Which laws apply

• Retail Residential Kitchen (permitted as a 'Cottage Food Operation')
• Wholesale Residential Kitchen

Allowed foods

Only non-time/temperature-control-for-safety (non-TCS) foods that can be safely held at room temperature — e.g., baked goods (breads, cakes, cookies), jams, jellies, confections. TCS ingredients such as milk, cream, and eggs may be used in preparation only if the final product is not a TCS food. Prohibited finished products include cream-filled pastries, cheesecake, custard, cut fruit and vegetables, pickled products, relishes, tomato and barbecue sauces, salad dressings, and cannabis baked goods. Prohibited processing operations include acidification, hot fill, thermal processing in hermetically-sealed containers (except jams and jellies), vacuum packaging, and curing/smoking. Products sold under the retail/cottage-food permit must be prepackaged with an ingredient label (operation name and address, product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight/volume, allergen information). Bake sales and charitable food distribution are exempt from permitting under M.G.L. c. 94 sec. 328 with conditions.

Sales caps

No sales cap is set by current Massachusetts law or regulations — 105 CMR 590 (retail/cottage food) and 105 CMR 500 (wholesale) contain no annual, monthly, or per-transaction sales limit for permitted residential kitchens.

Permit steps

1. Determine your sales channel: direct-to-consumer (retail) goes to your city/town board of health under 105 CMR 590; wholesale to stores or restaurants goes to the MA DPH Food Protection Program under 105 CMR 500 (you may need both).
2. Confirm municipal zoning allows a residential kitchen food business in your city/town — zoning rules may prohibit residential kitchens in some municipalities.
3. Contact your local board of health for the Residential Kitchen / Cottage Food Operation permit application and plan-review forms (requirements vary by municipality).
4. Complete the application and any required plan review; if the board of health requires a pre-operational inspection, pass it (a current pending bill, H.140, would require such inspections within 30 days, but that is not yet law).
5. Prepare to sell only prepackaged, non-TCS products with full ingredient labels per 105 CMR 590 / the DPH guidance (name and address, product name, ingredients in descending order, net weight/volume, allergen information).
6. For wholesale: apply to the DPH Food Protection Program for a residential-kitchen license under 105 CMR 500 and comply with Good Manufacturing Practice requirements (including possible laboratory evidence that products are not TCS).

How to start in Massachusetts

1. Decide retail (direct to consumers, e.g., farmers markets, craft fairs, internet/mail sales) vs. wholesale (stores, restaurants); many startups start retail. 2. Check with your city/town's zoning or planning office that a home food business is allowed at your residence. 3. Contact your local board of health and request the Cottage Food Operation / Residential Kitchen permit application and plan-review packet. 4. Submit the application, pay the local fee, and complete any plan review and pre-operational inspection the board requires. 5. Set up your kitchen per the DPH 'Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens' (no pets or children in the kitchen during production, separate domestic activity from production, no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food). 6. Prepare compliant labels for every product (operation name and address, product name, ingredients descending by weight, net weight/volume, allergens). 7. If you later want to sell wholesale, add a 105 CMR 500 license from the DPH Food Protection Program (617-983-6770).

Recent changes

No enacted changes to Massachusetts home-kitchen rules in 2024-2026; 105 CMR 590 was last substantively amended effective October 5, 2018. Two bills are pending in the 194th General Court (2025-2026): H.140 (Rep. Uyterhoeven) / S.69 (Sen. Oliveira, identical), 'An Act to promote economic opportunities for cottage food entrepreneurs,' which would require DPH to establish statewide cottage-food rules, allow certain categories of cottage food products to be sold without a local-board-of-health permit, and create a voluntary DPH cottage-food registry (registration fee not to exceed $25) — public hearing held July 9, 2025, reporting date September 7, 2025; and S.1512 (Sen. Driscoll), 'An Act to promote economic opportunity by licensing home kitchens,' which would bar local boards of health and zoning boards from regulating home kitchen operations — reported favorably by the Joint Committee on Public Health on October 14, 2025, and referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. Neither bill has been enacted, so the regulation-based system described above remains current law. Could not verify from a primary source whether H.140/S.69 advanced after the September 2025 reporting date.

Official sources

• Mass.gov — Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers (DPH Food Protection Program)
• Mass.gov — Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (guidance)
• malegislature.gov — Bill S.1512, An Act to promote economic opportunity by licensing home kitchens (bill history)
• malegislature.gov — Joint Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries bill summary for H.140, An Act to promote economic opportunities for cottage food entrepreneurs