How to sell your homemade foods in Arkansas (2024)

Looking for Arkansas Cottage Food Laws and Regulations: How to sell your homemade foods in Arkansas in 2023? Scroll down this page and follow the links.And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, makejam, salsa or pickles, see thispage for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preservingdirections. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above. If you are having a hard timefinding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.

If you have questions or feedback, please let me know!Thereare affiliate links on this page. Read our disclosure policy to learn more.

Arkansas Cottage Food Laws and Regulations: How to sell your homemade foods in Arkansas

Arkansas Cottage Food Laws, Regulations and Facts

Which foods are subject to the Arkansas Cottage Food law?

Allowed foods

Allowed foods include only the following:

• Bakery products
• Candy
• Fruit butters (but not pumpkin butter)
• Jams
• Jellies
• Chocolate-covered fruit and berries that are not cut
• Commercially Pre-packaged Non-Potentially Hazardous Food

Prohibited foods

• Food items that must be kept refrigerated or hot to remain safeto eat are not allowed to be sold as a Cottage Food item
  Examplesare cheesecake, cream pies, pies or bakery items containing meat, creamor cheese filling, Tres Leches cakes, cheese filled items, meringuepies, custard pies, and cream cheese based frostings or fillings
• Acidified foods including pickled vegetables and most salsas
• Canned Food
• Sugar-free jams, jellies, fruit butters and some candy andbakery products made with sugar substitutes are considered potentiallyhazardous food and may not be sold.
• Smoked, Cured, or Dried Meats
• Sprouted Seeds or Beans Sprouts such as alfalfa, clover,sunflower, broccoli, mustard, radish, garlic, dill and pumpkin as wellas mung, kidney, pinto, navy, soybeans and wheat berries (wheat grass).
• Processed Fruits or Vegetables: Fruits or vegetables that areno longer in a whole, raw, uncut form, such as: DriedFruit/vegetables/herbs/spices Shelled peas and nuts Sliced fruit and/orvegetables (including those offered as samples) Milled grain/flour/mealJuices
• Homemade Cheeses
• Raw Milk
• Wild Harvested Mushrooms
• Potentially Hazardous Commercially Pre-Packaged Food
• Ready-to-eat food prepared on site or commercially prepared foodthat is not prepackaged

If your food product does not meet the definition of a CottageFood:

Don't give up. You may still be able to make and sell it commercially,through a startup approach.

First, you may be able to rent space in a local licensed commercial kitchen.

Second, if that doesn't work, you may be able to get a co-packer to make the food for you.

See this page for detailed information about selling foods that donot meet the Cottage Food definition

Definitions:

• "Cottage food production operation" - fooditems produced in a person's home that are non-potentiallyhazardous foods such as bakery products, candy, fruit butter,jams, jellies and chocolate-covered fruit and berries that arenot cut. Only these products are covered in ACT 399 and are theonly products allowed to be sold under ACT 399 of 2017.

Licensing

Kitchens where Cottage Food items are prepared do not need to belicensed or inspected by the health department.

• Forming your business - links to each state's Secretary ofState's Office website
• Arkansas state and local health department contact information.

Labeling requirements

Cottage Food Production Operations must label all of their food products properly,which includes specified information on the label of each unitof food product offered or distributed for sale.

All processed packaged foods bear a label stating the

• name and address of the manufacturer/processor preparing thefood,
• common name of the food,
• name of all the ingredients in the food in descending orderof predominance by weight.
• the net weight of the food in English or metric units.
• Nutritional claims are not allowed.
• In addition to ingredients and manufacturer information, thelabel must include this statement in 10-point type: "ThisProduct is Home-Produced."

It is recommended that honey manufacturers/processors includethis additional statement to their product label: "Honey is notrecommended for infants less than twelve (12) months of age".

Here is a freeMicrosoft Word label template which you can download and edit.These labels are already formatted to fit on Avery Template 22820Print-to-the-Edge Oval, Labels 2" x 3-1/3", 8 per Sheet, Glossy White.You can get the label stock online (see at right).

Depending on thesize of your business, your label must comply with Federal labelregulations and with the new nutritional labeling law. You candownload a copy ofthe FDA Food Labeling Guide here it s an illustrated bookletthat should answer all your questions. You may see that the samplelabel does not include a "nutrional panel" (calories, fat, protein,vitamins, etc.) . This is because if you sell (in the U.S. only)fewer than 10,000 units and hire fewer than 10 full-time employeesyearly; you do not have to have a nutrition panel on your label, norfile a small business nutritional labeling exemption notice with theFDA.

Where may Cottage Food Production Operations sell the food products?

Cottage Food items can only be sold direct from the manufacturerto the customer either from

• the site where the food was made or
• at a farmers' market,
• county fair or
• special event.
• online

The farmers' market can be a physical location or an online market(added in 2017). Nothing in the law prevents farmers'markets, cities or counties from having more restrictive cottage-foodregulations. The Cottage Food law did not include any language toprevent cities or counties from passing ordinances with morerestrictions

Note: Homemade items produced to be sold at astore or an online store are NOT allowed under the Cottage Food law andare not exempt from Department of Health permitting.

Other requirements

• Individuals can only sell their products directly toconsumers, (that allows sales from home and at events)
• Cottage food operations can sell up to $50,000 of productsper year.
• A new bill HB 410 went into effect on August 28th, 2017,allows online sales
• Interstate sales are allowed, as long as the producer "complies with all federal regulations regarding food safety"

Recommendations:

Beyond the requirements, common sense, good practices andreducing liability suggests you should do the following.

Training

Take theServSafe® training classes for Manager and employees, the 7th Edition Book that accompanies this course should be purchased here..

Testing of pH

​It's best to use a pH meter, properly calibrated on the dayused. I use this one, which is reliable and inexpensive.And this pH meter is really good, but isn't always available.
Short-range paperpH test strips, commonly known as litmus paper, may be usedinstead, if the product normally has a pH of 4.0 or lower and thepaper's range includes a pH of 4.6.

Record-keeping is suggested

Keep a written record of every batch of product made for sale,including:

• ​Recipe, including procedures and ingredients
• Amount canned and sold
• Canning date
• Sale dates and locations
• Gross sales receipts
• Results of any pH test

Sanitation

Although inspections are not required, you should consider doingthe following:

• ​Use clean equipment that has been effectively sanitizedprior to use
• Clean work surfaces and then sanitize with bleach waterbefore and after use
• Keep ingredients separate from other unprocessed foods
• Keep household pets out of the work area
• Keep walls and floors clean
• Have adequate lighting
• Keep window and door screens in good repair to keep insectsout
• Wash hands frequently while working
• Consider annual testing of water if using a private well

Best Practices

• Allergens: Most state home bakingacts require an "ingredient statement" and/or an "allergenlisting" on the label of the bakery item for sale; but if yourstate does not, you should anyway. The eight major foodallergens are
  • milk,
  • eggs,
  • fish,
  • crustacean shellfish,
  • tree nuts,
  • peanuts,
  • wheat and
  • soybean.
• Cross-allergenicity: There are alsoingredients available, even flours, that can cause across-allergenicity. The American Academy of Allergy Asthma &Immunology explains cross-allergenicity as an allergic reactionwhen proteins in one substance are similar to the proteins foundin another substance. For example, consumption of lupine flourmay trigger an allergic reaction to peanuts, and cricket flourmay trigger an allergic reaction to shellfish. Again, providingsuch information might be a beneficial marketing tool and helpkeep potential consumers safe.
• The 2 Hour/4 Hour Rule - Anyonewishing to make and sell refrigerated bakery items shouldremember to follow the "2 Hour/4 Hour Rule." This is a systemthat can be implemented when potentially hazardous foods are outof temperature control (temperatures greater than 45 degreesFahrenheit) during preparation, serving or display for sale. Therule guidelines are as follows:
  • If a potentially hazardous food has been out oftemperature control for 2 hours or less, then it maycontinue to be used or be placed back in the refrigerator.
  • If a potentially hazardous food has been out oftemperature control for more than 2 hours but less than 4hours, it needs to be used quickly or discarded.
  • If a potentially hazardous food has been out oftemperature control for more than 4 hours, it must bediscarded.

More resources:

• PDF:Click here for anArkansas Cottage Food Fact sheet .
• FDA Food labeling information.
• Good to know (not a requirement): Guidelines for DeterminingMetric Equivalents of Household Measures (October 1, 1993)
• Massachusetts has a Food Processors Resource Manualthat is a practical guide for specialty food and start-up foodprocessors published by the Massachusetts Department ofa*gricultural Resources. The marketing and practical tips can bevery useful to a cottage food kitchen in any state.The chapters are available online and as a downloadable documentpdf format
  Introduction
  Starting Out
  Production
  Residential Kitchens: Questions and Answers
  Developing aBusiness Plan
  Label and Product Regulations
  Label Design
  Promotion
  Distribution and Sales
  Trade Shows
  Using theInternet for Marketing

Questions? Contact Information:

• Arkansas cottage food fact sheet
• Arkansas Cottage foods FAQ sheet
• Arkansas' Cottage Food Law: What the New Law Allows