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Selling homemade food in South Dakota means your label has to follow the Homemade food / home-processed foods licensure exemption, S.D. Codified Laws ch. 34-18 (SDCL 34-18-35 'Sale of homemade foods and food products' through 34-18-38 'Exemption from licensure', incl. 34-18-36 canned-goods requirements and 34-18-36.1 authorized temperature-controlled sales); label requirements at SDCL 34-18-37. 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:
SDCL 34-18-37(9) prescribes the disclaimer wording VERBATIM but sets no numeric point size. SDSU Extension instructs producers to use a font that is 'prominent, conspicuous, and easy to read.' No minimum point size is fixed in law. Separately, per SDSU Extension, the name of any processing authority (e.g., SDSU) may NOT appear on the label, and no 'tested/approved for safety' or inspection claim is allowed.
South Dakota is a pure licensure-exemption state (SDCL 34-18-38) with NO permit, NO number, and NO sales cap — but SDCL 34-18-37 demands unusually complete contact data on every label: product name, producer name, BOTH a physical production address AND a mailing address, a telephone number, and the date the item was made or processed, plus the fixed allergen/home-processed disclaimer. The catch that trips people isn't the label fields but the sale channel: the exemption only covers direct, in-person sales (primary residence, farmer's market, roadside stand, other temporary venue) or personal delivery by the seller or a household resident. Selling online, shipping, or wholesaling to a store instantly voids the exemption and triggers state licensing.
SDSU Extension explicitly states its name (and any other processing authority's) must NOT appear on your label, and no 'tested/approved for safety' claim is allowed. A processing authority only verifies your process (pH / water activity) — it does not certify that a given jar is safe. Putting its name on the label is a compliance error.
Under SDCL 34-18-36, no canned good may be sold unless pH is 4.6 or less OR water activity is .85 or less. The producer must ALSO complete department-approved online food-safety training every 5 years, OR — in lieu of training — maintain written verification of each recipe from a recognized third-party processing authority (who must confirm the thermal process and that the pH/water-activity thresholds are met), and retain records of that training/verification. The label alone is not enough.
SDCL 34-18-37(6) requires the date the product was made or processed on every container. This is easy to forget on baked-good labels and is a frequent gap in home-processed labeling.
SDCL 34-18-38 requires the food be sold in the seller's physical presence (primary residence, farmer's market, roadside stand, or other temporary sale venue) or personally delivered by the seller or a household resident at completion of sale. Any indirect sale — retail store, shipping, online order — falls outside the exemption and requires a state food license, regardless of correct labeling.
Timeline: Immediate — no application or permit. You may begin selling as soon as your label is compliant and (for canned goods) you hold the required food-safety training or third-party processing-authority recipe verification.
Cost: $0 — no permit required. Department-approved food-safety training for canned-goods sellers is available online; third-party processing-authority recipe verification (the alternative to training) may carry a lab/review fee — confirm with the chosen processing authority or SDSU Extension.
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Make my South Dakota label →South Dakota requires this exact statement on a cottage food label: “This product was not produced in a commercial kitchen. It has been home-processed in a kitchen that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish.” The state sets no minimum point size for it.
No. South Dakota 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); 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: SDCL 34-18-37 label requirements, confirmed via the National Agricultural Law Center reproduction of the full statute (34-18-35 through 34-18-38): https://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/cottagefood/South-Dakota.pdf ; SDSU Extension 'Labeling of Prepared and Processed Foods in South Dakota': https://extension.sdstate.edu/labeling-prepared-and-processed-foods-south-dakota ; Justia mirror (was 403 at check time): https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-34/chapter-18/section-34-18-37/ ; SD DOH Farmers Market Guidance: https://doh.sd.gov/media/jskjetg5/farmersmarketguideance.pdf Verified 2026-08-10. General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state or local agency before selling.