Kentucky cottage food label requirements and Home-Based Processor checklist
Answer a few plain-English questions about what you make and how you want to sell it. We check it against Kentucky's current Home-Based Processor law, flag anything that isn't allowed, and build you a personalized checklist and a printable food label.
Free customized label/checklist after walk-through completion
Built from KRS 217.136, 902 KAR 45:090, and Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Food Safety Branch guidance. Not legal advice and not government approval — verify final requirements with CHFS before selling.
Free permit walk-throughSee right away if a choice would block you from registering as a Kentucky Home-Based Processor.
Free checklistYour answers folded into Kentucky's current requirements, ready to print or save as PDF.
Free label generationThe required Kentucky disclosure statement plus name, address, processed date, and product details, assembled into a printable draft.
Do I need a permit to sell homemade food in Kentucky?
Kentucky doesn't call it a "cottage food" permit — it's a Home-Based Processor (HBP) registration through the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, $50/year, expiring every March 31. The current live definition also includes a $60,000 annual gross-income cap. There's no mandatory fixed-schedule home inspection for this tier (inspections are complaint-driven) and no food-safety training requirement. Kentucky is stricter than many states on sales channels: direct sale to Kentucky consumers only, with in-state pickup/delivery — no mail or carrier shipping, no wholesale, and no interstate sale. Acidified or canned foods like pickles and salsa aren't covered by this registration at all; that requires a separate, farmer-only Home-Based Microprocessor program. The wizard below checks the product-type and sales-channel choices that commonly change the answer.