Cottage food label requirements in Delaware

Last checked 5 August 2026 · Informational only, not legal or food-safety advice. Verify anything important with Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, Office of Food Protection. Statewide before you print a run of labels.

The short version

A label on food made in a home kitchen in Delaware carries six things wherever you are: what it is, everything in it heaviest first, the major allergens, who made it, how to reach you, and the date. On top of that comes the wording below.

What goes on the label

The product name, in words a customer would use.
Every ingredient, heaviest first.
The major allergens, called out separately from the ingredient list.
Who made it: your name or your business name.
How to reach you.
The date it was made.

What the label has to say

As published for Delaware, read on 5 August 2026:

This food is made in a Cottage Food Establishment and is NOT subject to routine Government Food Safety Inspections

This is published as fixed text, so reproduce it exactly rather than rewording it. It has to appear at 10 point type or larger, which is part of the requirement rather than a design choice.

The detail

You must register as a Cottage Food Establishment (CFE) with the Division of Public Health; plan review applies. Label elements per 4458A 8.2.1: name of the CFE, name of the product, "town/city, Delaware" (NOT your street address), phone number or email of the CFE, net weight or unit count, and date of production or lot number. Plus ingredients in decreasing order by weight (8.2.2, with a small-label exception allowing the list to be given on request) and major food allergen source names (8.2.3). The 10-point type and contrasting color rule is 8.2.5 and reads as applying to the label generally, not only to the disclaimer. Beyond labels: 4458A 8.4 and 8.5 require a written recall/contingency plan, product coding, and batch records (product type, production date, lot number, sale date and location) kept for 3 years. Only non-TCS shelf-stable foods; cannabis is expressly excluded by a recent amendment.

Make one

Free, nothing saved, no account. It fills in Delaware's wording for you and prints a sheet.

Where to verify all of this

Rules change, and this page can lag behind them. Before you rely on any of it:

The rule itself