Cottage Food Label Requirements in Wisconsin
What Wisconsin legally requires on your cottage food label — the required statement, sales cap, registration rules, and what you can (and can't) sell.
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This is not legal advice.
Cottage food laws change frequently and vary by county or local health department. Always confirm current requirements with Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) or a local food safety professional before printing labels or selling product. View the official source. Last verified: 2026-08.
Wisconsin does not have a general cottage food law comparable to other states'. Its patchwork consists of a judicial exemption for baked goods (Kivirist v. DATCP, resting on unappealed circuit court rulings rather than statute — meaning it could theoretically be narrowed by future litigation, unlike a statutory right) and a narrow statutory exemption for high-acid canned goods (the "Pickle Bill," capped at under $5,000/year, sold only at events or farmers markets). A 2025-26 bill (SB 739) that would have created a unified, broader cottage food law with a $40,000 cap failed in the Senate on March 23, 2026. Verify current status directly with DATCP Licensing (datcpdfslicensing@wisconsin.gov, (608) 224-4923) before relying on this for a Wisconsin business — this is a fast-moving, litigation-dependent area.
Required Label Statement
Exact wording Wisconsin requires
“Wisconsin has no general cottage food law, so there is no single statewide label statement. For the narrow home-canning exemption (the "Pickle Bill"), Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2.e. requires this exact wording on the container: "This product was made in a private home not subject to state licensing or inspection." For home-baked goods sold under the Kivirist court exemption (see below), no statute or DATCP rule prescribes any required label statement at all, because that exemption exists only through unappealed circuit court rulings, not legislation.”
For home-canned "Pickle Bill" goods: each container must also show the canner's name and address, the canning date, an ingredient list in descending order of prominence, and the common name of any of 8 major allergens present (milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans) — plus a sign at the point of sale reading "These canned goods are homemade and not subject to state inspection." For home-baked goods sold under the Kivirist exemption, DATCP has not published any mandatory label format; a clear homemade/not-inspected disclosure is good practice but not legally required.
Sales Cap & Registration
Annual Sales Cap
Registration & Permitting
Food Safety Course
What You Can (and Can't) Sell
Allowed
Not Allowed
Selling something that needs a full Nutrition Facts panel (like packaged prepared meals) instead of a cottage food disclosure? See our meal prep labeling guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Wisconsin have a cottage food law like other states?
Not really. Wisconsin has no general statute allowing home producers to sell shelf-stable foods the way most states do. What exists instead is a court-ordered exemption for baked goods only, plus a separate, narrow statutory exemption for high-acid home-canned goods capped at under $5,000/year. Nearly everything else needs a full commercial food license.
Can I sell homemade cookies or bread in Wisconsin without a license?
Yes — non-potentially-hazardous baked goods (anything baked in an oven above 140°F) can be sold directly to consumers without a DATCP license, under the 2017 Kivirist v. DATCP circuit court ruling, which DATCP did not appeal. There's no sales cap and no state-mandated label for this category.
Can I sell homemade candy, fudge, or dehydrated fruit in Wisconsin?
No, not without a full food processing license. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled in November 2024 that "unbaked" homemade foods like candy, fudge, and dehydrated items are not covered by the baked-goods exemption, reversing a lower court decision that had extended it. The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to review that ruling.
Is there a pending law that would change this?
A bill (SB 739) that would have created a unified cottage food law with a two-tier $10,000/$40,000 sales cap, DATCP registration, a food safety course, and inspections was introduced in the 2025-26 session — but it failed in the Senate on March 23, 2026 and is not currently law. Similar reform efforts have failed in past sessions too.