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Massachusetts cottage food label requirements and permit checklist
Answer a few plain-English questions about what you make and how you want to sell it. We check it against Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation rules — the local board of health permit, allowed products, and sales-channel requirements — flag what disqualifies a standard permit, and build you a personalized checklist plus a printable label draft.
Free customized label/checklist after walk-through completion
Built from public Massachusetts Department of Public Health guidance and 105 CMR 590. Massachusetts has no single statewide cottage food law — your city or town's local board of health is the actual permitting authority. Not legal advice and not a permit approval — verify final requirements with your local board of health and MDPH before selling.
Free permit walk-throughSee fast whether your product and sales plan fit a standard Massachusetts Cottage Food Operation permit.
Free checklistKeep the local-permit, training, and allowed-product rules tied to your own answers.
Free label generationDraft Massachusetts's required label fields plus your producer, ingredient, and allergen lines in one place.
Do you need a permit to sell cottage food in Massachusetts?
Yes — but Massachusetts has no single state cottage food permit. Instead, your city or town's local board of health issues a "Cottage Food Operation" retail residential-kitchen permit, following statewide interpretive guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) under 105 CMR 590. There's no state-imposed sales cap for this retail channel, but fees, inspection timing, and whether food-safety training is treated as mandatory all vary by town. Selling to a store for resale requires a separate state MDPH Wholesale license instead, and out-of-state sales sit in a genuine gray area between current MDPH guidance and some town application forms.