Massachusetts cottage food law: selling food made at home

Key takeaways

• Massachusetts has no separate cottage food statute. Home food sales are permitted as “Cottage Food Operations” under the state Retail Food Code, 105 CMR 590, and the permit comes from your city or town board of health.
• In Boston, the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) Health Division issues the Retail Residential Kitchen Permit. The fee is $100 per year, as listed on boston.gov on November 13, 2026.
• Only foods that stay safe at room temperature qualify, such as baked goods, jams and jellies. Cheesecake, cream-filled pastries, pickles and salad dressings do not.
• A Boston permit covers direct sales online, by mail and at farmers markets. Boston zoning does not allow in-person sales to customers at your home.
• Selling to a grocery store or restaurant that resells your food is wholesale. That requires a license from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, with a $300 application fee per site or activity.

If you bake, make jam or roast coffee at home in Boston or a nearby city or town and want to sell what you make, this guide is for you. The Massachusetts cottage food law is the set of residential kitchen rules in the state Retail Food Code, 105 CMR 590, that lets a permitted home kitchen sell shelf-stable food straight to consumers.

The sections below cover which foods qualify, who issues the permit, how the Boston application works, where you can sell, what goes on the label, the kitchen rules you agree to, and the point at which you need a state wholesale license.

What is the Massachusetts cottage food law?

The Massachusetts cottage food law is not a single statute. The rules sit in 105 CMR 590, the state sanitary code chapter that the Department of Public Health (DPH) calls the Retail Food Code. According to the DPH residential kitchen questions and answers, a residential kitchen is a kitchen in a private home, and a home kitchen that sells directly to consumers is permitted by the local board of health as a Cottage Food Operation under 105 CMR 590.010.

A Cottage Food Operation is a home kitchen with a board of health permit to make and sell cottage food products. Cottage food products are foods that can be held safely at room temperature. Most home cooking needs no permit at all: DPH says family meals and charitable bake sales fall outside the permit rules.

Which foods can you sell from a home kitchen in Massachusetts?

You can sell only foods from a Massachusetts home kitchen that do not need hot or cold holding to stay safe. Regulators call the excluded group TCS foods, short for time/temperature control for safety. DPH gives baked goods, jams and jellies as examples of allowed products, and the City of Boston adds confectioneries and vinegars to its list.

DPH lists these as examples of products a residential kitchen cannot make:

• Cream-filled pastries, cheesecake and custard
• Cut fruits and vegetables
• Tomato sauce and barbecue sauce
• Pickled products and relishes
• Salad dressings
• Raw or heat-treated meat or fish

Certain processes are also off limits: acidification, hot fill, vacuum packaging, curing and smoking. The one exception DPH names is jam or jelly that is thermally processed in a sealed container. Boston’s permit page states that sugar-free jams and jellies are not allowed, because the sugar acts as the preservative.

You can still bake with milk, cream and eggs. The DPH Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens allow TCS ingredients from approved sources as long as the finished product is not a TCS food. If your product is borderline, the board of health can ask for a private laboratory test of its pH or water activity.

Who issues a residential kitchen permit in Massachusetts?

A retail residential kitchen permit in Massachusetts is issued by the board of health in the city or town where the kitchen is located, not by the state. DPH writes the code; each municipality permits and inspects the home kitchens inside its borders.

Boston’s permit comes from the ISD Health Division. Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville are separate municipalities with their own health departments, so a kitchen in one of them applies there and pays that city or town’s fee. A permit from one municipality does not transfer if you move. The DPH standards also say you must follow municipal zoning, which is why sales rules can differ from one town to the next.

How do you get a retail residential kitchen permit in Boston?

You get a retail residential kitchen permit in Boston by passing a plan review and an opening inspection with the ISD Health Division at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 4th Floor. The City’s Retail Residential Kitchen Permit page lists a fee of $100 per year and says review usually takes a week or less.

The steps on boston.gov run in this order:

1. Earn a Food Manager Certification and a Food Allergen Awareness Certification. Both come from private providers, not the City.
2. Schedule a plan review with ISD Health at 617-635-5326 or ISDHealth@boston.gov.
3. Submit the Residential Retail Kitchen Application, the Kitchen Permit Plan Review worksheet and the supporting documents by email, mail or in person.
4. Pay the $100 fee.
5. Request an opening inspection once the application is approved. The City says an inspector can usually visit within one or two business days.

The supporting documents include two sets of floor plans at least 11 by 17 inches, a list of foods with ingredient sources, standardized recipes, days and hours of operation, a sample label, and a letter from the property owner acknowledging the business. You also tell ISD whether pets live in the home.

Boston permits run from January 1 to December 31. ISD sends the $100 renewal bill around the second week of November and inspects each kitchen once a year, on a schedule separate from renewal.

Where can you sell cottage food made in Boston?

You can sell cottage food made in Boston online, by mail and at direct-to-consumer venues such as farmers markets. The state Q&A defines retail the same way and also names craft fairs.

Three limits on the Boston permit are easy to miss:

• No sales at your door. Boston zoning does not allow selling merchandise in person from a residence.
• No sales outside Massachusetts with this permit. DPH tells sellers who want out-of-state customers to check federal law and the other state’s law.
• No outside employees, brokers, wholesalers or warehouses. You and the household members who live in the home do all the preparation.

Boston also requires your business name and ISD permit number on all advertising and online listings.

What has to be on a cottage food label in Massachusetts?

A cottage food label in Massachusetts has to be in English and attached to a prepackaged product, because the DPH standards allow permitted residential kitchens to sell only prepackaged food with an ingredient label. The table shows the six elements the standards list.

Label element	What the DPH standards require
Business	Name and address of the cottage food operation
Product	Name of the product
Ingredients	Listed in descending order by weight, with sub-ingredients for prepared items
Quantity	Net weight or net volume
Allergens	Federal allergen information, such as milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, fish and tree nuts
Nutrition	Federal nutrition labeling, only if you make a nutrient or health claim

No laboratory analysis is needed to write the ingredient list, according to the standards. Boston’s Food Allergen Certification page says required allergen training covers nine major food allergens, so confirm the current federal allergen list before you print labels.

What kitchen rules apply to a home food business in Massachusetts?

Kitchen rules for a home food business in Massachusetts come from the DPH standards for permitted residential kitchens, and your local board of health enforces them at inspection. The standards include these conditions:

• Pets stay out of the kitchen during food preparation.
• Infants and small children are not present while food is prepared, packaged or handled.
• Food work does not overlap with family meals, laundry, ironing or entertaining guests.
• Rooms used for living or sleeping are not used for the operation.
• Anyone who is ill does not work in the kitchen, and ready-to-eat food is not touched with bare hands.
• A private well is tested before permitting and at least once a year after.

Boston adds its own conditions: store business food apart from household food, use trash cans with sealing lids, and display the permit in the kitchen whenever you prepare food for sale. The person preparing food must hold an active Food Manager Certification during all production hours. ISD lists exam costs from about $30 to more than $150 and a five-year renewal period for that credential.

When do you need a wholesale license instead of a cottage food permit?

You need a wholesale license instead of a cottage food permit when your buyer resells the food, for example a supermarket, cafe or restaurant. Wholesale residential kitchens fall under a different regulation, 105 CMR 500 (Good Manufacturing Practices for Food), and are licensed and inspected by the DPH Division of Food Protection instead of the local board of health.

The state’s guide to starting a wholesale food business lists a $300 application fee per site or activity, paid through the Environmental Health eLicensing Portal. The food limits are the same as for retail: a wholesale residential kitchen can make only products that are safe at room temperature.

What should you recheck before you act?

Each figure below was checked on November 13, 2026, and can change. Confirm it with the agency named.

• Boston Retail Residential Kitchen Permit fee ($100 per year) and renewal timing: ISD Health Division, 617-635-5326, or the boston.gov permit page.
• State wholesale application fee ($300 per site or activity): DPH Division of Food Protection, 617-983-6712 or fpp.dph@mass.gov.
• Certification costs and renewal periods: set by private exam providers; ISD lists five years for both the food manager and allergen credentials.
• Permit fees and forms outside Boston: the board of health in your own city or town.
• The text of the code: DPH’s page for 105 CMR 590.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change; confirm the current requirements with the agency named before you file or pay.

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