Vermont: the home-kitchen movement
Full cottage food Cottage food operator exemption · Food processor exemption (nonbakery, $10,000 or less gross annual sales) · Home bakery license · Home caterer license
Vermont regulates home-kitchen food businesses statewide through the Department of Health under 18 V.S.A. Chapter 85. A cottage food operator may sell shelf-stable, non-TCS foods (baked goods, candy, jams, dry herbs, home-canned acid foods, etc.) from a home kitchen with no license, provided gross annual sales stay at or under $30,000; a parallel exemption covers nonbakery food processors at or under $10,000. Exempt operators must complete VDH's free annual food-safety training, file an annual exemption attestation by January 15, follow the Manufactured Food Rule's labeling rules (including the 'Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the Vermont Department of Health' statement), and may not sell to restaurants. Home bakeries and home caterers exceeding the exemptions must hold the applicable Health Department license.
Status, history, and administering agency are verified from the state law guide's primary sources. Supporter/opposition research for this state is still in progress — nothing is listed until it can be sourced.
Where it stands
The biggest 2024–2026 change is Act 42 (H.401, 'An act relating to exemptions for food manufacturing establishments'), enacted by the 2025 General Assembly and effective July 1, 2025. It replaced the old home-kitchen licensing exemption (average gross retail sales ≤$125/week, enacted 2017 via Act 76 §5 and never adjusted for inflation) with a $30,000/year cottage-food-operator exemption, added statutory definitions for cottage food products, cottage food operators, and cottage food operations, and required VDH to adopt training rules plus an annual licensing-exemption filing with a training attestation. VDH implemented it first through a Manufactured Food Emergency Rule (effective July 1, 2025, revised August 12, 2025) and then through the final adopted Manufactured Food Rule (Chapter 5, Subchapter 1), effective January 15, 2026, which sets the operative definitions, the $30,000 cottage-food and $10,000 nonbakery-processor exemptions, labeling (§6.2.1), and training (§6.2.2) requirements. No 2026 follow-up legislation and no pending bills were identified in this research pass; nothing is pending.
Residents can find and support local kitchens through the Vermont hub — browse kitchens, read the law guide, and see what is cooking near you.
Cottage food fight in Vermont
- 2025 — Act 42 (H.401) — $30,000 cottage-food-operator exemption
Act 42 (H.401, effective July 1, 2025) replaced Vermont's old home-kitchen licensing exemption (average gross retail sales of $125/week) with a $30,000/year cottage-food-operator exemption, with statutory definitions for cottage food products, operators, and operations. Source
How we got here
- 2024 — Cottage food operator exemption Cottage food fight
The biggest 2024–2026 change is Act 42 (H.401, 'An act relating to exemptions for food manufacturing establishments'), enacted by the 2025 General Assembly and effective July 1, 2025. Source - 2017 — Cottage food operator exemption
It replaced the old home-kitchen licensing exemption (average gross retail sales ≤$125/week, enacted 2017 via Act 76 §5 and never adjusted for inflation) with a $30,000/year cottage-food-operator exemption, added statutory definitions for cottage food products, cottage food operators, and cottage food operations, and required VDH to adopt training rules plus an annual licensing-exemption filing with a training attest Source - 2025 — Cottage food operator exemption
VDH implemented it first through a Manufactured Food Emergency Rule (effective July 1, 2025, revised August 12, 2025) and then through the final adopted Manufactured Food Rule (Chapter 5, Subchapter 1), effective January 15, 2026, which sets the operative definitions, the $30,000 cottage-food and $10,000 nonbakery-processor exemptions, labeling (§6.2.1), and training (§6.2.2) requirements. Source - 2026 — Cottage food operator exemption
No 2026 follow-up legislation and no pending bills were identified in this research pass; nothing is pending. Source - 2025 — Act 42 (H.401) — $30,000 cottage-food-operator exemption Cottage food fight
Act 42 (H.401, effective July 1, 2025) replaced Vermont's old home-kitchen licensing exemption (average gross retail sales of $125/week) with a $30,000/year cottage-food-operator exemption, with statutory definitions for cottage food products, operators, and operations. Source
Supporters
Supporter research for this state is in progress — nothing is listed until it can be sourced.
Opposition
No on-record opposition has been verified for this state yet.
The deciders
Governor
Office of the Governor of Vermont (name not yet verified in this research pass)
Contact the deciders
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