Virginia cottage food law
Sell cottage food in Virginia
Virginia cottage food law, label rules, and a free storefront. Virginia's cottage food law lets home bakers sell directly to consumers up to a $25,000 sales cap — provided you sell directly to consumers, label every product correctly, and follow Virginia's rules. CottageOps configures the Virginia label disclosure for you, tracks your sales against the cap, and gives you a free storefront to take orders.
What Virginia's cottage food law says
- Sales cap
- $25,000 per year, gross sales. In Virginia this is a hard cap — once you reach it in a 12-month window, the lawful move is to stop selling under the cottage food exemption (or move to a fully licensed operation).
- Refrigerated (TCS) foods
- Virginia's cottage food path is limited to shelf-stable goods — refrigerated (TCS) items aren't allowed under the exemption.
- Where you can sell
- Direct to Virginia consumers — pickup, in-state delivery, farmers markets, and online sales to in-state customers.
Required label disclosure in Virginia
Every Virginia cottage food label must carry the product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, the net weight, a “Contains” allergen statement for any FDA major allergens, your name and address as the producer, and the Virginia-required disclosure below. CottageOps fills the disclosure in for you, verbatim:
NOT FOR RESALE — PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION
Before you sell in Virginia
Virginia doesn't require a permit to start.
Virginia lets cottage food bakers start selling without a state permit or inspection — set up your storefront, add your menu, and you can begin taking orders.
Full Virginia cottage-food law
The detail behind the summary above: Virginia's primary statute, the agency that enforces it, the revenue cap, what foods are allowed, refrigerated-food (TCS) rules, labeling notes, and the watch-outs to know before you sell.
- Primary statute
- Va. Code §3.2-5130 (Virginia private/home-based food exemption) (Virginia home-based food exemption)
- Enforcing agency
- Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS)
- Revenue cap
- $25,000/year general; a separate $3,000 acidified sub-cap is out of baking scope (engine stores $25,000). Hard cap.
- Allowed foods
- Non-TCS (shelf-stable) home-based foods including baked goods.
- Refrigerated (TCS) / prohibited
- Conservative shelf-stable only (engine refuses TCS labels for VA).
- Where you can sell
- Direct to consumer; "NOT FOR RESALE" in the disclosure limits channels.
- Labeling notes
- Disclosure in ALL CAPS with an EM-DASH (not a hyphen) per §3.2-5130(C)(3): "NOT FOR RESALE — PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION" at ≥10pt. A separate mandatory honey warning is out of baking scope.
- Watch-outs
- Em-dash (—) is statutory, not a spaced hyphen — do not normalise.
- $3,000 acidified sub-cap is separate (out of baking scope).
General information, not legal advice — confirm with your state agency. Last verified 2026-06-15.
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Virginia cottage food FAQ
What must a Virginia cottage food label include?
A compliant Virginia cottage food label needs the product name, the ingredients in descending order by weight, the net weight (oz and/or grams), the "Contains" allergen statement for any FDA major allergens, the producer's name and address, and the Virginia-required legal disclosure. Our free generator fills in the disclosure for you and lays out the rest automatically as you type.
What is the required cottage food disclosure in Virginia?
Virginia requires this exact disclosure on the label: "NOT FOR RESALE — PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION" You never type it — the generator applies the current Virginia disclosure for you the moment you pick your state.
Can I sell TCS or refrigerated cottage food items in Virginia?
No — Virginia's cottage food path is limited to shelf-stable goods, so TCS items that need refrigeration are not allowed under the cottage food exemption. If you toggle "Contains a TCS item" the generator will flag that Virginia doesn't permit it, so you don't print a non-compliant label.
Is this Virginia cottage food label generator really free?
Yes. Building and previewing your Virginia-compliant label is free with no account. CottageOps is free through 2026 — no credit card — and when you're ready to download or print the full-resolution label you just claim your free CottageOps account. In 2027 it's a flat $19/mo (or $190/yr).
More for Virginia bakers, plus our guides for every other state:
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Start freeThis is general information, not legal advice — confirm with your Virginia cottage food authority before selling. Last verified: 2026-06-13.