Home and Hearth BakerCottage food operator
O.C.G.A. 26-2-470 to 26-2-478 (Article 19, cottage food); 36-60-33; Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 40-7-19 (older rules, not yet revised for HB 398) · HB 398 (2025 session), Act 193, signed 2025-05-13; replaced the GDA cottage food license program in Rule 40-7-19 (2012)
Yearly sales limit
No state limit
No sales cap in O.C.G.A. 26-2-470 to 26-2-478.
No sales cap in O.C.G.A. 26-2-470 to 26-2-478.
Permit or registration
No
Georgia Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Division, Cottage Food Program
Fee: No license or fee since 2025-07-01; no fee is listed for the identification number
Official page
Georgia Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Division, Cottage Food Program
Fee: No license or fee since 2025-07-01; no fee is listed for the identification number
Official page
Food safety training
Yes
ANSI-accredited food safety training program; a Food Handler course is acceptable (GDA cottage food page)
Required by the Georgia Department of Agriculture's cottage food page (current after HB 398, 2025). The statute itself does not mention training; Home and Hearth Baker follows the agency.
ANSI-accredited food safety training program; a Food Handler course is acceptable (GDA cottage food page)
Required by the Georgia Department of Agriculture's cottage food page (current after HB 398, 2025). The statute itself does not mention training; Home and Hearth Baker follows the agency.
Where you make it
At the residential property of the producer (O.C.G.A. 26-2-470(2), (3)). 'Residential property' is not defined, and the law does not say it must be the primary residence. Rule 40-7-19-.02 (written for the old license) required the home kitchen of the operator's primary domestic residence with residential equipment only; GDA says it falls back on the old rules where HB 398 is silent. Private well water: GDA's cottage food page links to its non-public water testing guidance (written for licensed food sales establishments: yearly coliform testing); see open questions.
Selling in person
Allowed: directly to consumers, e.g., from home, at events and farmers markets (O.C.G.A. 26-2-472; GDA)
Phone and online orders
Allowed: the law says 'including online and by mail order' (26-2-472). For phone or custom orders the seller may skip the label info but must tell the buyer the item is made at a home exempt from state inspection and may contain allergens (26-2-473(c)).
Delivery and shipping
Allowed: local governments may not stop commercial delivery companies from delivering cottage food items (O.C.G.A. 36-60-33). Delivery by the operator is not separately addressed.
Selling out of state
Not prohibited by Georgia law, but federal law and the other state's law still apply (26-2-477). Outside this app's in-state scope.
Stores and wholesale
Allowed: retail food sales establishments (grocery, convenience stores, restaurants) may buy and sell them. The store must post a sign to GDA specifications and keep cottage foods in a separate, labeled section or case (26-2-472, 26-2-473(d)). A city or county may ban sales through third-party vendors by ordinance (26-2-478).
Examples you can sell
Non-potentially hazardous foods (do not require temperature control for safety) and nonalcoholic beverages, produced and, if packaged, packaged at the producer's residential property (O.C.G.A. 26-2-470(2), (7))
- Baked goods such as loaf breads, rolls, biscuits and cakes, except those whose fillings need refrigeration or have high moisture content
- Pastries and cookies, fruit pies (GDA list)
- Jams, jellies and preserves (not fruit butters when reduced sugar or pectin may affect commercial sterility)
- Confections, candies and fudge
- Dried fruits; dry herbs, seasonings and mixtures
- Cereals, trail mixes and granola
- Coated and uncoated nuts
- Vinegars and flavored vinegars; dill pickles
- Dry soup mixes; dry pasta; roasted coffee beans
- Popcorn, popcorn balls and cotton candy
Not allowed
- Potentially hazardous foods that need temperature control for safety (O.C.G.A. 26-2-470(7), (8))
- Cakes or baked goods whose fillings need refrigeration or have high moisture content (e.g., cream cheese icing, tres leches per Rule 40-7-19-.05)
- Fruit butters when reduced sugar or pectin may affect commercial sterility
- Alcoholic beverages
- Foods containing cannabis
- Raw milk
The statement your labels must carry
This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens.
In type at least 10 point.