Georgia: the home-kitchen movement
Full cottage food Cottage food law
Since July 1, 2025, Georgia's cottage food law (HB 398, O.C.G.A. §§ 26-2-470–478) lets home producers sell shelf-stable (nonpotentially hazardous) foods with NO state license, NO registration, and NO sales cap — direct to consumers (including online and by mail) and to Georgia grocery stores and restaurants. Counties and cities cannot ban cottage food production or direct sales; they may only opt out of third-party vendor sales by local ordinance.
Where it stands
2025 — HB 398 (Act 193), signed May 13, 2025, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2025: the biggest recent change. It created O.C.G.A. §§ 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 (new Article 19, 'cottage food items'), eliminating the state license/registration and the old sales cap, permitting sales to retail food sales establishments (grocery stores, restaurants) and online/mail-order direct sales, adding nonalcoholic beverages to allowed foods, creating the GDA-issued label ID-number option, and setting the limited county/municipality opt-out for third-party vendor sales (O.C.G.A. § 26-2-478, § 36-60-33). No 2026 Georgia bills changing cottage food law and no scheduled future cap or rule changes were verified from primary sources.
Cottage food fight in Georgia
1 supporter(s) and 0 opposition entr(ies) on this page carry this track tag — see Supporters / Opposition below.
- 2025 — HB 398 — no license, no cap; retail and online/mail sales; new category
HB 398 (Act 193, signed May 13, 2025, effective July 1, 2025) created a new 'cottage food items' article eliminating the state license/registration and the old sales cap, permitting sales to retail food establishments and online/mail-order direct sales, and adding nonalcoholic beverages to allowed foods. Source
How we got here
- 2025 — Cottage food law Cottage food fight
2025 — HB 398 (Act 193), signed May 13, 2025, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2025: the biggest recent change. Source - — Cottage food law
§§ 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 (new Article 19, 'cottage food items'), eliminating the state license/registration and the old sales cap, permitting sales to retail food sales establishments (grocery stores, restaurants) and online/mail-order direct sales, adding nonalcoholic beverages to allowed foods, creating the GDA-issued label ID-number option, and setting the limited county/municipality opt-out for third-party ve Source - 2026 — Cottage food law
No 2026 Georgia bills changing cottage food law and no scheduled future cap or rule changes were verified from primary sources. Source - 2025 — HB 398 — no license, no cap; retail and online/mail sales; new category Cottage food fight
HB 398 (Act 193, signed May 13, 2025, effective July 1, 2025) created a new 'cottage food items' article eliminating the state license/registration and the old sales cap, permitting sales to retail food establishments and online/mail-order direct sales, and adding nonalcoholic beverages to allowed foods. Source
Supporters
On the public record supporting home kitchens in Georgia.
Leesa Hagan Cottage food fight
State Representative (156th); author of HB 398 (2025) through the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/2025_end_of_session_report_
Opposition
No on-record opposition has been verified for this state yet.
The deciders
Governor
Office of the Governor of Georgia (name not yet verified in this research pass)
Contact the deciders
A pre-written letter in Georgia's own terminology. The buttons open it in your email — addressed by you to the office above. Nothing sends until you press send.