The essentials
South Dakota, at a glance
South Dakota exempts eligible foods made at your primary residence from food licensing and license fees when you meet its product, label and direct-sale conditions.
Ordinary shelf-stable foods have a simpler route. Canned goods and specified refrigerated or frozen foods have additional training, process or temperature requirements. There is no annual sales ceiling, but a buyer must receive the product through the required personal handoff.
Choose the route that fits
- Non-temperature-controlled home foods
- Eligible non-temperature-controlled foods made at a primary residence and sold directly under the statutory location and labeling conditions.
- Home-processed canned goods
- Canned foods meeting acidity or water-activity limits, with approved training or written process-authority recipe verification.
- Specified refrigerated and frozen foods
- Trained producers may sell specified fermented foods, refrigerated baked goods, sauces and pesto, and frozen fruit and produce under temperature controls.
- Sales limits
The home-food license exemptions in 34-18-35 through -38 have no annual dollar sales ceiling.
- Training
Canned-food producers must complete approved food-safety training every five years and retain records, or instead retain written verification of each recipe and processing method from a qualified third-party processing authority.
- Recipe verification must cover thermal process and required pH or water-activity threshold.
View official sources (2)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
One step at a time
Your first 2 steps
Sort your menu into three groups
Identify ordinary non-temperature-controlled foods, canned goods and the specific refrigerated or frozen categories.
Shelf-stable cookies or dry baking mixes do not need the special course. For canned goods, choose approved training or written processing-authority verification for each recipe. For the refrigerated and frozen categories, complete the approved training and plan the required cold holding before production.
Keep the right records and dates
Retain your course-completion record and renew required training every five years.
The current SDSU online course costs $40; that is a course charge rather than a food-license fee. If using written process-authority verification for canned goods, retain each recipe’s verification. Record your production dates because those dates must appear on labels, and check separate sales-tax obligations.
View official sources (2)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South 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.
Cookies, breads and dry mixes
Check the conditionsNon-temperature-controlled cookies, rolls, muffins, breads, nuts, grains, seeds and dry mixes are examples in SDSU’s guidance.
Check the finished product: a plain cookie and a cream-filled dessert do not have the same requirements. Also, shelf stability alone does not put everything in the cottage category; jerky and honey have separate agency rules.
Example scope: Examples assume no temperature control is needed and the food is not separately regulated.
Canned pickles and similar products
Check the conditionsA canned product must have pH 4.6 or below or water activity 0.85 or below.
Complete the approved course and retain the record, or use written verification from a qualified processing authority covering every recipe, processing method and applicable threshold. The training alternative does not waive the food-safety thresholds or make an improvised process safe.
Example scope: Example assumes a recipe and process meeting the statutory threshold and all other cottage conditions.
Cheesecake, kuchen and cold sauces
Check the conditionsAfter required training, the law permits kuchen, cheesecake, soft pies, cream- or custard-filled baked goods, and sauces or pesto needing refrigeration, consistently kept at 41°F or colder.
Non-heat-processed fermented foods use that same cold limit. Home-processed frozen fruit and produce have a different rule: they must remain at 0°F or below.
View official sources (3)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements South Dakota Department of Health
From your kitchen to your customers
Where and how you can sell
| Selling method | What matters |
|---|---|
| Home pickup and market sales | Sell in your physical presence at your primary residence, a farmers market, roadside stand or another temporary venue. At completion, you or someone residing at your primary residence must personally hand the food to the buyer. These conditions continue to apply to both shelf-stable and temperature-controlled products. |
| Personal delivery | SDSU explains that the seller can drive to the buyer’s location to deliver the food. Maintain the statutory personal-sale and handoff conditions, and keep refrigerated or frozen foods at their required temperatures throughout. This does not authorize leaving products with an unrelated business to distribute or sell later. |
| Online arrangements and carrier shipping | The reviewed sources clearly require personal sale and handoff and prohibit shipment by mail or carrier. They do not clearly settle whether a particular online advance-payment arrangement fits those conditions. Confirm that detail with DOH before configuring checkout. An online presence cannot replace the required in-person completion or authorize a shipping service. |
| Wholesale and consignment | The home-food exemption is built around direct sales with the seller present and a personal handoff to the buyer. Supplying a store for resale or leaving stock on consignment does not fit that model. Use DOH’s food-business resources to identify the licensed route before expanding into retail distribution. |
View official sources (3)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements South Dakota Department of Health
Your label, explained
Every field has a purpose.
Use the example to understand the structure. Follow the South 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
Producer name; physical production address; mailing address; phone
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.
Producer name; physical production address; mailing address; phone
Use the wording for your route.
Requirements can differ by product and sales channel. Keep the disclosure, placement and type-size conditions together.
Identity, addresses and traceability
Every label needs the product name, producer name, physical production address, producer mailing address, phone number, production or processing date and ingredients.
Both address roles matter; a mailing address alone does not replace the physical production location. For foods covered by the refrigerated/frozen category, add a directive to keep refrigerated or frozen as applicable.
Keep the exact home-kitchen disclaimer
Use the required statement: “This product was not produced in a commercial kitchen.
It has been home-processed in a kitchen that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish.” Keep this wording intact. Separately make your actual ingredient list accurate, including ingredients not named in that statutory advisory.
Avoid borrowing unsupported label rules
The cottage label section requires ingredients but does not itself prescribe a numerical font size or net-quantity field.
SDSU offers help preparing an ingredient declaration in order of predominance. Use that support if your ingredient list is complicated, and ask about additional requirements for your exact product rather than copying a generic label checklist from another state.
The wording for your label
Packaged cottage food · check product-specific additions
This product was not produced in a commercial kitchen. It has been home-processed in a kitchen that may also process common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish, and crustacean shellfish.
View official sources (3)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements South Dakota Department of Health
A useful head start
Your South 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
Adding cheesecake to a cookie stall
Suppose you sell shelf-stable cookies at a farmers market and want to add cheesecake.
Complete the approved training before making and selling the new product, keep the certificate, and arrange continuous holding at 41°F or colder. Add the refrigeration directive to its complete dated label. The seller-presence and household handoff rules remain the same as for your cookies.
Example scope: Hypothetical cheesecake falls within 34-18-36.1 and is continuously refrigerated.
Treating one recipe review as approval for everything
The written processing-authority alternative applies to each canned recipe and its method.
It is not blanket approval of a whole business. The separate refrigerated and frozen categories require training under the cited guidance. Revisit the route when changing recipes or adding a new product family.
Losing the cold chain at handoff
The statute says eligible refrigerated products must be consistently at 41°F or below, and frozen fruit and produce at 0°F or below.
Plan transport, display and customer handoff around those limits. A refrigeration instruction on the label does not correct a product that was held too warm before delivery.
Assuming sampling has no extra setup
DOH’s free-sample guidance calls for samples prepared on site, single-use portions, contamination protection, clean utensils or gloves and a handwashing station.
Temperature-controlled samples need the stated cold holding. Arrange that setup before offering samples rather than assuming a packaged-food exemption covers every way of serving food.
View official sources (3)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements South Dakota Department of Health
A few more answers
Common questions
Can SDSU review a canned recipe?
SDSU currently offers a free review using its process-and-ingredient form and a sample sent to the listed Sioux Falls office. The page estimates about a week, rather than guaranteeing completion by your launch date. Use the official page for the current form, mailing details and specialist contact, and retain the resulting written verification.
View sources for this answer (3)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements South Dakota Department of Health
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
Use the current course and product resources
Start with DOH’s farmers-market page and SDSU’s January 2026 home-processing guide. They link product guidance, approved course registration, process review and specialist help. Check tax questions separately with Revenue at 1-800-829-9188 or bustax@state.sd.us. Bring your actual recipe, storage plan and selling arrangement when asking which route applies.
Official sources 3 references
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions →
South Dakota Legislature · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety →
South Dakota State University Extension · Reviewed September 14, 2026
- Farmers Markets and Sampling Requirements →
South Dakota Department of Health · Reviewed September 14, 2026
Guide updates September 14, 2026
Reviewed South 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 (2)
- SDCL Chapter 34-18 — Home food provisions South Dakota Legislature
- South Dakota Cottage Home Processing Food Safety South Dakota State University Extension
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.