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

WYOMING COTTAGE FOOD AT A GLANCE

License or permit: None. Under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act (Wyo. Stat. § 11-49-101 et seq.), homemade food sold the way the Act describes is exempt from state licensure, permitting, inspection, packaging, and labeling requirements. No registration, no training, no fees.

Sales caps — yes, Wyoming has them: To stay a “producer” under the Act, you may make no more than 250,000 individual food or drink products a year and earn no more than $250,000 in gross revenue a year. (Plenty of websites say there’s no cap. The statute says otherwise — § 11-49-102(a)(vi).)

Labels: None required for direct sales — not one element. One exception: food sold in a retail shop or grocery store must carry one exact statement (quoted below).

Where sales must happen: In Wyoming only, to a buyer who will eat the food at home — no interstate commerce, no shipping out of state.

Who can sell for you: For shelf-stable foods, almost anyone — you, a helper you’ve named in writing (a “designated agent”), or even a retail store. For foods the Act treats as potentially hazardous (including buttercream-frosted baked goods), only you or your designated agent may sell them.

THE WIDEST-OPEN LAW IN THE COUNTRY — WITH TWO STRINGS ATTACHED

Wyoming passed the original Food Freedom Act in 2015, and it is still the most permissive home-food law in America. There is no application, no permit, no inspection, and no label requirement for selling directly to your neighbors. The state basically says: you two work it out, as long as the buyer knows the food isn’t inspected.

But “no rules” isn’t quite the truth, and the details matter for bakers. Wyoming quietly caps producers at 250,000 products and $250,000 in revenue a year. It sorts food into two tiers, and which tier your frosting lands in decides whether a store may sell your cookies or only you may. And there is exactly one label in the whole Act — it shows up only when your food sits on a store shelf. This guide walks through all of it, in plain English.

WHAT YOU CAN SELL — AND THE FROSTING RULE THAT SORTS BAKERS INTO TWO TIERS

The Act covers homemade food and drink generally — there is no narrow “allowed foods” list like most states publish. Instead, the statute sorts everything into two tiers (§ 11-49-102(a)(x)–(xi)):

Tier 1 — non-potentially hazardous food (food that doesn’t need time or temperature control to stay safe). The statute’s examples include jams, uncut fruits and vegetables, pickled vegetables, hard candies, fudge, nut mixes, granola, dry soup mixes (no meat-based ones), coffee beans, popcorn, and — here is the part bakers need — “baked goods that do not include dairy or meat frosting or filling or other potentially hazardous frosting or filling.” Tier 1 food can be sold by you, your designated agent, or a third-party vendor, including a retail shop or grocery store.

Tier 2 — potentially hazardous food (food that requires time/temperature control: the statute’s examples include foods requiring refrigeration, dairy products, quiches, pizzas, frozen doughs, meat, and cooked vegetables and beans). Tier 2 food may be sold only by the producer or the producer’s designated agent — a store can never sell it for you.

So let’s talk buttercream. Because the definition turns on dairy frosting or filling, a cookie or cake frosted with real buttercream is Tier 2 in Wyoming — perfectly legal to sell, but only you or your designated agent can be the seller. A shelf-stable frosting (no dairy or meat frosting/filling) keeps the same cookie in Tier 1, where a grocery store or gift shop may sell it for you. Same kitchen, same cookie — the frosting decides the sales channel.

Freeze-dried treats: the Act never uses the words “freeze-dried,” so consider this a careful reading rather than a promise: freeze-dried candy and fruit are shelf-stable and need no temperature control, which fits the Tier 1 definition on its face (and the Tier 1 list is expressly “not limited to” its examples). Freeze-drying something that starts out potentially hazardous is a different question — when in doubt, ask the Wyoming Department of Agriculture before you sell.

Off the table: meat products are excluded from Act sales except for a short list of farm exceptions (your own poultry up to 1,000 birds a year, live animals, domestic rabbit meat, qualifying farm-raised fish, and animal-share arrangements) — and a 2025 addition for producer-raised beef, lamb, pork, and goat meat is not in effect yet; it only activates if federal law changes and the governor certifies it. Also off the table: selling your food to be resold, shipping across state lines, or supplying a restaurant — homemade Act food may not be used in a commercial food establishment.

WYOMING LABELING: ALMOST NOTHING — AND ONE EXACT SENTENCE FOR STORE SHELVES

For a farmers market, farm stand, or doorstep sale, Wyoming requires no label elements at all — no business name, no ingredient list, no net weight, no allergen line. What the Act requires instead is a conversation: you must inform your buyer that the food is not certified, labeled, licensed, packaged, regulated, or inspected (§ 11-49-103(e)). The law prescribes the message, not the wording. Anyone selling your Tier 1 food for you — an agent or a store — owes buyers the same heads-up.

The one exception — retail sales. If your non-potentially hazardous food (or dairy products) are sold at a retail location or grocery store (§ 11-49-103(k)):

  • Your food may not share a shelf or display unit with food from licensed establishments.
  • Each product must be clearly and prominently labeled with this exact statement: this food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected and may contain allergens
  • The retail space must also tell customers the homemade food has not been inspected and display a sign saying so.

Everything else you might print — your business name, ingredients, a real allergen list, your phone number — is voluntary in Wyoming. It’s still a good idea (customers and market managers love it, and that little store statement even mentions allergens), but print it because it’s helpful, not because the state makes you.

WHERE AND HOW YOU CAN SELL

Direct sales: at farmers markets, farms, ranches, your home or office, or any spot you and your buyer agree on. Your buyer must be an “informed end consumer” — the final buyer, who has been told the food isn’t inspected and will eat it at home, not resell it.

Designated agents: you may name someone in writing — a person, a consignment-style market, or a “food freedom store” — to help with marketing, transport, storage, and delivery (§ 11-49-102(a)(xii)). Two conditions: the designation is in writing, and your agent may never take ownership of your products. Agents may sell any of your food, Tier 1 or Tier 2.

Retail shops and grocery stores: Tier 1 food only, with the store label and signage rules above. If a space sells Tier 2 food and is connected to a commercial food establishment or also sells inspected products, state rules require physical separation — its own door and register, signs marking which space is inspected and which isn’t, and separate coolers and storage.

Hard borders: every transaction must occur in Wyoming and may not involve interstate commerce — so no mailing cookies to a cousin in Colorado under this Act, and no online orders shipped out of state.

YOUR 3 STEPS TO START

  1. Sort your menu into the two tiers. Shelf-stable frosting and fillings keep you in Tier 1, where anyone — including stores — may sell for you. Buttercream and other dairy frostings move a product to Tier 2: still sellable, but only by you or your designated agent.
  2. Put your disclosure habit and your agents in place. Tell every buyer, plainly, that your food isn’t certified, licensed, or inspected — that’s the Act’s core requirement. If anyone will sell or deliver for you, name them as a designated agent in writing first.
  3. Watch the caps and the state line. Keep an eye on the 250,000-product and $250,000-revenue lines as you grow, and keep every sale inside Wyoming. If a store wants your cookies, add the exact store label (“this food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected and may contain allergens”) and make sure your food gets its own shelf space.

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 WYOMING 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 Wyoming Department of Agriculture.

Just add sprinkles!