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Selling homemade food in Louisiana means your label has to follow the Louisiana has no cottage food programme — La. R.S. 40:4.9 is an exemption. It switches off the state Sanitary Code for nine low-risk foods prepared at home (baked goods, candies, cane syrup, dried mixes, honey and honeycomb, jams/jellies/preserves, pickles and acidified foods, sauces and syrups, spices), with no permit, no registration with the Department of Health, no inspection and no training. The exemption stops applying entirely once gross annual sales reach $30,000 (raised from $20,000 by Acts 2022 No. 357). Bakers of breads, cakes, cookies and pies may employ nobody to help, may not sell for resale, and must meet the sanitation conditions written into the statute itself. You may not sell at all without a current parish sales and use tax certificate. 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:
No minimum type size anywhere in the law. R.S. 40:4.9(D)(1)(a) asks only for a label that clearly indicates the food was not produced in a licensed or regulated facility — the meaning is fixed, the words are not. Everything else on a Louisiana label (the food's common name, the name and place of business, an accurate quantity statement, the ingredient names) comes from a different statute the exemption never touches: R.S. 40:608, misbranded food. Raw honey that still contains its natural pollen needs no label at all; filter it and the duty returns.
In Louisiana the LABEL is the entire regulatory footprint. The state issues no cottage-food permit, license, or registration number and runs no application process — the single legally required act is affixing a label that says the food was not made in a licensed/regulated facility. Get that one sentence right and you are compliant; there is nothing else to file. (And raw, unprocessed honey is exempt even from the label.)
The exemption applies only if gross annual sales stay under $30,000. At $30,000 or more you lose the exemption entirely and fall under the full state Sanitary Code — plan to track revenue, not just per-item labels.
R.S. 40:4.9 bars anyone preparing breads, cakes, cookies, or pies in the home from selling them to any retail business or individual FOR RESALE. Direct-to-consumer only; a coffee shop reselling your cookies breaks the exemption.
Eligible categories are fixed by statute: baked goods, candies, cane syrup, dried mixes, honey/honeycomb, jams-jellies-preserves, pickles & acidified foods, sauces & syrups, and spices — none containing animal muscle or fish protein. Anything outside this list is not covered.
R.S. 40:4.9(D)(2) forbids selling unless you are registered to collect applicable local sales/use taxes and hold a current sales tax certificate from your parish collector. It is not printed on the label, but you cannot legally sell without it.
Timeline: Immediate — no state permit, inspection, or approval is needed before selling. The only prerequisite is registering with your parish sales-and-use-tax collector and obtaining a current sales tax certificate before your first sale.
Cost: $0 — no permit required. Louisiana charges no cottage-food permit or registration fee (pure statutory exemption). The only incidental cost is obtaining a parish sales/use tax certificate, which is typically free to register.
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 Louisiana's cottage food label rules change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
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Make my Louisiana label →Louisiana requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “NOT VERBATIM — confirm with agency. Louisiana prescribes the substance, not exact words. R.S. 40:4.9(D)(1)(a) requires the preparer to "affix to any such food offered for sale a label which clearly indicates that the food was not produced in a licensed or regulated facility." Any wording conveying that meaning is compliant, e.g. "This product was not produced in a licensed or regulated facility" or "Made in a home kitchen that is not licensed or regulated by the state.".” The state sets no minimum point size for it.
No. Louisiana 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 (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: La. R.S. 40:4.9 (2024 Louisiana Laws; history ending Acts 2022, No. 357). The amendment that replaced $20,000 with $30,000 read in the engrossed HB 828, 2022 Regular Session, Louisiana Legislature. Label items outside the cottage food statute: La. R.S. 40:608 (misbranded food). Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.