What Ohio does not ask for
- No licence
- No registration
- No permit or pre-approval
- No fee
- No inspection
- No sales cap
A Cottage Food Production Operation in Ohio is exempt from licensing and inspection by the Ohio Department of Agriculture. You can start today, and nobody needs to know before you do.
It is also the most permissive entry point in the country, which is how producers get caught. With no paperwork to file, it is easy to assume there is nothing to comply with. Two things still apply.
What Ohio does ask for
The label statement is mandatory. It reads:
This product is home produced
in 10-point type or larger. Use that exact wording.
Alongside it the label needs:
- The name of the product
- The name and address of the cottage food producer's business
- The ingredients, in descending order of prevalence by weight
- The net weight of the product
Everything rests on the permitted foods list
With no registration and no cap, the list of what counts as a cottage food is the one thing Ohio still holds you to.
The category covers non-hazardous, shelf-stable items: baked goods without cream, custard, or meat fillings, jams and jellies, candy, granola, dry mixes, and similar. Anything that needs refrigeration to be safe is out, and a product that is out is not a lightly regulated cottage food. It is an unlicensed food operation.
So check a new product against the list before you make a batch. In a state with a registration step, someone else would have queried it on the way in. Ohio has no such step, which leaves the check with you.
Growth is a federal question, not a state one
Most states eventually push you out of cottage food with a sales cap. Ohio has none, so nothing stops you until the FDA rules start to apply.
The Nutrition Facts panel exemption at 21 CFR 101.9(j)(1) applies while your annual gross sales are $500,000 or less, or your annual gross sales of food to consumers are $50,000 or less. Nothing is filed to claim it. Past those figures, the panel applies, whatever Ohio says, because Ohio is not the regulator on that question.
The other way to lose it, and the more common one by far, is a claim. A nutrient content or health claim on the label, in labeling, or in advertising ends the exemption immediately. "Low sugar" on a market sign, "high protein" in a product description, "keto friendly" in a caption: all claims.
There is a second federal route for a business that is over the (j)(1) thresholds but still small. 21 CFR 101.9(j)(18) covers a product where the business averages fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees and sells fewer than 100,000 units of it in the US in 12 months, and it requires an annual notice filed with the FDA. When nutrition labels are required in the US has the detail.
Because there is no state cap to slow you down, nothing in Ohio will tell you when you have crossed a federal threshold. Track your gross sales yourself, month by month, against the two figures above.
Making the panel when you need one
- Build the recipe in Nutrifax, or paste it in and let the importer match ingredients.
- Check each match against what you actually buy.
- Set the serving size from the reference amount for your category.
- Generate the panel in the FDA 2016 format, rounded per 21 CFR 101.9.
- Export a print-ready PDF or PNG, or tile an Avery 5163 sheet.
The Ohio statement, your business address, and the ingredient list go on the label alongside the panel.
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
- Ohio Department of Agriculture: Cottage food production operation
- Ohio State University Agricultural and Resource Law: Ohio's cottage food law
- 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 with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and confirm the final label against current regulations for your product and jurisdiction.