Cottage Food Law /US
A structured reference to state cottage food rules

United States · WI

Wisconsin

Homemade Baked Goods (court orders) and Home-Canned Foods ("Pickle Bill") exemption

Informational only, not legal advice.

At a glance

Administering agency
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Division of Food and Recreational Safety

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods flyer (P-DFRS0222, 05/2025) · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Permit required
No

Home bakers: court orders prohibit DATCP from enforcing licensing requirements for home bakers who make baked goods that are not potentially hazardous and sell them directly to consumers. Home-canned foods: no license is needed to sell qualifying home-canned products at retail under § 97.29(2)(b)2. Potentially hazardous baked goods, wholesale baked goods, unbaked foods, and canned foods outside the exemption need a DATCP license.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

License cost
None

Neither route has a license, so there is no license fee: the home-canned exemption allows sales "without a license", and DATCP does not enforce licensing for qualifying home bakers. Licensed food businesses pay the fees set in Wis. Stat. §§ 97.29(3) and 97.30(3).

Source: DATCP — Home-Canned Foods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Annual sales cap
No cap

DATCP's homemade baked goods page and flyer set no dollar limit for home bakers. Home-canned foods are capped: the seller must receive less than $5,000 per year from their sale (Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2.c.; DATCP: "No more than $5,000 per year per person").

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Training required
No

DATCP's homemade baked goods page and flyer, its Home-Canned Foods page, and Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2. name no training requirement. DATCP strongly encourages using standardized, tested canning recipes.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Home inspection
No

DATCP's home-canned brochure says "inspection is not required", and the required sign and label say the products are "not subject to state inspection." Home bakers covered by the court orders are not licensed by DATCP; DATCP's baked-goods guidance names no inspection.

Source: DATCP — Selling Home-Canned Foods: Do It Safely and Legally (FD-PUB-61, 12/2022) · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Permit details

How it works
No license, registration, or application for either route. Home bakers may sell baked goods that are not potentially hazardous, made in their own homes, directly to consumers; DATCP says businesses producing potentially hazardous baked goods or wholesaling baked goods must be licensed, and commercial-kitchen bakeries must follow ATCP 70 or ATCP 75. Home canners may sell home-canned fruits and vegetables with a pH of 4.6 or lower, under $5,000 a year, directly to consumers at community or social events, flea markets, or farmers markets in Wisconsin, with the required sign and labels. Other homemade foods sold to the public need a DATCP food license.

Home-canned rules from DATCP's Home-Canned Foods page and Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2. DATCP's disclaimer: "Business operators are advised to practice due diligence in determining whether their practices require them to hold a food business license." DATCP licensing contact: (608) 224-4923, [email protected]. DATCP's honey page tells producers to check local town, village, city, and county ordinances.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Allowed foods

Allowed
  • Baked goods that are not potentially hazardous, made in the baker's home (generally baked by dry heat above 140°F in a closed chamber such as an oven; some items made in a waffle maker or Dutch oven count), such as cookies, cakes, and muffins
  • Home-canned fruits and vegetables that are naturally acidic or acidified by pickling or fermenting, with a pH of 4.6 or lower: pickled fruits and vegetables (not refrigerator pickles), salsas and chutneys, sauerkraut and kimchi
  • Home-canned fruit based jams and jellies
  • Home-canned cherries, peaches, applesauce, and other fruits
  • Honey and bee products from the producer's own bees and apiaries, processed only by straining or heating for packaging, or crystallized into spun or creamed honey

Baked goods: DATCP's homemade baked goods page; the cookies, cakes, and muffins examples are from the Court of Appeals' description of Kivirist (2024 WI App 69, ¶5). The finished, ready-for-sale product must not be potentially hazardous. Home-canned foods: DATCP's Home-Canned Foods page; the statute says "pickles or other processed vegetables or fruits with an equilibrium pH value of 4.6 or lower" (§ 97.29(2)(b)2.a.), and DATCP recommends testing the pH of acidified products. Honey: DATCP's Honey and Honey Products page (no DATCP license needed) and § 97.29(1)(h)8.; this is a separate licensing exemption, not part of either route above.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Prohibited
  • Potentially hazardous baked goods (any business producing them must be licensed)
  • Items dried in a dehydrator (not considered baked goods)
  • Unbaked, not potentially hazardous homemade foods such as fudges, candies, energy bars, roasted coffee beans, and dried soup mixes (DATCP may enforce licensing)
  • Processed fruits or vegetables with a pH higher than 4.6
  • Fish, meat, pickled eggs, lemon curd, pesto, or dressings, regardless of pH
  • Honey or bee products gathered or purchased from other beekeepers, or further processed by adding color, flavors, or other ingredients (including whipping with air) or made into other products such as candy

These need a DATCP license; they are not banned outright. Baked goods and dehydrated items: DATCP's homemade baked goods page. Unbaked foods: the Court of Appeals reversed the 2022 order that had extended the court protection to them (2024 WI App 69, ¶¶6, 39); DATCP says the court orders "apply only to 'baked goods.'" Canned foods: DATCP's Home-Canned Foods page. Honey: DATCP's Honey and Honey Products page.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Labeling requirements

On every package
  • Home-canned foods: sign at the point of sale stating "These canned goods are homemade and not subject to state inspection."
  • Home-canned foods, on each container: name and address of the person who did the canning
  • Home-canned foods, on each container: date of canning
  • Home-canned foods, on each container: "This product was made in a private home not subject to state licensing or inspection."
  • Home-canned foods, on each container: all ingredients in descending order of prominence, including the common name of any ingredient from milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, or sesame
  • Honey: general food label requirements, plus "Ungraded" if not graded (or the grade, and color for Wisconsin No. 1)

DATCP's homemade baked goods page and flyer state no labeling requirements for home bakers. The canned-food sign and label wording is in Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2.d.–e.; the statute's allergen list (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans) does not include sesame, which DATCP's page adds. Honey labeling from DATCP's Honey and Honey Products page.

Source: DATCP — Home-Canned Foods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Sales channels

Where you can sell
  • In person: Yes
  • Farmers market: Yes
  • Online (in-state): Not addressed
  • Online (out-of-state shipping): No — not authorized
  • Delivery (in-state): Not addressed
  • Retail / wholesale resale: No
  • Home bakers: the court orders apply only when the home baker sells directly to consumers; DATCP says a business wholesaling baked goods must be licensed. DATCP's baked-goods guidance does not address internet sales, delivery, or shipping. Home-canned foods: only retail sales direct from producer to consumer, only at community or social events, flea markets, or farmers markets in Wisconsin; DATCP says sales out of your home, wholesale, on consignment, via the internet, or out of state are not permitted, nor are pickle bill products sold along with licensed foods.

Home-canned channel rules from DATCP's Home-Canned Foods page and Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2.b.

Source: DATCP — Licenses and Homemade Baked Goods · Verified Oct 21, 2026

Caveats

  • Wisconsin's home-baker rules come from court orders, not a statute. A 2017 Lafayette County Circuit Court decision in Kivirist v. DATCP (Case No. 2016CV06), and later clarifications, bar DATCP from enforcing licensing against home bakers of baked goods that are not potentially hazardous sold directly to consumers. DATCP did not appeal.
  • On Dec. 28, 2022, the same court extended the protection to any homemade food that is not potentially hazardous. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed that order on Nov. 19, 2024 (2024 WI App 69), and the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied review. Candy, fudge, roasted coffee, dried mixes, and other unbaked homemade foods again need a DATCP license. (DATCP's page gives the Supreme Court denial date as April 10, 2024, which is before the appeals decision it reviewed; DATCP's April 25, 2025 advisory council minutes report the denial as recent.)
  • DATCP warns that ongoing litigation may change the applicability or accuracy of its guidance.
  • The home-canned ("Pickle Bill") exemption is in Wis. Stat. § 97.29(2)(b)2. and is separate from the home-baker court orders: different foods, a $5,000 annual cap, and sales only at community or social events, flea markets, or farmers markets in Wisconsin.
  • 2025 Assembly Bill 748 and Senate Bill 739 would have created a statutory exemption for home-made baked goods and other shelf-stable foods; both failed to pass on March 23, 2026.
  • DATCP's guidance applies only to food made in the producer's home; commercial kitchens must follow ATCP 70 or ATCP 75 and make sure every business using them is licensed.
  • Check local town, village, city, and county ordinances; farmers markets may have their own rules.

Official sources

Page last reviewed: 2026-10-21

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