Alabama cottage food label requirements

The cap disappeared in 2021. Senate Bill 160 rewrote § 22-20-5.1 effective August 1, 2021: it removed the $20,000 gross income limit, widened the food list, and allowed online sales and delivery by mail.

The label Alabama actually requires

Section 22-20-5.1(e) requires every cottage food you sell to carry, "in at least size 10-point font":

1. The common or usual name of the food.
2. The name of the cottage food production operation.
3. The home or P.O. Box address of the operation. There is no ID-number substitute, and ADPH says a QR code cannot replace the contact information or ingredient list.
4. The ingredient list, in descending order by weight. Sub-ingredients count.
5. Allergen declaration. The statute requires "a disclaimer that the food may contain allergens." Federal law covers nine: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame, the last added by the FASTER Act on January 1, 2023. Declare them in the ingredient list or in a "Contains" statement, and name tree nuts, fish, and shellfish by species.
6. A statement that the food is not inspected by the health department.

The exact disclaimer wording

The statute prescribes the substance but not a verbatim string. Section 22-20-5.1(e) requires "a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department," and nothing more specific. ADPH's county review form, which is what the reviewer checks your label against, phrases it this way:

Products are not inspected by the Health Department

That is the wording on the ADPH Review Form for Cottage Foods Producer (rev. 6/7/24), and it is the safest thing to print because it is what the reviewer expects. Keep it at 10 points or larger, and don't swap in another state's "cottage food operation" language.

Alabama's county review step

Before you sell, you take three things to your local county health department: your food safety course certificate, a sample product label, and the completed Cottage Food Review Form. The county reviews the certificate and the label only; ADPH is explicit that nobody inspects your home kitchen. Review fees "vary by county." The county can give you written confirmation, which you may need for a municipal business license.

Where a Nutrition Facts panel becomes required

No US state requires a full Nutrition Facts panel on cottage food products. You need one when:

1. You make a nutrient content claim — "high protein," "low sugar," "keto," "sugar free." Any of these obligates the panel that substantiates it.
2. You make a health claim — connecting your food to a disease or health condition.
3. You outgrow your state's cottage food cap and move to a commercial kitchen. At that point you are a regular food manufacturer and the cottage exemption is gone.
4. You sell wholesale or into retail. Cottage exemptions are almost universally direct-to-consumer only.
5. You sell on Amazon or another marketplace that requires a panel. Amazon's requirement is contractual, not legal, and it does not care what your state says.

Trigger four is what gets most Alabama makers: the law is direct-to-consumer only, with no consignment and no sales through permitted establishments, so the first shop that wants to stock you is the end of cottage food.

Trigger one catches more people than the other four combined, and it catches them somewhere they don't expect. Under 21 CFR 101.9(j)(18), the exemption is void if the claim appears in advertising — not just on the package. Calling your granola "high protein" in an Instagram caption is enough to require the panel on the bag.

What you can and can't make in Alabama

Alabama uses an approved-list model. Section 22-20-5.1(a)(1) defines cottage food as a non-potentially hazardous food that does not require time or temperature control and does not include meat, poultry, or fish, then lists what qualifies.

Allowed:

Prohibited:

If your product is on the prohibited side, cottage food law is not your path in Alabama. Jerky makers and cheesecake bakers need a licensed commercial or shared-use kitchen and an ADPH food permit, and once you're operating out of one you're a food manufacturer under federal law — full labeling, including a Nutrition Facts panel, unless you qualify for the small business exemption below.

Where you can sell

Section 22-20-5.1(a)(2) lets you sell "directly to consumers, whether in-person, by phone, or online in the state" and deliver "in person, through an agent of the producer, or by mail." What the rewrite did not do is open any form of resale: ADPH says permitted establishments may not sell food made in a private home, and consignment is out.

Interstate is a hard no everywhere, and the reason is jurisdictional rather than arbitrary: the moment a product crosses a state line it enters interstate commerce and FDA has authority over the whole operation that made it. Your state's cottage food exemption cannot exempt you from federal law. If you ship to one customer in another state, you have stepped outside the exemption for that shipment.

The cap, the permit, and the training

Section 22-20-5.1(c) bars ADPH and county health departments from regulating production beyond what the section says. ADPH accepts the Alabama Extension course or any ANSI-accredited program, and when your certificate expires you take it again.

When you outgrow cottage food

With no cap, you leave Alabama cottage food by choice. Any of these ends the exemption:

• A shop, café, or grocery wants to carry you — resale of any kind is out.
• You want to make jerky, cheesecake, or a salsa that can't hit pH.
• You want to say "high protein" on the bag.
• You list on Amazon.

Whichever one gets you first, the day after it happens you are a food manufacturer, and food manufacturers label under 21 CFR 101.9. Your label now needs a Nutrition Facts panel with a serving size pulled from the RACC table in 21 CFR 101.12 — not a serving size you chose.

You might still be exempt, even out of a commercial kitchen

21 CFR 101.9(j)(18) exempts small businesses from the Nutrition Facts requirement if you have fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees and sell fewer than 100,000 units in the US in a 12-month period. You have to file an annual notice with FDA to claim it. FDA is blunt about the follow-up: "FDA DOES NOT NOTIFY FIRMS WHEN IT IS TIME TO FILE A NOTICE." That's on you.

There's a smaller carve-out under the same section: if you're not an importer, have fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees, and sell fewer than 10,000 units a year, you don't have to file anything at all.

And the exemption is void — filed or not — for any product carrying a nutrient content claim, a health claim, or other nutrition information, whether that appears on the label, in labeling, or in advertising. See FDA's labeling guidance for the full text.

If you've hit one of the triggers and need the panel itself, Nutrillius builds an FDA-compliant Nutrition Facts panel from your recipe in about a minute — $39 one time, no subscription. That's against $1,609–$1,724 for a single lab-analyzed sample at Medallion Labs, or $195 and a two-to-four week wait through a university extension lab.

Verify this yourself

Cottage food law changes most legislative sessions, and Alabama last moved this one in 2021. Before you print labels, check the current rules with the agency directly:

• ADPH — Cottage Food, including the Cottage Food Review Form
• Code of Alabama § 22-20-5.1: Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama
• SB 160 (2021), enrolled text (PDF)

This page was last reviewed October 30, 2026. If you're reading it much later than that, verify the label elements and the county review process before you rely on either.