Wyoming Cottage Food Laws 2026: No State License, $250,000 Limit

Pick your route

Sell it yourself or through a designated agent

You, or an agent you name in writing, sell directly to the buyer. An agent can be a person, a consignment-model market or a food freedom store, and it cannot take ownership of your food (W.S. 11-49-102). This is the only route for potentially hazardous food other than eggs and dairy (W.S. 11-49-103(c)).

Tell every buyer the food is not certified, labeled, licensed, packaged, regulated or inspected (W.S. 11-49-103(e)). The Department of Agriculture (WDA) says a producer who fails to do so falls under standard food safety licensing (WDA FAQ, Q26). Any retail space selling homemade food, including one on your own farm, ranch or home, must also display a sign that the food has not been inspected (W.S. 11-49-103(d)).

Sell through a shop or grocery store

A retail shop or grocery store can be the seller of non-potentially hazardous food, eggs and dairy products (W.S. 11-49-103(c)). Whenever non-potentially hazardous food or dairy is sold at a retail location or grocery store, whoever the seller is, the law adds that:

• the food may not share a shelf or display with food from a licensed establishment, and it must carry the home-kitchen statement shown below (W.S. 11-49-103(k));
• the buyer gets the same notice, and the store displays a sign that the food has not been inspected (W.S. 11-49-103(d) and (e)).

The law names a "third party vendor" separately from a designated agent, who cannot take ownership. It does not say whether a shop may buy from you outright, so ask WDA before you agree on terms.

What you can sell

Homemade food is food prepared or processed in a private home kitchen (W.S. 11-49-102).

Non-potentially hazardous foods need no time or temperature control and can go through any route. The law's examples include jams, pickled vegetables, hard candies, fudge, granola, popcorn, and baked goods without dairy, meat or other potentially hazardous frosting or filling (W.S. 11-49-102).

Potentially hazardous foods need time or temperature control. The law's examples are foods requiring refrigeration, dairy products, quiches, pizzas, frozen doughs, meat, and cooked vegetables and beans (W.S. 11-49-102). It does not say whether a shop may sell cakes with a dairy frosting or filling, so ask WDA first.

Dairy and eggs. WDA says the Act allows raw milk and products made from it (Q10). Eggs must be clean, refrigerated and meet the Wyoming Food Rule, and WDA says the carton should show the producer's name and address, a packaging date, "ungraded" and "keep refrigerated" (Q21).

Meat. The Act excludes meat, with these exceptions (W.S. 11-49-103(c)):

• poultry from no more than 1,000 birds of your own raising a year, if you buy and sell no other poultry products and nothing is adulterated or misbranded; WDA adds that federal poultry law still applies (Q9);
• domestic rabbit meat;
• farm-raised fish raised under Wyoming's title 23, but not catfish;
• live animals, portions of live animals before slaughter, and meat under an animal share, under the conditions WDA describes (Q13–14).

WDA's FAQ (revised September 2024) says beef, pork, lamb and goat cannot be sold under the Act (Q12). A 2025 amendment would let producers sell meat from cattle, sheep, swine and goats they raised, slaughtered on the premises or at a custom facility, directly to buyers in Wyoming with a written warning. It takes effect only when the governor, on the attorney general's advice, certifies that federal law or a federal court allows it (W.S. 11-49-103(n) and (o)), so ask WDA whether that has happened.

Where and how you can sell

• Online. Internet sales are allowed only for delivery within Wyoming (WDA FAQ, Q20).
• Restaurants and resale. Apart from raw, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, uninspected food cannot be sold or used in a commercial food establishment, and homemade food cannot be served there or used as an ingredient (W.S. 11-49-103(d)). WDA's FAQ also lists eggs and dairy as exceptions; the statute does not. A buyer who resells your food is not an informed end consumer.
• Markets and stands. WDA says the Act does not specifically prohibit roadside stands. Cooking food on site at a market makes you a temporary food stand that needs a license, except for samples of a home-kitchen product (WDA FAQ, Q6, Q19, Q27).

Labels

Every buyer must be told the food is not certified, labeled, licensed, packaged, regulated or inspected; the law fixes no wording or place for that notice. When non-potentially hazardous food or dairy is sold at a retail location or grocery store, including a food freedom store, it must also carry a fixed home-kitchen statement. Whether a stand on your own farm counts as a retail location is not settled, so ask WDA. The block below covers both cases, but not egg cartons.

Before your first sale

• ☐To do: Confirm you make the food in a private home kitchen and stay within 250,000 items and $250,000 a year.
• ☐To do: Decide for each food whether you, a named agent or a shop sells it, and where.
• ☐To do: Choose how you will give every buyer the not-inspected notice described above.
• ☐To do: Name any agent in writing, and agree the label and a separate shelf with any shop.
• ☐To do: Ask your city or county about zoning and business licensing, and the Wyoming Department of Revenue about sales tax.
• ☐To do: Set your prices with the first-sales guide.

Common questions