Selling Food From Home.

What the law lets you do

Illinois' Home-to-Market Act (the cottage food law, expanded in 2022) lets you make food in your home kitchen and sell it directly to customers — and unlike many states, there's no revenue cap at the state level. You can sell:

• Direct to customers — pickup from your home, farmers markets, events and pop-ups.
• Online, with shipping anywhere within Illinois (sealed tamper-evident).

What you can't do: sell wholesale to stores or restaurants for resale, or ship out of state. It's home-kitchen, direct-to-consumer, inside Illinois.

What you can & can't make

The rule is about safety: foods that don't need refrigeration to stay safe are generally allowed; foods that do are not.

• Allowed: baked goods (breads, cookies, most cakes), jams and jellies, candies and chocolates, dry mixes and seasonings, granola, roasted coffee, and more. Custom cakes are fine as long as they don't use prohibited ingredients.
• Prohibited: meat, dairy products, custards and cream fillings, and anything that needs temperature control to stay safe.
• Extra steps: pickles, salsa, fermented or acidified foods, and canned tomatoes are allowed but need pH testing or a tested recipe (and a food-safety plan) — check the state guide for these.

Get your food-safety certificate first

Before you can register, you must earn a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) certificate — you take a course and pass an exam from an ANAB-accredited program (you can do it online). It's good for 5 years.

Register with your county health department

Before you sell a single item, you must register with the local health department in the county where your kitchen is — it's illegal to advertise or sell without your registration certificate.

• Submit the application listing every product you plan to make that year, your CFPM certificate, and a home self-certification checklist.
• The fee is usually $25–$50 (varies by county), and you renew every year.
• Give them time — counties can take up to about 30 days to review.
• In Chicago? The city has its own cottage food registration process — check with the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Label every product right

Every item you sell needs a label with all of this:

• The name of your cottage food operation and your town/county.
• Your registration number and the county where you registered.
• The product name and all ingredients (listed biggest to smallest by weight).
• Allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, fish, shellfish, sesame).
• This exact statement: "This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens."

At your table or on your website, post a placard with that same home-kitchen statement. For items too small to label (like individual chocolates) or custom cakes, you can request an exception and use signage instead.

Taxes & responsibility

• Sales tax applies. Cottage food sales are subject to Illinois sales tax — keep records of what you sell and be ready to collect and report it.
• You're responsible for safety. There's no liability exemption — the food being legal to sell doesn't remove your duty to keep it safe and honestly labeled.
• Treat it like the business it is. The income is taxable; the Business Taxes module covers how to handle it, and Start Your Business covers registering a name and EIN as you grow.

From kitchen to customers

Pick products the law allows → earn your CFPM certificate → register with your county health department ($25–$50, list your products) → label everything correctly with the home-kitchen statement → sell direct at markets, online, or from home → keep records and pay your sales tax. That's a real, legal home business you can start with what's already in your kitchen.

Note: General educational information for 2026 under Illinois' Home-to-Market Act; rules on specific foods, fees, and local requirements vary by county and change. Confirm the current Illinois Cottage Food Guide with the Illinois Department of Public Health and your local county health department before you start — they're there to help you get it right.