The essentials
North Dakota, at a glance
North Dakota allows an individual to make or package cottage foods in a private-home kitchen and sell directly to informed consumers for home consumption.
There is no cottage food-license fee or annual dollar sales cap. The law is broader than a shelf-stable-only program, but meat and poultry restrictions, consumer disclosure and special instructions for refrigerated foods remain important.
- Sales limits
Chapter 23-09.5 has no annual dollar sales ceiling; the poultry exception has a separate annual slaughter limit.
- Registration & permits
State and local agencies may not impose licensing, permits, certification, inspection, packaging or labeling on covered cottage preparation or sales beyond the chapter’s conditions; requested assistance and inspection remain possible.
View official sources (2)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- Cottage Food Act and resources North Dakota Health and Human Services
One step at a time
Your first 2 steps
Start with the customer and the food
Confirm that your customer is the end consumer and the purchase is for home consumption.
Review any meat or poultry ingredients before accepting orders. Decide whether the product needs refrigeration, because that triggers package-level safe-handling instructions and a frozen-transport disclosure. Prepare the required home-kitchen advisory before your first market sale or delivery.
Prepare safely without inventing a permit step
A covered cottage operation does not need a food license, permit or food-handler certificate under this chapter.
Use the time you would spend on those applications to establish safe recipes, clean handling and useful product information. NDSU recommends tested Extension recipes for preservation. Operators and household members with contagious or infectious symptoms must not knowingly work in the production area or handle cottage food.
View official sources (3)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- NDAC 33-33-10 — Cottage food preparation North Dakota Legislature
- Food Safety Best Practices for Local Food Entrepreneurs North Dakota State University Extension
Make what you love
Can you sell what you make?
These are examples. Check the complete recipe, preparation method and sales route before offering a product.
Bread, jam and other homemade foods
Check the conditionsBaked goods, jams and jellies are named in the law, which also covers other food and drink products.
Do not apply another state’s shelf-stable-only list to North Dakota. For preserved foods, use tested recipes and appropriate sanitation; the breadth of the cottage definition is not evidence that an improvised canning process is safe.
Cheesecake and cream-filled desserts
Check the conditionsThe statute specifically anticipates foods requiring refrigeration, including cheesecake, pumpkin pie and baked goods containing cream, custard, meringue or cream cheese.
These need safe-handling instructions on the product and a disclosure that they were transported and maintained frozen. Plan the actual frozen handling first, then write truthful instructions that match it.
Example scope: Example assumes no prohibited meat ingredient and a direct sale for home consumption.
The narrow poultry exception
Check the conditionsThe poultry exception is not a general meat exemption.
The operator must slaughter no more than 1,000 birds they raised during the calendar year, buy and sell no poultry products except those from their own raised poultry, and avoid adulterated or misbranded products. Cottage poultry transactions cannot cross state lines. Ask HHS about the exact operation before selling.
View official sources (5)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act North Dakota Legislature
- Cottage Food Act and resources North Dakota Health and Human Services
- Food and Lodging contact information North Dakota Health and Human Services
- Food Safety Best Practices for Local Food Entrepreneurs North Dakota State University Extension
From your kitchen to your customers
Where and how you can sell
| Selling method | What matters |
|---|---|
| Home pickup, markets and delivery | The statute covers farms, ranches, farmers markets, farm stands, home kitchens, other lawful venues and delivery. In every case, the transaction must remain directly between the producer and informed end consumer for home consumption. Keep the disclosure visible and supply the required product-specific instructions when the food needs refrigeration. |
| Internet, phone and mail orders | The 2025 amendment removed the former bans on internet and telephone transactions and mail delivery. These channels still require an informed end consumer and home consumption. Put the advisory and necessary product details where an online customer can understand them, and ensure any required refrigerated-product label travels with the order. |
| Interstate shipping | North Dakota removed its general interstate cottage-transaction ban in 2025, while expressly retaining a ban on interstate poultry transactions. That change does not decide another state’s requirements or applicable federal rules. Check the destination and exact food before accepting an interstate order, especially where a cold chain or animal-derived ingredients are involved. |
| Stores, restaurants and resale | Except for whole unprocessed fruits and vegetables, cottage food cannot be sold or used in a food establishment, processing plant or food store. A café buying your bread for sandwiches is not an ordinary home-consumption customer. Removing the old consignment language did not erase the separate direct-consumer and food-establishment restrictions. |
View official sources (2)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act North Dakota Legislature
Your label, explained
Every field has a purpose.
Use the example to understand the structure. Follow the North Dakota requirements below for your product and sales route.
Your product
name
Your product name and actual net quantity
Your complete recipe and supplier ingredients
Operation or producer name; full business address (see state notes)
The statement for your state, product and sales route
Packaged cottage food · check product-specific additions
A guide to the fields, not a ready-to-print label. Use your actual product and business details.
Name it. Measure it.
Identify your product and its actual net quantity. Check the state’s formatting and unit requirements below.
Use your actual recipe.
Check every ingredient and supplier label. Use the applicable ingredient and allergen declarations for your product.
Identify your operation.
Operation or producer name; full business address (see state notes)
Use the wording for your route.
Requirements can differ by product and sales channel. Keep the disclosure, placement and type-size conditions together.
Use the required home-kitchen advisory
The required statement is: “This product is made in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the state or local health department.” Display it on a consumer-advisory sign at the point of sale or put it on the product label.
HHS provides a printable version. The sign option does not replace the separate label needed for foods requiring refrigeration.
Refrigerated products need their own instructions
A refrigerated cottage product must carry safe-handling instructions and a disclosure stating that it was transported and maintained frozen.
The current statute specifies those requirements without the detailed script found in the repealed administrative rule. Use instructions suited to the actual food, and ask HHS about uncertain handling rather than copying an outdated script.
Address, ingredients and quantity
The current North Dakota cottage chapter does not impose a general street-address, ingredient-list, net-weight or numeric font-size requirement.
Its required advisory and refrigerated-food instructions still apply. Providing product identity, useful contact information, ingredients, allergens and quantity is a helpful practice recommended by NDSU. Keep those recommendations distinct from state cottage mandates and check other rules for interstate sales.
The wording for your label
Packaged cottage food · check product-specific additions
This product is made in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the state or local health department.
View official sources (6)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act North Dakota Legislature
- NDAC 33-33-10 — Cottage food preparation North Dakota Legislature
- Cottage Food Act and resources North Dakota Health and Human Services
- Food and Lodging contact information North Dakota Health and Human Services
- Food Safety Best Practices for Local Food Entrepreneurs North Dakota State University Extension
A useful head start
Your North Dakota label kit.
Editable template, example label and starting checklist.
Personalize it for your products and business.
Enter your email. Get the files immediately.
Before your first sale
A few details worth getting right.
An example
An online cheesecake order
Suppose a local customer orders a cheesecake to eat at home.
The online transaction can fit the current law, but the producer must still inform the buyer about the uninspected kitchen. The cheesecake needs its own handling label and frozen-transport disclosure. A market sign alone does not supply that product-specific information, and a café ordering it for resale is a different transaction.
Example scope: Hypothetical product contains no prohibited meat and is actually transported and maintained frozen as disclosed.
Copying repealed food rules
The old administrative definitions, product restrictions and detailed handling-script provisions were repealed in 2021.
Some older websites still reproduce them. Check the current statute and administrative chapter together: the repeal did not remove the statute’s own advisory, refrigerated-food labeling or complaint-investigation provisions.
Treating every buyer as an end consumer
A store or food establishment planning to use or resell your cottage product does not fit the ordinary direct home-consumption transaction.
Confirm the buyer’s intended use before accepting a business order. The current statute retains this restriction even after the 2025 expansion of remote transactions.
Assuming no routine inspection means no response
An illness or environmental-health complaint can trigger investigation and required correction.
Keep your process understandable and your customer disclosures truthful. The existing infectious-disease rule also applies inside the household production area, so plan how to pause production when you or another household member has relevant symptoms.
View official sources (3)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act North Dakota Legislature
- NDAC 33-33-10 — Cottage food preparation North Dakota Legislature
A few more answers
Common questions
Must my home street address be public?
North Dakota’s cottage chapter does not require a general producer street address on the label. That corrects a common overstatement in generic cottage-food checklists. You still must provide the prescribed advisory and the additional instructions for refrigerated products. NDSU recommends useful contact and product information so customers can identify what they bought and reach you.
View sources for this answer (2)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- Food Safety Best Practices for Local Food Entrepreneurs North Dakota State University Extension
Keep it handy
Your first-sale checklist
Use this free checklist to keep track of your next steps. The conditions in this guide still apply.
0 of 2 completed · Restoring progress…
Official guidance
Sources, updates & your next step
Read the current HHS resources
Use HHS’s Cottage Food page for the current Century Code and printable consumer advisory. Food and Lodging’s contact is 701-328-1291 or foodandlodging@nd.gov. Bring the recipe, intended customer, storage needs and delivery method when asking a specific question. NDSU Extension’s food-entrepreneur resources can help with tested recipes and practical food-safety planning.
Official sources 6 references
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 →
North Dakota Legislature · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act →
North Dakota Legislature · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- NDAC 33-33-10 — Cottage food preparation →
North Dakota Legislature · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- Cottage Food Act and resources →
North Dakota Health and Human Services · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- Food and Lodging contact information →
North Dakota Health and Human Services · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- Food Safety Best Practices for Local Food Entrepreneurs →
North Dakota State University Extension · Reviewed September 14, 2026
Guide updates September 14, 2026
Reviewed North Dakota’s product eligibility, sales routes, starting requirements and label guidance against the official sources below. Current conditions and any dated changes are explained in the relevant sections of this guide.
View sources for this update (3)
- North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5 North Dakota Legislature
- 2025 SB2386 enrolled act North Dakota Legislature
- NDAC 33-33-10 — Cottage food preparation North Dakota Legislature
This guide is a starting point. Confirm requirements for your products and location with the relevant authority. Examples are illustrative and are not a compliance approval.