Cottage food laws · MT

Selling homemade food in Montana

Montana's Local Food Choice Act (the 2021 law that expanded the original 'Food Freedom Act') is one of the most permissive in the country: no license or registration is needed, and you can even sell homemade meat, poultry and raw dairy directly to customers who know it wasn't inspected. The catch is that every sale has to be direct to an 'informed end consumer' — no selling through a retail store or restaurant, and no shipping out of state.

Program

Montana Local Food Choice Act (SB 199; still widely called the "Food Freedom Act," the name of the 2015 law it replaced/expanded in 2021)

Registration

No license, permit, or registration required for direct sales to an informed end consumer under the Local Food Choice Act (a separate, narrower Montana Cottage Food Act track with its own registration also exists for producers who want to sell through retail)

Annual sales cap

No statewide sales cap

Online sales

Allowed (see notes)

You can sell

Baked goods without cream/custard fillings
Jams, jellies, preserves
Candy & chocolate
Dry mixes & granola
Raw milk/dairy from small dairies (≤ 5 lactating cows or ≤ 10 lactating goats/sheep)
Poultry (up to 1,000 birds/year, federal recordkeeping compliant)
Other homemade meat & dairy products sold directly to an informed end consumer

You can't sell

Sales through retail stores or restaurants (must be direct to an informed end consumer)
Products shipped out of state
Meat not processed at a state- or federally-licensed facility, unless the producer holds a temporary food establishment permit

Where you can sell

Direct in-person sales from home
Farmers markets
Roadside stands

Selling online

Allowed only as a direct sale to an informed end consumer inside Montana; no resale through retail and no interstate shipping

What your labels must include

Business name & address
Ingredient list
Allergen declaration
Net weight
Consumer notification that the food is not licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected under official regulations (may be given verbally or in writing at time of sale)