Selling home-baked foods: when do you need a license?

By:Peggy Kirk Hall, Attorney and Director, Agricultural & Resource Law Program Friday, January 27th, 2023
Baker with flour on hands

The world loves a good baker.  If you’re one of those good bakers and you want to sell your baked goods, do you need a license?  Maybe. Our newly revised law bulletin, “The Home Bakery Registration Law in Ohio,” explains when a license or “registration” is necessary for selling home baked goods in Ohio.

Whether you need to register for a Home Bakery license depends on the type of baked good you’ll produce. Certain foods are at lower risk of a food safety concern when produced at home, which we refer to as “non-potentially hazardous” foods.  Those foods might fall under the Ohio Cottage Food Law, which does not require a license or registration for those who want to produce and sell foods that are on the cottage foods list. When a home baked good does pose higher food safety risks, however, the home bakery law applies to that food and additional practices are necessary to reduce food safety.  The producer who wants to sell that type of home baked good must register as a “Home Bakery" with the Ohio Department of Agriculture to help ensure that food safety practices are in place.

Which home-baked foods fall into which category?  This chart illustrates the differences between non-potentially hazardous “cottage" foods and potentially hazardous “home bakery” foods. If a food falls into the “potentially hazardous” category, the producer needs to apply for a Home Bakery license. 

Table

Description automatically generated

What’s required for the Home Bakery registration?  Our law bulletin explains the registration and inspection process and labeling requirements.  Read more about those parts of the Home Bakery Registration Law in our bulletin, available on the Farm Office Food Law Library at https://farmoffice.osu.edu/our-library/food-law.