Arkansas homemade food labels and disclosures

The five disclosures, in the order the law lists them

Every sale under the Food Freedom Act carries five pieces of information to the buyer: the date the food was produced, your name, address and phone number, the common or usual name of the food, the ingredients in descending order of predominance, and the required statement about private-residence production.

That is the full list, and it is short enough to fit a jam jar's lid. What trips producers is the order of the ingredients, which must run by weight from most to least, and the date, which is the production date, not a best-by date you invented.

The five items come from Arkansas Code § 20-57-505(a), and the statute tells you where they go in § 20-57-505(b): a label on the package, a label plus a written document for bulk containers, a placard at the point of sale for unpackaged goods, or the website for online sales.

5 disclosuresArkansas Code § 20-57-505(a) requires the production date, the producer's name, address and phone, the product's common name, the ingredients in descending order, and the required statement. — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

Arkansas Code § 20-57-505(b) requires the disclosures on a label, on a container plus a written document for bulk sales, on a placard for unpackaged goods, or on the website. — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

The required statement, word for word

The statement reads: "This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens."

Copy it exactly. The wording is set by statute, and a paraphrase like "made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state" is not the disclosure the law asks for. Print it on the same label as the other four items, not on a sign elsewhere in the stall.

The allergen sentence also does real work. Federal law recognizes nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. If your ingredients list names one of them plainly, the statement and the list together cover it. List sesame since 2023; it joined the federal list under the FASTER Act.

Arkansas Code § 20-57-505(a)(5) requires the statement "This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens." — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

9 major allergensThe FDA lists the major food allergens as milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame, and requires them to be labeled by source. — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, retrieved 2026-09-29

Labels, placards and websites: which one where

Packaged products take a label on the package. Bulk containers, like a bin of bread at a market stall, take a label on the container plus a separate written document handed over at the sale.

Unpackaged goods with no container take a placard at the point of sale carrying the same five items. Online sales take both: the website must show the labeling information, and the package itself must still be labeled before it ships.

The online rule is the one sellers miss. A web storefront page with a product description and price but no production date, producer contact and ingredient list is not a compliant listing, even if the jar in the box is perfect.

The Arkansas Department of Health requires products offered for sale online to include the labeling information on the website, and the package itself must also be labeled. — Arkansas Department of Health, retrieved 2026-09-29

Arkansas Code § 20-57-505(b)(2) requires a placard displayed at the point of sale when the homemade food or drink product is not packaged or offered from a bulk container. — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

The ID number that keeps your home address private

Listing a home address and phone on every jar is a real privacy cost, and the law anticipated it. A producer who does not wish to disclose contact details for safety reasons may request an identification number from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and use it instead.

The Department of Agriculture takes the application online. The number does everything the address did: it lets the product be traced back to the producer if there is an issue, without publishing where you live on every label.

Everything else on the label stays. The ID number replaces the name, address and telephone line only, not the date, the product name, the ingredients or the required statement.

Arkansas Code § 20-57-505(a)(2) allows a producer who does not wish to disclose contact details for safety reasons to use a Department of Agriculture identification number instead. — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture states producers can obtain the identification number through the Department of Agriculture's Business ID Number form. — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (FSPPC318, May 2026), retrieved 2026-09-29

Labeling that the exemption removes

The exemption is from state packaging and labeling requirements, so nutrition facts panels, net-quantity statements and the federal label formats do not apply to a homemade non-TCS product sold under the Act.

That removal is narrower than it reads. It does not touch the five disclosures, which are required by the same law that grants the exemption. And it does not reach federal rules the moment a product crosses state lines, where the FDA's jurisdiction and the destination state's law take over.

It also gives no liability protection, as the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture notes plainly: a consumer injured by a homemade product can still sue the person who made it. A clear, honest label is cheap insurance against that conversation, and the LLC page covers the structure question behind it.

Arkansas Code § 20-57-504(a) exempts compliant homemade products from state licensure, certification, inspection, and packaging and labeling requirements. — Arkansas General Assembly (Act 1040 of 2021), retrieved 2026-09-29

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture states the Food Freedom Act provides no liability protection, so anyone injured by a homemade product can still sue the maker. — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (FSPPC318, May 2026), retrieved 2026-09-29

Print-run checklist before the first market

Read one printed label against this list with the jar in hand, before paying for a print run.

Date on the label, and it is the production date. Producer name and address and phone, or the Agriculture ID number. Product's common name. Ingredients in descending order of weight. The statutory statement, copied exactly. Batch number, if the product is acidified. Website carries the same five items if you sell online, per the online sales page.

Then change one habit: re-read the label every time the recipe changes. A new ingredient moves the list, and a label that no longer matches the jar is worse than no label, because it is a misrepresentation, and misbranded food is outside the exemption even inside Arkansas.

The Arkansas Department of Health states all food sold in Arkansas must comply with the Arkansas Food Drug and Cosmetic Act and cannot be misbranded or dishonestly presented. — Arkansas Department of Health, retrieved 2026-09-29

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