The short version
Indiana calls you a Home-Based Vendor, not a cottage food operator, under IC 16-42-5.3. No licence, no permit, no registration, no routine inspection, and no sales cap. The law was expanded in 2022 by House Enrolled Act 1149, and the state's Home-Based Vendor Handbook was updated in summer 2025, so guidance predating that is worth checking against the current handbook.
This is a conventional scheme, competently drawn. There is no trick to it and this page is short accordingly. Three details are worth getting exactly right.
The statement
This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the State Department of Health.
In 10-point type.
Note what it says has not been inspected: the production area, not the kitchen, not the home. It is a precise phrase and it is the sort of wording a well-meaning redraft ruins. Set it as written.
Weight and volume, not either
Indiana asks for the net weight and volume of the product.
Most states let you pick whichever is appropriate: weight for a solid, volume for a liquid. Indiana's requirement reads as both, which is easy to skim past when adapting a label from a neighbouring state. If you are unsure how it applies to your product, ask, because it is a cheap question and an expensive reprint.
The rest of the label
- The name and address of the person preparing the food
- The date the food was processed
- The name of the product
- The ingredients, in descending order by weight
The production date is the one with a workflow consequence: labels cannot be entirely pre-printed. Leave a field, print per batch, or date-stamp at packing.
The Nutrition Facts panel
Indiana does not require one, and does not decide it. That question is federal.
Most home-based vendors are exempt under 21 CFR 101.9(j)(1): annual gross sales of $500,000 or less, or annual gross sales of food to consumers of $50,000 or less, with nothing to file. The exemption ends on any nutrient content or health claim on the label, in labeling, or in advertising, at any level of sales.
Because Indiana sets no cap, the federal thresholds are the only ceiling in the system, and nothing in the state scheme marks the point where you cross one. If you are growing, watch your own gross sales against those two figures.
For a business past the (j)(1) thresholds but still small, 21 CFR 101.9(j)(18) is the second route: fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees on average, fewer than 100,000 units of the product sold in the US in 12 months, and an annual notice to the FDA. Both routes are covered in when nutrition labels are required in the US.
Making the panel
Nutrifax builds it from your recipe against USDA FoodData Central, in the FDA 2016 format, rounded per 21 CFR 101.9. Import or build the recipe, check each ingredient match, set the serving size from the reference amount for your category, and export a print-ready PDF or PNG.
Related pages
- Cottage Food Label Requirements by State
- When Nutrition Labels Are Required in the US
- US FDA Nutrition Label Requirements for Small Producers
- Serving Size and Rounding Rules (US FDA)
- FDA nutrition label generator
Sources
- Indiana Department of Health: Home-based vendors
- Purdue Extension: Indiana home-based vendor food product labeling overview
- FDA: Small business nutrition labeling exemption guide
- eCFR: 21 CFR 101.9 (Nutrition labeling of food)
Disclaimer
Educational content only; not legal advice. Confirm current requirements against the Indiana Home-Based Vendor Handbook, and confirm the final label against current regulations for your product and jurisdiction.