Start with the premise, because it is wrong
Pennsylvania does not have a cottage food law. If you have been reading state-by-state roundups, that sentence contradicts most of them, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you print anything.
What Pennsylvania has instead is the Limited Food Establishment. You register your home kitchen with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, it is inspected, and you operate under that registration. It is a lighter version of a commercial food licence rather than an exemption from one.
The label consequence is the part people get wrong: your label carries no home-kitchen disclaimer. No "made in a home kitchen", no "not subject to inspection". Your kitchen was inspected. A statement saying otherwise would be false on its face.
The registration path
Budget time rather than money. The fee is small; the lead time is not.
- Register as a Limited Food Establishment with the Department of Agriculture
- Pass a home kitchen inspection
- Pay the annual fee, which is $35
- Submit your application materials at least 60 days before you intend to operate
The 60 days run from when you submit, not from when you are approved. A spring market therefore means filing over the winter.
What you may make
Non-hazardous, shelf-stable products, where the finished item does not require refrigeration for safety. The usual shape: baked goods without cream or custard fillings, jams and jellies, dry mixes, candy, snack items.
Anything needing refrigeration to stay safe falls outside a Limited Food Establishment and into a fuller commercial licence.
The five label elements
Pennsylvania's list is short and conventional, which is what you would expect from a registered and inspected operation.
- The name of the product
- The name and address of the manufacturer
- The ingredients, in descending order by weight
- An allergen declaration where one is needed
- The net weight or unit count
That is the whole state requirement. There is no mandated statement, no minimum point size for a disclaimer, and no contrast rule, because there is no disclaimer to format. If you have adapted a label template from Michigan, Georgia, or Florida, delete the statement rather than translating it.
Where the Nutrition Facts panel comes in
Being registered and inspected by Pennsylvania says nothing about the Nutrition Facts panel, which is a federal question. 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.
The exemption ends when you make a nutrient content or health claim on the label, in labeling, or in advertising. It also ends when you outgrow the thresholds.
There is a Pennsylvania-shaped consequence here. A Limited Food Establishment is a registered, inspected operation, and that reads as more established to a retail buyer than an exempt home kitchen in a state with no oversight. Buyers who take you seriously ask for more, and a Nutrition Facts panel is frequently on that list. Being ready for the question is worth more here than in states where wholesale is off the table entirely.
Making the panel
Nutrifax builds the panel 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 the category, and export a print-ready PDF or PNG. If a buyer wants to see the derivation, generate the audit report, which traces every figure back to the source food that produced it.
Related pages
- Cottage Food Label Requirements by State
- When Nutrition Labels Are Required in the US
- US FDA Nutrition Label Requirements for Small Producers
- Inspection-Ready Nutrition Audit Reports
- FDA nutrition label generator
Sources
- Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Limited Food Establishment
- Penn State Extension: State and federal regulations for food processors
- 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 Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and confirm the final label against current regulations for your product and jurisdiction.