Alabama Cottage Food Law: Food Safety Training Requirements

Cottage food refers to food that you make at home and sell directly to others, usually in-person or through events like farmers’ markets.

Each state has its own cottage food law that regulates the types of food you can produce and sell, to whom and how you can sell, and the amount of money you can make each year.

Some state’s cottage food laws also require food safety training before you can sell your homemade goodies.

This article discusses the Alabama cottage food law, and whether you need food safety training to sell homemade food.

Alabama cottage food production

Alabama allows the production and sale of homemade goods that don’t require time or temperature controls to keep them safe.

Allowed foods include:

baked goods
jams, jellies, and fruit preserves
candy
dried and dehydrated herbs or herb mixes
vegetables or fruits
roasted coffee
dried baking mixes
fermented or preserved fruits and vegetables like pickles with some limitations

Conversely, Alabama’s cottage food law restricts the following foods:

baked goods with ingredients that require refrigeration, such as custard or cream filling
fruit and vegetable juices
milk products, including soft or hard cheeses
barbeque sauce
garlic in oil mixtures
meats in any form
raw cookie dough

Alabama’s cottage food law allows you to sell allowed foods directly to people in person, by phone, or online as long as the people to whom you sell live in Alabama.

You cannot sell homemade foods to commercial food establishments or from a food establishment.

However, you can sell your food from any venue, such as a mobile food unit, van, cart, tent, booth, or store front that is not regulated as a commercial food establishment by the health department.

Cottage food businesses are regulated differently from commercial food establishments, so your local county will not inspect your home kitchen and you don’t need a permit.

However, they will ensure you meet other requirements of Alabama’s cottage food law, including food safety training and product labels.

Alabama has no limit as to how much revenue you can earn annually from the sale of homemade goods.

Summary

Under the Alabama cottage food law, you can sell foods that don’t require time-temperature controls for safety directly to consumers. Because Alabama doesn’t regulate cottage food production operations like food establishments, you don’t need a license or permit.

Do you need food safety training to sell homemade food in Alabama?

While Alabama doesn’t require any type of license or permit to operate a cottage food business, the state does require that you complete an approved food safety training course.

To be approved, Alabama requires that the food safety course is accredited by the ANSI-National Accreditation Board (ANAB).

FoodSafePal’s Food Handler training course is ANAB-accredited so it meets Alabama’s food safety training requirement.

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ANAB-accredited food safety courses like FoodSafePal’s are designed for food workers in retail food establishments so some of the content isn’t applicable to cottage food operators.

Still, they cover important food safety principles that you must know to keep your homemade products safe from disease-causing organisms called pathogens that can make people sick.

After you complete the course, you must pass a multiple-choice consisting of 40 questions.

FoodSafePal’s Food Handler course requires that you answer 28 (70%) correctly to pass and earn your food handlers certificate, which will be good for three years.

Alabama requires that you maintain this certificate through the duration of your business, so you must renew it be retaking and passing another ANAB-accredited food handler training course every three years.

After you earn your certificate, you must take it along with a sample product label to your local county health department for review before you can sell your homemade products.

Your health department can then provide written confirmation that the food handler course certificate and product labels have been reviewed, allowing you to open up shop.

Summary

Alabama’s cottage food law requires the completion of an ANAB-accredited food handler training course — such as FoodSafePal’s — as one of the requirements to open a cottage food business.

Labeling requirements

Alabama’s cottage food law requires that each food has label.

The label’s purpose is to allow people to whom you sell contact you in the case of an illness potentially linked to your product.

It also informs customers of allergens that may be present and that the food is produced in a home kitchen not inspected by the health department.

This label must include the following information in at least 10-point font:

the common or usual name of the food
your name or business name
your address or business address
a list of ingredients in the food in descending order of predominance
the statement: This food is not inspected by the department of public health
disclaimer that the food may contain allergens

You must submit your labels with your application to your local department for approval before you can sell your products.

Summary

Alabama cottage food law requires that each food you wish to make and sell must bear a label with the required information. The health department must approve this label before you can sell the product.

The bottom line

Under the Alabama cottage food law, you can produce and sell foods that don’t require time or temperature controls like baked and other dry goods directly to people throughout the state.

If you want to start a cottage food business in Alabama, you must first complete an ANAB-accredited food handler training course, such as FoodSafePal’s.

After you complete the course and pass the test, you will be issued a certificate that you must provide to your health department before you can start selling your homemade goodies.