Do I need a license to sell jam in North Dakota?

Yes, and you need no license to do it. North Dakota's Cottage Food Act names "baked goods, jams, jellies, and other food and drink products" made in a home kitchen, and it forbids state agencies and local governments from requiring a license, permit, inspection, or particular packaging or labeling for them [1] [2]. There is no fee, no training and no sales cap. What the law does require is honesty with the buyer: you must tell each customer the jam is not licensed, regulated or inspected, and display a sign or label saying it was made in a home kitchen the health department does not inspect [2]. Sales go to the person who will eat the jam, never to a store [2].

Four rules in a short statute

North Dakota Century Code chapter 23-09.5 is brief, and four parts of it shape a jam business [1] [2]:

• An informed end consumer. Your buyer is the last purchaser, and must be told the product is "not certified, labeled, licensed, packaged, regulated, or inspected" [2]. Say it at the table and print it on your card or sign.
• Home consumption. The jam must be for eating in a private home, or by the buyer's family, employees or nonpaying guests [2].
• No food businesses. Apart from whole, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, cottage food may not be sold to or used by a food establishment, food processing plant or food store [2]. A grocery, café or bakery cannot buy your jam.
• The required statement, on a sign at the point of sale or on the label [2]:

"This product is made in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the state or local health department."

Venues named in the law are a farm, ranch, farmers market, farm stand or your home kitchen, and sales may be completed by delivery [2]. The state health department or a local health authority may investigate after an illness or environmental health complaint [2].

Edge preserves: the law steps aside, so the judgment is yours

Unlike most states, North Dakota does not list allowed preserves. The only foods the Act shuts out are uninspected meat and, with limits, poultry [2]. Low-sugar spreads, fruit butters and pepper jelly are therefore not excluded by name. That leaves the safety decision with you, and the products that other states bar have the same risks here:

Freezer jam is the one edge product the statute addresses directly, through its rule for foods that need refrigeration [2]. Keep it frozen from your freezer to the buyer's bag, and print the handling instructions on the jar. The pattern across states for the rest is on preserves cottage food laws often exclude.

The 2025 change on online orders and shipping

Before 2025, the Act barred cottage food transactions made by internet, phone, mail or consignment, and any involving interstate commerce [4]. Senate Bill 2386, passed with an emergency clause and filed in March 2025, amended that subsection [3] [4]. Testimony on the bill described its purpose as allowing interstate commerce and internet and phone sales [4]. The code as published now lists only meat and poultry limits in that subsection, plus a bar on poultry sold in interstate commerce [1] [2].

Read the current code yourself before you build a shipping business on it, and note that the legislative record does not make it easy to see which words were struck [4]. Whether consignment is now allowed was not confirmed for this page. A state cottage law also cannot settle federal questions about food shipped to other states; see FDA registration and food safety rules. Packing and carriers are on selling jam online.

The protections you have to supply

With no inspector, no required training and no required label beyond the statement, the practices other states demand are yours to choose. The ones that protect your buyers and you:

1. Work from tested recipes and processing times, and keep them on file.
2. Put the federal label basics on every jar anyway: name, net weight, ingredients and allergens, as described on what a jam label must say. Markets and buyers expect them.
3. Add a lot code so you can trace a problem batch.
4. Carry product liability insurance. The cottage law offers no protection from a lawsuit; see insurance, licenses and sales tax.

Food and Lodging's cottage food page

The agency is the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Lodging, 600 East Boulevard Ave, Bismarck, ND 58505; (701) 328-2310 [5]. Its cottage food page links the statute and a Consumer Advisory Notice you can post [5]. Ask how it reads the 2025 amendment on shipping and consignment. The rules above were last verified in October 2026.

Pricing jam with no cap

North Dakota sets no ceiling on sales, so your limit is fruit and kitchen time. How to price jam turns that into a price per jar, and the fifty-state table compares North Dakota with Montana, South Dakota and Minnesota.

References

1. North Dakota Legislature, North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-09.5, Cottage Food Production and Sales, not dated (viewed October 2026). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t23c09-5.pdf#nameddest=23-09p5-01
2. National Agricultural Law Center, North Dakota cottage food statutes (N.D. Cent. Code §§ 23-09.5-01, 23-09.5-02), not dated (viewed October 2026). https://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/cottagefood/North-Dakota.pdf
3. North Dakota Legislature, SB 2386 bill overview (69th Legislative Assembly), March 2025. https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/bill-overview/bo2386.html
4. North Dakota Legislative Council, SB 2386 legislative history (testimony of February 3 to March 6, 2025), 2025. https://ndlegis.gov/files/resource/69-2025/library/sb2386.pdf
5. North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Lodging, Cottage Food Act, not dated (viewed October 2026). https://www.hhs.nd.gov/health/food-and-lodging/cottage-food