Updated 2026-09-21. This page is not legal advice.
A cottage food label has six parts. Five come from federal rules that apply to any packaged food. The sixth, the home kitchen disclosure, comes from your state. Get all six right and the label passes in most states.
What are the six parts of a cottage food label?
- The product name, in plain words.
- The ingredient list, heaviest ingredient first.
- The allergen statement.
- The net weight of the food.
- Your business name and address.
- The home kitchen disclosure your state requires.
Put parts 1 and 4 on the front panel. Parts 2, 3, and 5 can go on the side or the back. States differ on where the disclosure goes, so read your state page.
How do I name the product?
Use the common name a buyer would use. Write “chocolate chip cookies”, not “Grandma’s Famous Bites”. A brand name can sit above the product name, but it does not replace it.
What order do ingredients go in?
Heaviest first, by the weight you put in before baking. The federal rule is 21 CFR 101.4. Use the common name of each ingredient, and copy sub-ingredients from the package you bought. Full detail is in How to write an ingredient statement.
Which allergens must I name?
The nine major allergens are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Name the allergen inside the ingredient list, or add a “Contains:” line under it. Tree nuts and fish must say which kind. See How to write the allergen statement.
How do I write the net weight?
Give the weight of the food only, without the container. Use both US customary and metric units, such as “Net Wt 8 oz (227 g)”. Liquids use fluid ounces and milliliters. See FDA net weight statement for the placement and type size rules.
What address do I put on the label?
Your business name and a full street address, including the city, state, and ZIP code. Some states let a cottage food maker give a permit or registration number in place of the street address. Check your state page before you leave the address off.
What is the home kitchen disclosure?
A line that tells the buyer the food came from a home kitchen that no agency inspects. Every cottage food state sets its own wording, and some set the type size too. Copy the exact words from your state:
Do I need a Nutrition Facts panel?
Usually no. Most cottage food laws exempt the maker from nutrition labeling. Two things end the exemption. The first is a nutrient claim, such as “low sugar” or “high protein”. The second is selling outside the cottage food rules, for example to a shop that resells the food. See Do cottage foods need a nutrition label?
What about a date?
Federal rules do not require a date on most foods. Buyers expect one, and some states require it for refrigerated cottage food. A best-by date also sets an expectation for freshness. Work one out with the shelf life calculator.
How do I build the label?
Weigh the batch, list the ingredients in weight order, and print. The ingredient label maker writes the ingredient statement and the “Contains:” line from your recipe. The nutrition label maker builds a Nutrition Facts panel if you choose to add one or if you need one.
To see the six parts filled in, copy the cottage food label template. It has six example labels.