Idaho cottage food laws

In March 2026 Idaho retired its cottage food rule (formerly part of the Idaho Food Code, IDAPA 16.02.19) and replaced it with the Idaho Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act, enacted as SB 1283 with an emergency clause and effective March 20, 2026. The act is codified as a new Chapter 2 of Title 37, Idaho Code. It is a food freedom law rather than a licensing program: qualifying homemade food and nonalcoholic drink sales are exempt from state and local licensing, permitting, inspection, and certification, and agencies are barred from imposing stricter local rules. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's role is limited to publishing food safety educational material.

The biggest change is what you can sell. The old rule was limited to shelf-stable, non-TCS foods. The new act covers both shelf-stable homemade foods (baked goods, preserves, hermetically sealed and fermented foods, dried goods, honey) and perishable foods that need temperature control at 41 degrees F or below, which means cheesecakes, cream and custard pies, frosted refrigerated cakes, condiments, and similar TCS products are now legal to sell from a home kitchen. Perishable products must be stored and transported safely and sold with handling and storage instructions. The main carve-outs are meat and dairy: most meat products still require inspection (with exceptions for poultry from your own flock up to 1,000 birds a year, domestic rabbit, certain farm-raised fish, USDA-inspected cuts, and animal shares), and milk, dairy, and raw milk sales must still comply with Idaho's separate dairy chapters.

Sales must be direct from the producer to an informed end consumer, but the act adds a new channel the old rule never had: a designated agent, such as a cooperative market or consignment-model market, may facilitate sales on the producer's behalf without taking ownership of the product. Producers sell from home, at farm stands, farmers markets, fairs, and roadside stands, online, and by in-state delivery or shipping. What is still off the table: wholesale, resale, restaurant or catering use, and supplying products as ingredients to licensed food establishments. Every part of the transaction must happen entirely within Idaho, so out-of-state shipping remains prohibited as interstate commerce.

The trade-off for all this freedom is paperwork you keep at home. Producers (and designated agents) must maintain records of each transaction showing the type and quantity of product sold, the sale date, the production date, where the product was made, and where each ingredient was produced or acquired, and must retain those records for at least two years. The records are confidential and are not routinely reported or inspected; they only come into play during a confirmed foodborne illness outbreak investigation, where failing to have kept them can bring a fine of up to $500. Every product also needs the act's required consumer notice on a label, sign, or card, with your name, contact information, and an ingredient list for products with two or more ingredients.

The Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act sets no cap on gross annual sales, the same as the old cottage rule. You can scale to whatever your home kitchen and the in-state market support. You remain responsible for federal and Idaho income tax, Idaho sales tax on taxable items, and any local business license fees, and the act does not exempt you from weights-and-measures, marketing, and branding laws.

The act does not require a food handler card or any training. Many producers take an ANAB-accredited food handler course anyway to help with markets and customer trust, especially now that perishable foods are allowed. The course is online, takes about 60 to 90 minutes, and typically costs $7 to $15.

There is still nothing to register. The act requires no state form, fee, inspection, or notification before you start selling. What replaced the old voluntary risk assessment paperwork is a private record-keeping duty: for every sale you must record the type and quantity of product sold, the sale date, the production date, where the product was made, and where each ingredient came from, plus the identity of any designated agent, and keep those records for at least two years. The records stay with you, are confidential, and are only examined if a confirmed foodborne illness outbreak is being investigated. Failing to keep them can cost up to $500 in fines during such an investigation, and keeping them in good faith gives you civil liability protection.