The label is part of the application
In most states you register, then design a label, then sell, and nobody looks at the label unless something goes wrong.
Washington inverts that. An accurate label for every product you intend to sell must be submitted with your permit application. The Department of Agriculture sees your label before you sell anything.
This reorders the whole project. Your product list, your recipes, and your label artwork all have to be settled at application time rather than worked out as you go. Adding a product later means the label for it goes through the same route.
It also changes what a mistake costs. Elsewhere a label error surfaces when a customer or an inspector notices. Here it surfaces during review, which is slower but a great deal cheaper than a print run.
After you are permitted, the responsibility shifts back to you: every label must accurately reflect the ingredients in each batch you actually make. Approval is of the label you submitted, not a standing warrant for whatever you make afterwards.
The required statement
Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Washington State Department of Agriculture
What else the label carries
- The name of the product
- The ingredients, in descending order by weight
- Allergen information
- Net weight or volume
- Your operation name
- Your permit number
The permit number is the field that makes the ordering unavoidable. You cannot finish the label until you are permitted, and you cannot be permitted until you submit the label. Submit the design with the number's place held, and expect to complete it at the end.
The cost, in money and in ceiling
Washington is at the expensive end. The permit is $355 for two years, where several states charge nothing at all.
The cap is $35,000 in gross annual sales, which is at the low end nationally. Florida allows $250,000; Ohio, Arizona and Georgia set no cap.
Worth being blunt about what that combination means: Washington asks more of you upfront and permits less growth than most. That is not a reason to avoid it if you are in Washington, but it does mean the arithmetic of going commercial arrives sooner here than almost anywhere else, and it is worth knowing the shape of that step before you are forced into it.
The Nutrition Facts panel
Washington does not require one, and the $35,000 cap sits below the federal thresholds, so most Washington cottage food operations stay comfortably inside the exemption at 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.
In practice that means the growth threshold will rarely be what costs you the exemption here. A claim will. A nutrient content or health claim on the label, in labeling, or in advertising ends it, whatever your sales.
There is a Washington-specific wrinkle in that. Because your label is reviewed at application, a claim in your submitted artwork is a claim the state has seen, and it may prompt questions about the federal panel obligation you have taken on by making it. Decide before you submit whether you want to make nutrition claims at all. If you do, produce the panel and submit a label that has one.
Producing the panel
Nutrifax generates the panel from your recipe against USDA FoodData Central, in the FDA 2016 format, rounded per 21 CFR 101.9. Build or import 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 at correct physical dimensions.
Given that the label goes in for review, generate the panel before you finalise artwork rather than leaving a gap for it. A panel has fixed typography and a real footprint, and it is much easier to design around than to insert afterwards.
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
- Washington State Department of Agriculture: Cottage food
- WSDA: Cottage food permit application
- FDA: Small business nutrition labeling exemption guide
- eCFR: 21 CFR 101.9 (Nutrition labeling of food)
Disclaimer
Educational content only; not legal advice. Fees and limits change. Confirm current requirements with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and confirm the final label against current regulations for your product and jurisdiction.