The cottage or exemption regime

Every state answers this differently, and the differences are not details. They decide whether you can start at home, whether you can sell online, and at what point the business has to change shape.

Why spice usually qualifies

Cottage food regimes generally cover foods that are shelf stable and do not support microbial growth. Dry spice is squarely in that description: no water activity to support growth, no process step that can go dangerously wrong, no cold chain.

So in most states packing dry spice at home is permitted where making anything chilled or canned is not.

The four limits that vary

What qualifies. Most states include dried herbs and spices; some are explicit, some leave you reasoning from a general definition.

Where you may sell. The one that matters most, below.

How much. Annual sales ceilings range from modest to substantial, and crossing one moves you into licensing mid-year.

What the label must say. Many regimes require a specific statement that the product was made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state, in prescribed wording.

The channel limits catch people

Direct to consumer is almost always permitted. Wholesale is frequently excluded. Internet sales are excluded in several states and permitted in others, sometimes only for in-state delivery.

Since online and wholesale are the two obvious growth moves, this is the clause that determines when your business has to change its legal form. Read it before you build the shop, not after the first order.

Finding your own

Your state department of agriculture or health publishes the regime. Several extension services publish plain-language guides that are considerably clearer than the statute, and Iowa State and Michigan State are examples worth looking at even if you are elsewhere, because they show the shape of the questions.

Ask specifically: does dry spice qualify, may I sell online, may I sell wholesale, what is the ceiling, and what exact wording must appear on the label.

References