Why this page will not give you the exact wording
Every other state guide here can tell you the sentence your label must carry. This one cannot, and the reason is worth understanding before you go looking for it elsewhere.
Massachusetts has no cottage food law. There is no exemption to qualify for. A home-based food business is a Residential Kitchen under the Massachusetts Retail Food Code, 105 CMR 590.000, which means the state treats it as a food establishment: permitted, and inspected.
The permit is issued locally. The Department of Public Health sets the statewide minimum in 105 CMR 590, and each of the state's 351 municipalities permits and inspects on its own. There is no single statewide cottage food labelling rule to quote, because the authority that decides is your town.
So anyone who tells you "the Massachusetts cottage food statement is X" is either describing one municipality's practice or inventing it. The binding answer comes from your local board of health, and getting it takes one phone call.
What is constant underneath
Your products are packaged foods, so the ordinary state and federal labelling requirements apply regardless of what your town adds:
- The name of the product
- Your name and address
- The ingredients, in descending order by weight
- Allergen declaration, covering all nine major allergens including sesame
- Net quantity of contents
Build this much and you have the floor right everywhere in the state.
What your town may add
Two additions are common enough to expect:
A disclosure statement. Several communities require wording along the lines of "Made in a Residential Kitchen that is not subject to the same routine inspection as a commercial food establishment." Treat that as an example of the shape, not as the text to print. Ask for your town's exact wording and use that.
Your permit number, on labels or in advertising.
What to ask your board of health
Go in with a list, because you are likely to get one conversation rather than three:
- Does the Residential Kitchen permit require a disclosure statement, and what is its exact wording?
- Is there a minimum type size, capitalisation, or contrast requirement for it?
- Must the permit number appear on the label, in advertising, or both?
- Are there restrictions on what I may make, or where I may sell it?
- What does the inspection cover, and how long is the wait?
Write the answers down. Practice varies between neighbouring towns, and a producer in the next municipality is a poor source even when they are confident.
Being inspected changes the tone of your label
One consequence of the Massachusetts arrangement is worth drawing out. In a cottage food state, the required statement exists to tell a buyer the kitchen was not inspected. Here, it was. A Residential Kitchen holds a food establishment permit and is inspected under the Retail Food Code.
Where a town does require a disclosure, it is drawing a distinction about the kind of inspection rather than warning that none happened. That is a meaningfully different message, and a reason not to borrow a template from a state whose statement says your kitchen is uninspected. Yours is.
The Nutrition Facts panel
Your local permit has no bearing on this; it is federal.
Most small producers 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. A nutrient content or health claim on the label, in labeling, or in advertising ends the exemption at any sales level.
Massachusetts sets no statewide cottage food sales cap, because it has no cottage food scheme to cap. The federal thresholds are therefore the ones that will actually bind, unless your municipality imposes something of its own.
Being a permitted, inspected food establishment also tends to open retail conversations sooner than a cottage food exemption does, and retail buyers ask for panels.
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
- Massachusetts 105 CMR 590.000: State Sanitary Code Chapter X, minimum sanitation standards for food establishments
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health: Food protection program
- FDA: Small business nutrition labeling exemption guide
- eCFR: 21 CFR 101.9 (Nutrition labeling of food)
Disclaimer
Educational content only; not legal advice. Massachusetts permits and inspects Residential Kitchens locally, so requirements vary by municipality. Confirm current requirements with your local board of health, and confirm the final label against current regulations for your product and jurisdiction.