Arizona Cottage Food Law: What You Can Sell, How to Register, and What the Rules Require (2026 Guide)

Arizona lets you sell tamales, birria and cheesecake made in your own kitchen, with no registration fee and no dollar cap on sales. What the state asks in return is specific: register with the Arizona Department of Health Services before you make anything for sale, hold an active food handler certificate, package and label every item in your own kitchen, and hand perishable food to the buyer yourself.

The shape of the law

A.R.S. Sec. 36-136(I)(4)(g) is the hinge. It exempts from ADHS retail food rules "a cottage food product that is prepared in a kitchen of a private home for commercial purposes consistent with chapter 8, article 2 of this title." Article 2 is Secs. 36-931 through 36-933, and R9-8-101.02 is the rule that fills in the details. ADHS published it in the Arizona Administrative Register on February 28, 2025 and gives February 4, 2025 as its effective date.

A "home kitchen" under Sec. 36-931 is the kitchen in the registered individual's own residential home or dwelling, of a type normally found in a residential home, not exceeding 1,000 square feet. A kitchen in a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities also qualifies, with an extra label line. There is no provision for renting commercial space or borrowing a friend's kitchen, and ADHS answers that question the same way: everything is made where you registered.

The exemption is conditional. R9-8-101.02(B) says you are not exempt from the rest of the state's food rules unless you hold both an active food handler certification and a current registration. Lapse either one and you are an unlicensed food establishment. Our guide to starting a cottage food business covers the parts that are the same in every state.

What the 2024 law changed

Arizona's old program was called Home Baked and Confectionery Goods, and it covered only food that was not potentially hazardous. HB 2042 was signed on March 29, 2024 as Chapter 18, Laws 2024 and took effect on that session's general effective date, September 14, 2024. A similar bill, HB 2509, had passed the year before and was vetoed, which is why some third-party pages still describe a 2023 expansion that never took effect.

What you can make

ADHS puts it bluntly on its approved foods page: "Most foods are allowed!" The published examples run well past baking, covering tamales, birria tacos, menudo, empanadas, jerky, kimchi, salsa, cheesecake, freeze-dried candy and agua frescas.

Sec. 36-931 excludes alcoholic beverages, unpasteurized milk, fish and shellfish products, and meat, meat by-products and poultry unless federal law allows the sale. Sec. 36-932(F) adds marijuana. ADHS also refuses CBD and kava, because the FDA does not recognize either as generally recognized as safe, and every ingredient has to clear that GRAS bar and come from an approved source such as a grocery store. Four other categories fall outside the program: pet treats and animal feed, supplements in capsule form, wild-foraged produce, and cosmetics. Alcohol as an ingredient is fine if the product is not meant to intoxicate or holds under 0.5 percent. For how other states draw these boundaries, see what counts as cottage food.

Two operational limits matter as much as the food list. Everything is processed, packaged and labeled inside the home kitchen and handed over in that same unaltered packaging, so open sampling, on-site assembly and pouring drinks are not covered. And adding a product to your registered menu takes an email to ADHS first.

Meat, poultry and eggs

Beef and pork must be USDA inspected, which in practice means bought from a grocer or butcher. Home-raised poultry is allowed only within the federal 1,000-bird exemption and cannot be resold by a third party. ADHS notes that the Arizona Department of Agriculture does not classify quail as poultry, and that hunted animals are not an approved source. Home-raised shell eggs sit with that department's Egg Inspections Program instead. Meat and meat by-products never go through a third-party vendor, even when shelf-stable.

Canning, pickling, fermenting and freeze-drying

All of these are approved processes. The catch is that a perishable food that undergoes special processing stays perishable in the state's eyes unless you show otherwise. Lab testing for pH and water activity is optional, but it is how a salsa or a dehydrated product gets reclassified as shelf-stable and becomes eligible for store shelves and carrier delivery. ADHS points producers at the University of Arizona Food Product and Safety Lab and its ACBS Food Testing Services, and at the National Center for Home Food Preservation for methods.

Registering with ADHS

Training first

R9-8-101.02(A)(1) requires a food handler course from an accredited program that an accrediting agency has evaluated and listed as conforming to national standards. ADHS links the ANSI National Accreditation Board directory of providers, and says an active food manager certification also satisfies it. Four counties, La Paz, Mohave, Pima and Yuma, issue their own cards. Finish this before you register, and keep it active afterward.

The application

Registration runs through the MyHealthDepartment portal. The rule sets out what goes in: your name, address, phone and email; the street address, city, county and state of the home kitchen; whether that home is a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities; a description of each cottage food you will make; a copy of your active food handler certificate; and a signed attestation running to eighteen items.

ADHS warns that it sends no automatic confirmation email and that processing can take up to four to six weeks; you check status by logging in. When the certificate arrives by email, print it, because the rule requires you to display it whenever you sell somewhere other than your own kitchen. If ADHS asks for more information and hears nothing for 30 days, the application is treated as withdrawn.

Fee, renewal, and changes

There is no fee. Nothing in Sec. 36-136, Article 2, or R9-8-101.02 sets one, and the ADHS FAQ describes the bargain as making and selling food from your home kitchen "without inspections or fees." Registration runs three years under both Sec. 36-136(I)(13) and the rule, and ADHS renews it by having you submit a fresh registration rather than a renewal form. Any change to what you filed has to reach ADHS within 30 calendar days.

The label, word for word

Sec. 36-932(A) and R9-8-101.02(C)(3) require a legible printed or handwritten label attached to the package, carrying:

• the name and registration number of the food preparer;
• a complete list of every ingredient, including the ingredients inside components you used;
• the production date;
• a pointer to the ADHS site, which the rule words as "To obtain additional information about cottage foods or to report a foodborne illness, go to azdhs.gov/Cottagefood";
• a note if the food was made in a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities; and
• this statement, exactly: "This product was produced in a home kitchen that may come in contact with common food allergens and pet allergens and is not subject to public health inspection." (A.R.S. Sec. 36-932(A)(3))

The packaging has rules too. It must be clean, sanitary and secure, appropriate for the consistency and temperature of the food, fully enclosing, and carrying a tamper-evident seal, which the rule says can be the label itself. Samples count as products and need the same package and label. Selling into a retail store adds a Declaration of Responsibility and a Declaration of Quantity under A.R.S. Sec. 3-3431 and A.A.C. R3-7-302. Our cottage food labeling guide covers layout and proofing.

Where and how you can sell

R9-8-101.02(D)(1) is short and absolute: a registered preparer "shall only offer cottage FOODS for sale and delivery in Arizona." ADHS explains why in its FAQ. Once food in commerce crosses a state line it belongs to the federal government, not the state program. Inside Arizona, the route depends on what is in the product and whether it needs refrigeration.

• Shelf-stable products. Sell and deliver directly, or use a third-party food delivery platform that agrees to comply with Sec. 36-932(E)(2). The statute also permits an agent, a third-party vendor, or a third-party carrier to deliver products with no dairy, meat or poultry in them.
• Perishable products, dairy, meat and poultry. These go hand to hand. No delivery platform, held at the right temperature the whole way, transported to no more than one destination and for no more than two hours including time stuck in traffic, and not sold to the public anywhere except that first destination.
• Stores and kiosks. A third-party vendor may sell your shelf-stable products if they sit in a separate section or display case from non-homemade items and the vendor posts a sign saying the products are homemade and exempt from state licensing and inspection. Your cottage food may not become an ingredient in anything the store makes and sells.

Online listings carry their own duty. Sec. 36-932(B) and R9-8-101.02(E) require a prominent notification with all the label information before the customer buys. ADHS reads that broadly in its advertising FAQ: any listing where a customer can pick from a menu and order, including a pre-order for pickup at a market, needs the label information in the post, while a booth-location post with no ordering does not. That is the model our sister marketplace Local Cottage Foods runs on, and the logic applies anywhere else you take orders; see can you sell cottage food online and, for the stall itself, becoming a farmers market vendor.

Two smaller prohibitions catch people out. You may not store product or food preparation equipment outside your home, which rules out a freezer in a detached garage or a rented storage unit. And your home kitchen cannot serve as the commissary for a mobile food unit.

Sales limits and inspections

There is no cap. Arizona sets no annual gross sales ceiling in statute or rule, and cottage food sales limits explained shows how differently other states handle this. The binding constraint is physical: one home kitchen of 1,000 square feet or less, all preparation inside it, nothing stored outside.

There is also no routine inspection, as the ADHS FAQ says directly. Oversight is complaint-driven instead. ADHS must notify you in writing of suspected noncompliance or of a food safety complaint, and may suspend or revoke your registration for noncompliance, a verified complaint, impeding a foodborne illness investigation, or a violation of A.R.S. Sec. 36-601; you can appeal under Title 41, Chapter 6, Article 10. Counties are not required to enforce Article 2, though ADHS may sign a delegation agreement with a county agency. ADHS puts the stakes plainly: break the rules and you become an illegal food establishment, subject to fines.

City, county and market rules

Sec. 36-933(A)(4) says the article "does not affect any county or municipal building code, zoning code or ordinance or other land use regulation." Maricopa County's guidance puts it practically: cottage food rules do not stop you selling from a home or a street corner, but local codes govern where food can be sold. Check with your local authority.

ADHS's FAQ sends producers to three offices before opening: the county assessor about business property taxes, county planning and zoning about home-based business restrictions, and the city clerk about a local business license. Add your insurer. On taxes, food for home consumption is exempt at the state level but some cities tax retail food sales, so transaction privilege tax questions go to the Arizona Department of Revenue.

Where the rules are still fuzzy

• The disclosure wording appears two ways on the state's own site. The statute, the rule and the ADHS labeling page say "may come in contact with common food allergens and pet allergens." The FAQ page says "may process." Follow the statute.
• Carrier delivery versus platform delivery. Sec. 36-932(E)(1) allows a third-party carrier for products containing no dairy, meat or poultry. R9-8-101.02(D)(2) frames the same permission around foods that are not temperature-controlled for safety. A cut-fruit product can be perishable while containing none of those three ingredients, so the two texts do not line up. ADHS settles it in the FAQ, which says food requiring refrigeration cannot be shipped at all. Ask the program about anything borderline.
• A cross-reference in the rule points at Article 1. R9-8-101.02(G) refers to noncompliance with Title 36, Chapter 8, Article 1, while the cottage food requirements live in Article 2.
• Guidance keeps moving. ADHS asks producers to email before adding products and keeps posting new videos and handouts, so recheck the program page before a season starts.

Where to get official help

The Cottage Food Program takes questions at CottageFood@azdhs.gov and 602-364-3118, a line that goes to voicemail. Registration and renewal both run through the MyHealthDepartment portal, where ADHS also publishes a live list of registrants. For training beyond a handler card, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension runs food safety programming for cottage food producers and market vendors, and its events calendar has carried a cottage food safety class in Prescott. Its Tucson labs do the pH and water activity testing that can reclassify a perishable recipe as shelf-stable.

A sensible order of operations: take an accredited food handler course, write out the full product list you actually want to sell, register with that list, then buy packaging and print labels. If you are comparing rules across a border, our state-by-state guides put Arizona next to states that take a much narrower view.