Texas Cottage Food Law Label Requirements: Six Steps

Quotes here come from DSHS's Texas Cottage Food Production page, which shows no update date. They also come from the enrolled text of Senate Bill 541, the 2025 law behind the change. Both were read on 7 October 2026. DSHS says it will adopt rules to carry out the new requirements, so rules can still move. Confirm with DSHS before you print.

Step 1: Choose an address or a state registration number

The law says the label carries the name and address of the cottage food production operation. Since Senate Bill 541, you do not have to print your address if you register with DSHS. You print the unique identification number the department gives you instead.

DSHS says registration is required for operations that sell time and temperature control for safety foods. It is also required for the vendors who resell cottage foods. For everyone else it is a choice. If you do not want your home address on every cake box, registering is the route DSHS describes.

Step 2: Name the operation and give the product its common name

Your label shows the name of the cottage food production operation. It also shows the common or usual name of the product, such as sourdough bread or pound cake. DSHS asks for legible writing as well.

Step 3: Print the private-residence disclosure

DSHS publishes one sentence, in capitals. It reads "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION." The enrolled bill shows the law replaced the earlier requirement with this fixed sentence. The earlier requirement was a statement that the food is not inspected by the state or a local health department.

DSHS's page names no type size for the disclosure. Copy it exactly and keep it legible.

Step 4: List the major allergens

If you make a food with a major food allergen, DSHS says you must list that ingredient on the label. Its page names eggs, tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk, wheat and sesame. The FDA's list of major allergens has nine. They are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. So fish and shellfish belong on your list too if you use them.

The DSHS page lists the major allergens. It does not list a full ingredient list or a net weight line as label items. Ask DSHS if you want more on the label than the page requires.

Step 5: Add the date made and the handling sentence for refrigerated foods

A food that needs time and temperature control for safety, such as a cream cheese cake, brings two extra label items. The label shows the date the food was made. The label or the invoice or receipt carries this sentence in at least 12-point type. It reads "SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep this food refrigerated or frozen until the food is prepared for consumption."

DSHS also gives the temperatures for these foods in transit and storage. They are 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below for cold items and 135 degrees or above for hot ones. That is a gap of 94 degrees (135 minus 41) between the two limits. Operations that sell these foods must register with DSHS.

Step 6: Online sales and foods that cannot carry a label

DSHS allows online sales in one case. The consumer buys directly from the operator, and the operator, an employee or a household member delivers the food in person. Before taking payment, the operator posts a legible statement on the website with all the required labeling information. After payment, the address or registration number goes on the label.

For foods that are not packaged, DSHS says the labeling information goes to the consumer on an invoice or receipt. A very large or bulky item, such as a tiered cake, is the usual case.

A cottage food label tells a buyer where the food was made and who stands behind it.

Texas cottage food law label requirements at a glance

Your label must carry the operation's name, an address or state number, the common name, major allergens and the private-residence disclosure. Refrigerated foods add the date made and the handling sentence. Pickled or fermented foods and plant-based acidified canned goods add a unique number for each batch, per DSHS.

According to DSHS, the law lets any food be sold except a short list. The list is meat and poultry, seafood, ice products such as ice cream, low-acid canned goods, products with cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol, and raw milk. The annual gross income limit is $150,000. The person who runs the operation must complete a food handler course.

Where the Cottage Food Label workbook fits

The Cottage Food Label workbook has a Details tab where you type the name, address and statement. It also has a Label tab that prints them. It supplies no legal wording and does not make a label compliant. You paste in the DSHS disclosure yourself.

The workbook is the wrong choice if you need a made-on date on every label. It has a best before date field and no date made field. For a refrigerated cake, check that your layout can show the date made and the 12-point handling sentence.

A word processor does the same layout for nothing. DSHS's page costs nothing. The workbook costs $5.99 and helps if you reprint often. Its How to use tab names no app menu, only the Details and Label tabs. So the steps read the same in Excel and in Google Sheets.