clean PDF for $12.
Make my Florida label →Florida requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations.” It must be set at a minimum of 10-point type.
No. Florida 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).
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: Fla. Stat. §500.80; FDACS Cottage Food. Reconfirm on fdacs.gov. Verified 2026-06-15. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.