Arkansas cottage food and Food Freedom Act guides

What this site covers, and the one idea behind it

Arkansas replaced its Cottage Food Act with the Food Freedom Act in 2021, and the change is bigger than most producers expect.

You can now sell far more than baked goods without a licensed kitchen, but the law draws its line by food safety, not by product type. If a food needs time or temperature control to stay safe, it stays off the exempt list. If it does not, you can sell it direct to the consumer from almost anywhere in the state.

Every page here sits on one side of that line or explains the business that grows around it. Start with what the Food Freedom Act allows if you are new to the trade.

What you can sell, and how it is decided

The allowed-food question is a food-safety question, and the state answers it with one test.

The Food Freedom Act explainer sets out the exemption and where it stops. The allowed-foods page walks the state's own categories, from baked goods to hemp. The pH rule page covers the pickles and salsas that qualify only with a tested recipe or a meter reading of 4.6 or lower.

If your product is not clearly on either list, ask the environmental health specialist at your local health unit before the first sale. That call is free and settles it.

Selling direct: markets, online and third parties

The Act widened where a sale may happen, and most of the old location limits are gone.

The farmers market guide covers the market stall and the market's own rules. The online and delivery page covers web sales, shipping and the website labeling rule. The grocery and retail page explains the third-party vendor route and the one hard no: restaurants cannot use your product.

Labels and records

Exempt from inspection is not exempt from disclosure. Every sale carries five pieces of information to the buyer.

The labeling guide gives the required label contents, the privacy ID number option, and the placard rule for unpackaged goods. The batch records page covers the records that acidified-vegetable producers must keep for each batch.

The business behind the kitchen

The exemption never extended to the business around it: taxes, liability and filings all still apply.

Do you need an LLC weighs the choice for a home producer, and the structure comparison lays out the options. The formation services page lists each service's own published prices next to the $45 file-it-yourself route. The cost page adds up what a first year actually costs.

Money: taxes and the licensed-kitchen decision

Two money questions come up once sales are steady: what you owe on them, and when the kitchen itself must change.

Taxes on cottage food sales covers self-employment tax, the state grocery tax change from January 1, 2026, and local permits. The licensed-kitchen trigger page explains the $35 permit and the plan review that stand between you and selling TCS foods, and the scenario page walks one producer's first market day end to end.

What can I sell from my kitchen?

• What the Arkansas Food Freedom Act allows — How the Food Freedom Act exempts homemade non-TCS food from Arkansas licensing and inspection, and where the exemption stops.
• Foods you can and cannot sell in Arkansas — The Arkansas Department of Health's allowed, prohibited and exception foods for home producers, category by category, from baked goods to hemp.
• pH testing for pickles and acidified foods — How Arkansas producers of pickles and acidified vegetables qualify: approved recipes, lab testing, or a calibrated pH meter at 4.6 or below.

Where and how do I sell it?

• Selling at an Arkansas farmers market — How Arkansas Food Freedom Act sales work at farmers markets: state stall rules, what the market can add, and what local licenses still apply.
• Selling homemade food online in Arkansas — Online and telephone sales, shipping and delivery under the Arkansas Food Freedom Act: website labeling, carriers and where the exemption ends.
• Selling homemade food to Arkansas stores — How Arkansas Food Freedom Act producers place products in grocery stores and retail shops, the separation rule, and the restaurant line that never moves.

Labels, records and batch numbers

• Arkansas homemade food labels and disclosures — The five disclosures Arkansas requires on homemade food labels, placards and websites, the allergen statement, and the privacy ID number option.
• Batch records for pickled and acidified foods — The four records Arkansas law requires for each batch of acidified vegetables, a worked batch log example, and how long to keep the notebook.

The business behind the kitchen

• Does your Arkansas food business need an LLC? — Whether an Arkansas homemade food producer needs an LLC: what the Food Freedom Act requires, what it never covered, and when the shield pays.
• LLC vs sole proprietorship for Arkansas food sellers — Sole proprietorship against LLC for an Arkansas homemade food business: liability, the $45 filing, the $150 franchise tax, banking and insurance.
• Formation services for Arkansas food businesses — Formation services for an Arkansas food business LLC: each service's own published prices, what renews, and the $45 file-it-yourself route.

Costs, taxes and the May 1 report

• What an Arkansas cottage food business costs — The first-year cost of an Arkansas homemade food business: ingredients, labels, a pH meter, market fees, the LLC route and the taxes that stay.
• Taxes on Arkansas cottage food sales — Self-employment tax, the January 2026 state grocery tax change, local sales tax, permits and the hobby-versus-business question for Arkansas food sellers.

Growing, safety and insurance

• When you need a licensed kitchen in Arkansas — The trigger out of the Food Freedom Act exemption and into a licensed kitchen: the $35 permit, the plan review, the facility types and what crossing costs.
• Growing past the home kitchen exemption — How an Arkansas homemade food business grows inside the Food Freedom Act: more channels, a commercial kitchen, an LLC and the decisions to make in order.
• Food safety practices for Arkansas home kitchens — Food safety practices for Arkansas homemade food sales: kitchen habits, acidity control, records and the illness complaint the Act does not shield.
• Insurance and liability for Arkansas food sellers — Product liability insurance, venue requirements, the Food Freedom Act's lack of liability protection, and how insurance and structure split the risk.
• One Arkansas producer's first farmers market day — A first market day for an Arkansas homemade food producer: product checks, labels, batch records, cash, taxes and what to write down after.
• How Act 1040 replaced Arkansas cottage food law — How Arkansas's Cottage Food Act of 2017 became the Food Freedom Act of 2021, and what the 2025 and 2026 amendments changed after.

Questions