Cottage food label requirements in Missouri

Last checked 5 August 2026 · Informational only, not legal or food-safety advice. Verify anything important with Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services before you print a run of labels.

What goes on the label

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

What the label has to say

Missouri describes what the label has to get across rather than publishing a sentence to copy. This is a common form of it, read on 5 August 2026:

This food is not inspected by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services or the local health department.

Wording close to this is generally accepted.

Who actually enforces this

Missouri sets the rules centrally but they are enforced locally, so the answer that counts is your own office's rather than the state's. Find the office nearest you.

The detail

RSMo 196.298 does NOT publish fixed label text. It requires only that the label carry the name and address of the cottage food production operation and 'a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department', so the wording above is a faithful paraphrase, not statutory text. Scope is narrow: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or herb mixes only, sold directly to the consumer. Internet sales are barred unless both the operation and the purchaser are in Missouri. The statute bars local health departments from regulating cottage food production but requires them to keep complaint records, and several Missouri cities and counties (Springfield-Greene, for example) still publish their own cottage food pages, so the local desk is the practical one to call.

Make one

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

What it is What is in it, heaviest first Make the labels

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
• Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
• The office nearest you