Maine cottage food laws
Rules change, so always confirm with the official Maine source.
The law: Home Food License; separate Maine Food Sovereignty Act
What you can sell
Licensed home kitchens may make shelf-stable baked goods and other non-potentially hazardous foods. Canned shelf-stable foods such as pickles, relishes and barbecue sauce require process-authority review before licensing.
What you can't sell
Foods needing refrigeration or freezing to control microbial growth require a commercial food processing license rather than the Home Food License.
Do you need a license or permit?
Home Food License costs $20 per year and requires an initial inspection, but annual inspections are not required. Private wells require annual coliform/nitrate testing.
Sales limits
No sales cap is identified in Home Food License 101; statutory absence of a cap was not separately confirmed.
Where you can sell
Licensed producers may sell from home and through retail stores; DACF also describes wholesale sales throughout Maine and the United States. Detailed online and shipping requirements and destination-state compliance need confirmation.
Label requirements
Foods sold outside the home need product name, ingredients in descending order, net quantity, and producer name/address/ZIP. The agency says no label is required for direct sales from home; no special home-kitchen warning is specified in this guide.
Good to know
Maine also has a separate food-sovereignty framework, with 2025 amendments; its applicability must be checked separately rather than assumed statewide. This entry describes the licensed home-food route. Some details on this page could not be fully confirmed from official sources, so check with the state agency before you sell.
Pricing your products
Knowing your real cost per item matters as much as following the law.
Try Oven Elf free →Source: https://www11.maine.gov/dacf/qar/permits_and_licenses/index.shtml
General summary, not legal advice.
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