Issue Brief on 2021 State Policy Trends in Cottage Food & Home Kitchen Legislation
Abstract: The issue brief details trends across the 51 unique pieces of legislation introduced in 31 states and the District of Columbia that aimed to expand opportunities for cottage food producers and home cooks in 2021.
Trends include expanding the list of allowable foods produced at home, raising or lifting gross sales caps for home-produced goods, ensuring local governments allow home food production, and expanding sales and delivery venues for foods produced at home.
There is a wide variety of cottage food and home kitchen laws across the country. Despite this variety, the trend in new state legislation is quite clear. Whether allowing more categories of foods, raising sales caps, preempting local regulation, or expanding sales and delivery venues, states have been steadily broadening their cottage food and home kitchen allowances.
Growing markets for cottage foods and other home-produced foods has led to economic development and rising numbers of consumers and home cooks able to advocate for these laws. The beneficiaries of these laws are largely women, immigrants, and people of color.
