Last verified: October 23, 2026. I’m a Texas home baker, not a lawyer — laws change, so always confirm with the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) before you sell.

MARYLAND COTTAGE FOOD AT A GLANCE

Annual sales cap: $100,000 in annual revenue from cottage food products — raised from $50,000 effective October 1, 2026 (2026 Laws of Maryland, Chapter 320). Heads-up: MDH’s own FAQ and Guidelines still show the old $50,000 figure as of this writing, so if you’re anywhere near either number, confirm with MDH’s Office of Food Protection.

License or permit: Not required — by law, a cottage food business is not required to be licensed by the Maryland Department of Health (Health–General § 21-330.1). No state registration for direct sales, either.

Kitchen inspection: Not required — no preliminary or routine inspection. If a complaint or illness is reported, the health department may investigate and inspect, and you can’t refuse them entry.

Food handler course: Not required for direct sales. Required only if you sell to a retail food store (see below).

Shipping: Maryland only — you may mail your products anywhere inside Maryland, but interstate sales are prohibited.

Wholesale: Retail food stores only, and only after an MDH approval step — you must complete an approved food safety course, submit your label to MDH, and wait for written approval (a compliance letter) before your first store sale.

WHY MARYLAND QUIETLY BECAME ONE OF THE BETTER STATES FOR HOME BAKERS

Maryland doesn’t always make the “friendliest cottage food states” lists, and that’s a little unfair. There’s no license, no registration for direct sales, no routine inspection, and — since October 1, 2026 — a $100,000 annual revenue cap, which puts Maryland near the top of the country. You can sell from home, at farmers markets and public events, by personal delivery, and even by mail anywhere in the state.

Maryland also offers something almost no other state does: if you don’t want your home address on every label, you can ask MDH for a unique identification number and print your business name, phone number, and that ID number instead. For home bakers who sell at busy public markets, that’s a genuinely thoughtful privacy option.

The catches are specific, and they’re all in this guide: your county or town can have its own rules (a few are more restrictive, so check locally), buttercream has a lab-testing hurdle, and selling into a grocery store takes an approval letter from the state first. Get those three things right and Maryland is wide open.

WHAT YOU CAN (AND CAN’T) SELL

Everything under Maryland cottage food has to be non-potentially hazardous — shelf-stable food that doesn’t need refrigeration to stay safe. The allowed list (COMAR 10.15.03.27) covers:

Allowed: Non-potentially hazardous baked goods (breads, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins, fruit pies and tarts from acidic fruits); non-potentially hazardous candy, including hard candies and lollipops; hot-filled canned acid fruit jellies, jams, and preserves from the listed fruits (apple, apricot, grape, peach, plum, prune, quince, orange, nectarine, tangerine, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, boysenberry, cherry, cranberry, strawberry, red currant); fruit butters from those same high-acid fruits; popcorn and kettle corn; granola; dry mixes, including bread mixes; repackaged commercially processed dry ingredients like spice blends; chocolate confections made from commercially manufactured chocolate; roasted whole coffee beans; and wedding and specialty cakes with shelf-stable, non-potentially hazardous fillings and icings.

The frosting fine print (this is the one that trips up Maryland cookie decorators): Butter-based buttercream, royal icing — including royal icing made with meringue powder — and any icing made with perishable ingredients like milk or butter are not automatically allowed. Because their water activity and pH vary by recipe, MDH requires testing by a third-party analytical food testing laboratory: a water activity of 0.85 or below, or a pH of 4.6 or below, proves the icing is non-potentially hazardous and sellable. Change the recipe and you re-test. Frostings made with shortening or oils and other non-potentially hazardous ingredients are allowed — as long as no water is added — and sugar-and-water glazes and drizzles need the same lab testing as buttercream. One more: royal icing can’t be made with unpasteurized shell egg whites.

Not allowed: Anything potentially hazardous, and specifically: salsas, tomato sauces, and spaghetti sauces; beverages of any kind, including apple cider; meat and poultry products, including jerky; pumpkin, meringue, and pecan pies (and other perishable egg-rich pies); fermented foods like kombucha, kefir, and yogurt (sourdough bread is the one exception); pizza and other prepared foods; fried doughnuts and churros (baked ones with non-hazardous toppings are fine); pumpkin butter, pear butter, and other low-acid fruit butters; syrups, including elderberry syrup; ground or brewed coffee (whole roasted beans are fine); and products made with CBD or cannabis (only GRAS hemp seed ingredients may be added).

Freeze-drying — read this one carefully, because Maryland splits it: Freeze-drying or dehydrating your own food is not allowed under cottage food — it requires a food license. But freeze-drying commercially bought candy (MDH’s own example is Skittles) is allowed, as long as the candy is non-potentially hazardous. Home freeze-dried fruit, herbs, or meals are out; freeze-dried candy from the store is in.

One more conditional: Moist quick breads made with low-acid fruits or vegetables — banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread — aren’t automatically non-potentially hazardous. Each recipe needs third-party water activity testing (0.85 or below to qualify), and you should keep the lab results handy at markets and events.

Packaging note: Everything must be produced, prepackaged, and labeled in your home kitchen. You can’t bake or package on-site at a market — that takes a temporary food license instead.

MARYLAND LABELING REQUIREMENTS

Maryland law (Health–General § 21-330.1) and COMAR 10.15.03.27 require every cottage food product to be prepackaged with a label containing:

  1. Your business name and address — or the privacy alternative. Either (a) the name and physical address of your cottage food business (a P.O. Box is not acceptable), or (b) your business name and phone number plus the unique identification number MDH assigns you on request — that ID number legally replaces your home address on the label.
  2. The name of the product — its common name, like “Chocolate Chip Cookies.”
  3. Ingredients in descending order of amount by weight, including the sub-ingredients of any ingredient (MDH’s tip: copy them from each ingredient’s own label, in parentheses).
  4. Net weight or net volume (the MDH FAQ also accepts a count, like “one dozen cookies”).
  5. Allergen information as required by federal labeling rules — the Big 9 (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame), identified in the ingredient list or in a “Contains” statement. If every ingredient and sub-ingredient is listed, a separate “Contains” statement is optional.
  6. This exact statement, verbatim, in 10-point or larger type in a color that clearly contrasts with the label background: Made by a cottage food business that is not subject to Maryland’s food safety regulations.

Selling to a retail food store? Three more items become required on those labels: your business phone number, your business email address, and the date the product was made.

Only if you make a nutrition claim (“low fat,” “reduced sugar,” and the like) do you also need nutrition information meeting federal requirements. Otherwise, no Nutrition Facts panel is required.

WHERE YOU CAN SELL IN MARYLAND

Directly to consumers, anywhere in Maryland: from your residence, at farmers markets, at bake sales held with fundraising events, at public events, by personal delivery, and by mail order — Maryland is one of the states that expressly allows cottage food to be mailed, as long as it stays inside the state. You may advertise and sell online, but every sale must be to a Maryland buyer; interstate sales are prohibited.

To retail food stores — with the state’s permission slip first: A “retail food store” means a licensed store that sells prepackaged food — a grocery store, convenience store, retail market, retail bakery, or food cooperative. (It does not include restaurants, coffee shops, or cafeterias.) Before your first store sale you must: complete a food safety course approved by MDH and ANSI (taken within the past 3 years), submit your label and your course documentation to MDH through the Cottage Food Business Request Form, and wait for MDH’s written approval — a compliance letter — before selling. Your store-bound labels also pick up the three extra items listed above (phone, email, date made).

Two local warnings: First, state law doesn’t override your county or town — § 21-330.1 requires you to comply with all applicable county and municipal laws, some jurisdictions are more restrictive, and a market can require more than the state does, so check with your local health department and zoning office before your first sale. Second, bake sales count as a channel only when they’re part of a fundraising event — setting up in front of a shop to sell for your own profit doesn’t qualify as a bake sale (MDH’s example: a Valentine’s Day stand in front of a florist).

YOUR 3 STEPS TO START

  1. Check your products against the Maryland list — and test your icings. Everything must be non-potentially hazardous. If your signature product wears buttercream or royal icing, budget for the third-party lab test (water activity ≤ 0.85 or pH ≤ 4.6) before you sell a single one. And if freeze-dried treats are your dream, remember the split: commercial candy only.
  2. Build your label — and decide about the ID number. Six everyday elements, the exact statement in 10-point contrasting type, ingredients with sub-ingredients. If you’d rather not print your home address, request the MDH identification number through the Cottage Food Business Request Form first, and use name + phone + ID instead.
  3. Sell Maryland-only — and get the letter before you approach a store. Home, markets, events, delivery, and mail inside the state are all open from day one. The day you want a grocery store shelf, start the MDH approval process (course + label + written approval) before you pitch, not after.

Keep exploring: see the Cottage Food Laws by State hub (https://cottagebakersupply.com/cottage-food-laws-by-state/) for every state’s rules, and the free tools page (https://cottagebakersupply.com/tools/) — the Cottage Label Generator and the Cottage Cost Calculator — built for home bakers.

OFFICIAL MARYLAND SOURCES

This guide is for informational purposes only and isn’t legal advice. Cottage food laws change — I last verified this page on October 23, 2026. When in doubt, ask the Maryland Department of Health.

Just add sprinkles!