Nutrition facts labels for cottage food businesses
You probably don't need one. No US state requires a full Nutrition Facts panel on cottage food, and if you're selling cookies at a farmers market with no claims on the bag, federal law doesn't require one either. That holds until one of five specific things happens. When one does, Nutrillius builds the panel from your recipe in about a minute.
on this page ＋−
$39 one time, 90 days of edits. $69/mo for unlimited labels and unlimited revisions.
The five things that change the answer
- You make a nutrient content claim — "high protein," "low sugar," "keto," "sugar free."
- You make a health claim — connecting your food to a disease or health condition.
- You outgrow your state's cottage food cap and move to a commercial kitchen. You're a regular food manufacturer then, and the exemption is gone.
- You sell wholesale or into retail. Cottage exemptions are almost universally direct-to-consumer only.
- You sell on Amazon or another marketplace that requires a panel. That requirement is contractual, not legal, and it does not care what your state says.
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 small business 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.
Find your state
Cottage food is state law, and the caps aren't close. Colorado writes its limit per product; Georgia has none at all.
| State | Sales cap | |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | $150,000 (SB 541, Sept 2025) | Texas rules |
| California | $75,000 Class A / $150,000 Class B — sauces, salsa, jerky, dairy, canned goods banned | California rules |
| Florida | $250,000 | Florida rules |
| Ohio | None — plus a separate home bakery track under ORC 911.02 | Ohio rules |
| Pennsylvania | None — no cottage law at all; you register as a Limited Food Establishment | Pennsylvania rules |
| North Carolina | None — but NCDA&CS inspects your kitchen first | North Carolina rules |
| Georgia | None | Georgia rules |
| Michigan | $50,000 (2025 PA 51, March 2026) | Michigan rules |
| Illinois | None, since the Home-to-Market Act | Illinois rules |
| Tennessee | None — third-party retail expressly permitted | Tennessee rules |
| Arizona | None | Arizona rules |
| Washington | $35,000 | Washington rules |
| Colorado | $10,000 per product, per year | Colorado rules |
| Virginia | None on the main list; $9,000 for acidified vegetables | Virginia rules |
| Indiana | None — Indiana calls you a "home based vendor" | Indiana rules |
Several caps are indexed to inflation. Verify yours with the state agency before planning around it.
What you owe regardless: allergens
There is no cottage food exemption from allergen labeling, and no small business exemption from it either. The exemptions at 21 CFR 101.9(j) cover the nutrition panel. They don't touch the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act.
Nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame, added January 1, 2023 under the FASTER Act. Declare them parenthetically in the ingredient list or in a "Contains" statement. Name tree nuts, fish, and shellfish by species — "almond," not "tree nuts." "May contain" is voluntary and replaces neither method.
Sub-ingredients count. If your chocolate chips contain soy lecithin, soy is in your product.
The graduation moment
Almost nobody buys a label because they wanted one. You cross the cap, a coffee shop asks to stock you, or you want to ship out of state, so you rent time in a commercial kitchen. The day you do, you stop being a cottage operation and become a food manufacturer under 21 CFR 101.9. Your serving size now comes from the RACC table at 21 CFR 101.12, not from you.
That transition costs money in a dozen directions at once. The label is the one where you have a real choice about what you spend.
What the alternatives cost
| Option | Price | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Medallion Labs, full lab NFP | $1,609–$1,724 per sample, rush = 2x | Weeks |
| Food Consulting Company | $240 per panel | Days to weeks |
| University extension (UGA) | $195, +$40 per revision | 2–4 weeks |
| Nutrillius | $39 one time / $69/mo unlimited | About a minute |
Look at the revision line. UGA charges $40 every time you change the recipe, and Recipe Cost Calculator's published figure for external lab analysis is $50–$300 per recipe, per revision. Cottage operators change recipes constantly — a supplier swaps flour, you cut the sugar, you make the holiday version.
Unlimited revisions is the point. On a subscription, a reformulation is a re-run, not a purchase order.
Christopher Wilson of LunaGrown, on a lab quote: "oh my god, you're kidding me. That's what it's going to cost to make a friggin' label? I was blown away."
How it works
- Get the recipe in. Photograph the index card, paste it, or type it. The AI reads handwriting and shorthand, and converts cups, tablespoons, and "one scoop" into FDA units for you.
- Confirm ingredients. You check the database matches. This is the step that needs your attention.
- Set yield and unit count. Serving size is pulled from the RACC table, not guessed.
- Download. PNG, PDF, and print-ready SVG.
The four questions everyone asks
"Is a database label actually legal?" Yes. FDA's guidance is that the source of the data used to calculate label values is the manufacturer's prerogative. You're responsible for accuracy, not for having paid a lab. See lab vs. database software.
"Do I even need a label?" Often no, which is why this page opens with it. Walk the decision path in do I need a nutrition facts label? before spending anything.
"What if I get it wrong?" Rounding rules are where hand-built labels fail, and RACC-derived serving sizes surprise people. The tool applies both. See nutrition label rounding rules.
"What if my recipe changes?" Re-run it. Unlimited revisions on any subscription tier; 90 days of edits on the $39 one-time.
Proof
<!-- SOCIAL PROOF BLOCK — placeholder slots. Do not publish until filled with real, permissioned customers. -->[CUSTOMER NAME],[BUSINESS],[STATE]— which trigger forced the panel, quote, permission on file[CUSTOMER NAME],[BUSINESS],[STATE]— cottage-to-commercial transition, quote, permission on file[METRIC]— only if internally sourced and the basis is stated
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One-time | $39 | One label, PNG/PDF/SVG, 90 days of edits |
| Starter | $69/mo | Unlimited labels, unlimited revisions, 25 saved products |
| Pro | $99/mo | 100 products, compliance alerts, auto-updated labels |
| Business | $179/mo | 500 products, team access, bulk export |
Annual billing saves two months. If you need one panel and the recipe is final, take the $39.
Ready when you are
If one of the five triggers has fired, you need the panel. Recipe in, 21 CFR 101.9-compliant panel out, in about a minute.