How to sell homemade food in Ohio

Official Ohio resources

Open the official pages below for registration, labeling, allowed foods, and temperature rules. This app collects your application only. After approval, classify every meal when you publish.

• Ohio Administrative Code - cottage food production

What the official pathway currently emphasizes

• Cottage operations may not make TCS foods, acidified foods, or low-acid canned foods.
• The operation is exempt from food-processing establishment licensing, but every product must comply with Ohio and federal labeling rules.
• Cottage food products may not be sold outside Ohio.
• Ohio separately regulates home bakeries, so foods requiring refrigeration may need that different registration pathway.

A practical preparation sequence

1. Match every product to the foods expressly allowed in Ohio law and rule.
2. Decide whether cottage food or registered home bakery is the correct pathway.
3. Create the required product label and allergen statement.
4. Limit production and sales to the authorized home-based, in-state pathway.

Questions to answer before listing

• Which foods may be produced in your proposed kitchen?
• Does the product require refrigeration or temperature control?
• Are registration, training, inspection, testing, or permits required?
• What must appear on the product label and customer disclosure?
• Where may you advertise, sell, deliver, ship, or arrange pickup?
• Do county, city, zoning, tax, or tribal rules add requirements?

Prepare your local kitchen page

Once you understand the applicable pathway, create a kitchen profile, describe your general pickup area, upload real food photos, and post specific preorder windows. Kitchen Counter-Measures does not approve a product on behalf of a regulator.

Start your kitchen