Short answer: most cottage food bakers selling direct-to-consumer within their state do not need an FDA nutrition facts label. The longer answer is the one that actually keeps you out of trouble, so let’s go through it properly.

This post covers what your state probably requires, when federal nutrition labeling kicks in, what has to be on the label if it does, and what’s still required even when nutrition facts aren’t. None of this is legal advice - I’m not a lawyer, and food labeling rules vary by state and change over time. This is the same plain-English explanation I’d give a friend.

I’m Meir. I built FoodShop, a tool for home bakers that generates print-ready cottage food label drafts using your state’s documented disclaimer wording, allergen format, and net weight format. So I read a lot of state cottage food statutes for fun (sort of).

The headline most bakers haven’t been told

If you’re selling baked goods directly to customers in the same state, under your state’s cottage food law, you most likely do not need a full FDA nutrition facts panel.

You do still need a label. Just not the nutrition facts panel with calories and daily values. The label you do need is shorter and easier to produce. We’ll get to it.

When you DO need an FDA nutrition facts panel

You cross from “cottage food, simple label” into “FDA nutrition facts required” when any of the following are true. These are the most common triggers:

  1. You sell wholesale. Selling to a cafe, restaurant, or shop that will resell your product is not direct-to-consumer. Most states’ cottage food exemptions only cover direct sales.
  2. You exceed your state’s cottage food sales cap. Caps vary wildly - some states have no cap at all for baked goods, others cap you in the low five figures. Many caps were updated in 2024-2025 and several are now inflation-indexed. Cross your state’s cap and you’re typically no longer cottage food. Depending on your state, you may move into an intermediate license category or directly under regular FDA rules. Forrager.com has current caps for every state.
  3. You ship across state lines. Some states allow interstate cottage food shipping, most don’t. Once you’re in interstate commerce, federal rules apply on top of any state requirements that still apply.
  4. You make a nutrition claim. Calling something “low-fat,” “high-fiber,” or “good source of protein” triggers FDA nutrient content claim rules and typically requires nutrition labeling, even if you’d otherwise be exempt. “Gluten-free” claims trigger the FDA gluten-free standard specifically, which has its own compliance requirements separate from nutrition labeling.
  5. Your product isn’t covered by cottage food law in your state. Most states cover non-potentially-hazardous baked goods (cookies, breads, dry mixes). Many don’t cover refrigerated cheesecakes, custards, anything with cream filling. Check your specific state.

If none of those apply, you’re probably fine with cottage food labeling.

If any of those apply, you need a full FDA nutrition facts panel (or you need to qualify for the Small Business Nutrition Labeling Exemption - more on that below).

What an FDA nutrition facts panel has to include

For the bakers who do need one, here’s what the label has to show, at minimum:

  • Serving size (in common household measure and grams)
  • Servings per container
  • Calories per serving, displayed prominently
  • Total fat, saturated fat, trans fat
  • Cholesterol
  • Sodium
  • Total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars
  • Protein
  • Vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium (and percent daily values)
  • Statement of identity (what the product is, in plain words)
  • Net quantity (weight or count)
  • Ingredient list in descending order by weight
  • Allergen statement (federal FALCPA - covered below)
  • Name and address of the manufacturer/packer/distributor

There are also strict formatting rules: the nutrition facts panel has a specific font, layout, line weights, and order. You can’t just make a Word doc that lists the same numbers. The FDA cares about the actual format.

This is where most home bakers get stuck. Generating a properly formatted, properly calculated FDA panel from scratch is a real piece of work. Calculations have to be accurate. Format has to comply. State adds its own twist on top of the federal baseline.

The Small Business Nutrition Labeling Exemption (SBNLE)

There are two federal small business exemptions that may let you skip the nutrition facts panel even when you’d otherwise have to include one. Both have specific conditions, and you’ll want to confirm you qualify before relying on them.

The simpler one (no FDA filing required):

  • Your business has less than $500,000 in annual gross sales, OR
  • Your annual food sales direct to consumers are less than $50,000

If you meet either threshold and make no nutrition claims, you typically can skip the nutrition facts panel under this exemption. You don’t have to file anything with the FDA for this one, but you do need to be confident you qualify.

The low-volume product exemption (requires FDA filing):

  • Fewer than 100 full-time-equivalent employees, AND
  • Fewer than 100,000 units of that specific product sold in the US per year

For this one, you file a notice with the FDA. The notice stays in effect until you no longer qualify.

Big caveat for both: making any nutrition claim on the package or in advertising can affect or eliminate the exemption. Calling your cookies “low-fat” or “low-sugar” or “high-protein” pulls you back under full nutrition labeling rules. Same for “gluten-free” claims (those have their own separate compliance requirements regardless of size).

For many home bakers selling under either threshold, this generally means you can skip the nutrition facts panel even when crossing into wholesale, as long as you don’t make claims. Wholesale rules can get more complicated depending on your state, product type, and distribution, so confirm before relying on the exemption in that context. You still need the rest of the label (ingredient list, allergens, identity, net weight, business info).

What a cottage food label has to include (even without nutrition facts)

Even when you’re fully cottage-food-exempt, your label still has to carry information. The specifics vary by state, but the common pieces are:

  • Name of the product (“Chocolate Chip Cookies”)
  • Producer’s name and home address
  • Net weight (e.g., “Net Wt 8 oz / 226g”)
  • Ingredient list in descending order by weight
  • Allergen statement for the federal Big 9 allergens
  • A “made in a home kitchen” disclaimer in language your state specifies. California’s is “Made in a Home Kitchen.” Texas requires “This food is made in a home kitchen and is not inspected by the Department of State Health Services or a local health department.” Every state has its own exact wording

Skipping any of these is a real liability. The “made in a home kitchen” disclaimer in particular is what separates a legal cottage food product from an unlabeled food product.

For specifics on your state, Forrager.com maintains the most thorough state-by-state cottage food law database online. It’s free, it’s good, use it. Cross-check anything important against your state’s actual department of agriculture or health website.

Federal allergen labeling (FALCPA) applies no matter what

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act is federal law covering packaged food sales. It generally applies to cottage food producers as well, though enforcement and state-level interactions vary. The Big 9 allergens that must be declared:

  1. Milk
  2. Eggs
  3. Fish
  4. Crustacean shellfish
  5. Tree nuts (specify which one: almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.)
  6. Peanuts
  7. Wheat
  8. Soybeans
  9. Sesame (added to the list in 2023)

Allergens have to be called out plainly. Either inside the ingredient list (“flour [wheat]”) or in a separate “Contains:” statement below the ingredients (“Contains: wheat, milk, eggs”). Cross-contact warnings (“may contain traces of tree nuts”) are optional but a good idea if your kitchen handles allergens for other products.

Allergen mistakes are one of the most common reasons home bakers get into legal trouble. Take this part seriously even when you’re skipping the rest.

How FoodShop generates labels

This is what FoodShop is built for. Building a recipe in your account does three things at once:

  • Tracks the ingredients, added from our ~8,000-item USDA SR Legacy database, by scanning photos of the front and nutrition label (AI extracts the data), or entered manually
  • Automatically calculates the full nutrition profile from your recipe (per serving and per package)
  • Generates a print-ready cottage food label draft using your state’s documented disclaimer wording, allergen format, and net weight format. Always verify the final label against your state’s current requirements before printing

The allergen statement is automatic. As soon as an ingredient containing one of the Big 9 hits your recipe, the allergen is added to the label. You don’t have to remember which sub-ingredient in your “vanilla extract” or “natural flavor” might trigger a declaration. That’s what the database is for.

If your state has a quirk - a different disclaimer phrasing, a different net weight format - the label is designed to adjust to it.

What to do this week

Three steps, in order:

  1. Look up your state’s cottage food law on Forrager.com. Find the specific disclaimer wording you have to use and the sales cap that applies to you.
  2. For your top 3 sellers, write the label out by hand: product name, your name and address, net weight, ingredients in descending order, allergens, disclaimer. Check it against the state’s exact requirement.
  3. Stick that label on your products this weekend. Even if it’s printed from a Word doc on Avery sticker paper, a proper label is better than no label.

You can do the rest properly once you have a tool, but the worst case is selling unlabeled product to a stranger today.

Going deeper

Last thing

Labeling feels like the most intimidating part of going from hobby baker to real bakery business. It’s not. It’s a few specific pieces of information arranged in a specific way. The hard part is the calculation and the state-by-state variation - and that’s exactly what FoodShop automates.

If you want to skip the spreadsheet and the state-statute reading, you can try FoodShop at foodshop.biz. If you’d rather DIY, the framework above is enough to get a proper label on your products this weekend.

Either way, get a label on it. Even a basic one. Don’t ship unlabeled product.

If you get stuck, message me. I’m in the chat.

– Meir, FoodShop