Dairy · food 40 of 42
Can I sell cheese from home?
cheese is prohibited under cottage food law in 42 of 51 US jurisdictions. The other 9 allow it conditionally, usually with a scheduled process, pH test, or acidified-foods training requirement.
Dairy license usually required outside of MI/NC/exemptions
Free with a Crosodo account. 5-page national report with all 51 US jurisdictions.
National picture
Allowed outright0
Conditional9
Prohibited42
Out of 51 US jurisdictions
Why it's treated this way
The food-safety reasoning
Fresh dairy is regulated under state milk law, not cottage food law. Pasteurization (or documented raw-milk exemption) plus a dairy plant license is the baseline standard. A handful of states (NC, MI) allow limited farmstead cheese with additional testing.
What can go wrong
Real risks in a home kitchen
Listeria, Brucella, and E. coli O157:H7 are the drivers behind dairy plant licensing. Raw milk cheese aged < 60 days is federally banned for interstate commerce.
All 51 US jurisdictions
Cheese — state-by-state verdicts
| State | Verdict | Notes | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | AS 17.20.332 |
| Alabama Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Ala. Code §22-20-5.1 |
| Arkansas Freedom | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | A.C.A. §20-57-201 (Act 1040 of 2021) |
| Arizona Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | A.R.S. §36-931 / §36-932 |
| California Good | No | Requires California dairy plant license. Not permitted under CFO.· state override | Cal. Health & Safety Code §113758 |
| Colorado Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | C.R.S. §25-4-1614 |
| Connecticut Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Conn. Gen. Stat. §21a-62a |
| District of Columbia Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | D.C. Code §7-742.02 |
| Delaware Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | 16 Del. Admin. Code 4458A |
| Florida Great | No | Requires Florida Grade A dairy plant license.· state override | Fla. Stat. §500.80 |
| Georgia Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | O.C.G.A. §26-2-470 et seq. (eff. July 2025); prior: GA R&R 40-7-19 |
| Hawaii Poor | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | HAR §11-50-3 |
| Iowa Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Iowa Code §137F.1 / §137F.20 |
| Idaho Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | IDAPA 16.02.19 (Idaho Food Code, cottage food provisions) |
| Illinois Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | 410 ILCS 625/4 (Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act, §4) |
| Indiana Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Ind. Code §16-42-5.2 |
| Kansas Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | K.S.A. §65-657 |
| Kentucky Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | KRS §217.137 |
| Louisiana Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | La. R.S. §40:4.13 |
| Massachusetts Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | 105 CMR 590.009(D) |
| Maryland Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | MD COMAR 10.15.03.27 |
| Maine Freedom | Conditional | Food Sovereignty Act allows homemade dairy DTC in opted-in municipalities.· state override | 7 M.R.S.A. §282 (Food Sovereignty Act) |
| Michigan Great | Conditional | Michigan farmstead cheese allowed with limited license and state testing.· state override | MCL §289.4102 |
| Minnesota Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Minn. Stat. §28A.152 |
| Missouri Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Mo. Rev. Stat. §196.298 |
| Mississippi Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Miss. Code Ann. §75-29-951 |
| Montana Freedom | Conditional | Local Food Choice Act allows homemade dairy DTC.· state override | Mont. Code §50-50-116 and §50-50-117 (cottage food); Mont. Code §§50-49-201 et seq. (Local Food Choice Act) |
| North Carolina Good | Conditional | North Carolina allows small-scale artisan cheese with a state dairy license (not CFO).· state override | 02 NCAC 9C.0307 |
| North Dakota Freedom | Conditional | Food Freedom Act allows homemade dairy DTC.· state override | N.D. Cent. Code §23-09.5-01 through §23-09.5-02 |
| Nebraska Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Neb. Rev. Stat. §81-2,280 (producer of food at private home); §81-2,239 et seq. (Nebraska Pure Food Act) |
| New Hampshire Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | RSA §143-A:12 |
| New Jersey Poor | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | N.J.A.C. 8:24-11 et seq. |
| New Mexico Great | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | NMSA §25-12-3 (Homemade Food Act) |
| Nevada Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | NRS §446.866 (repealed 2025; superseded by AB352/chapter 420 & 512, Statutes of Nevada 2025) |
| New York Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law §251-z-4; 1 CRR-NY 276.4 |
| Ohio Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | O.R.C. §3715.023; §3715.025; Ohio Admin. Code Ch. 901:3-20 |
| Oklahoma Freedom | Conditional | Homemade Food Freedom Act allows homemade dairy DTC.· state override | 2 O.S. §5-4.1 through §5-4.6 (Homemade Food Freedom Act) |
| Oregon Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | ORS §616.723 |
| Pennsylvania Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | 3 Pa.C.S. §§5721–5737 |
| Rhode Island Poor | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | R.I. Gen. Laws §21-27-6.2 |
| South Carolina Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | S.C. Code §44-1-145 |
| South Dakota Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | SDCL §34-18-35 |
| Tennessee Good | Conditional | Food Freedom Act allows homemade dairy DTC.· state override | Tenn. Code §53-1-125 (Food Freedom Act) |
| Texas Great | No | Dairy products require Texas dairy plant license.· state override | Tex. Health & Safety §437.001 et seq. |
| Utah Freedom | Conditional | HB94 allows homemade dairy DTC with disclosure.· state override | Utah Code §4-5-501 |
| Virginia Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Va. Code §3.2-5130 |
| Vermont Okay | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | 18 V.S.A. §4351; Act 42 (2025) cottage food operator exemption |
| Washington Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | RCW §69.22.010–.040 |
| Wisconsin Freedom | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | Wis. Stat. §97.29 |
| West Virginia Good | No | Dairy is regulated separately under state milk/dairy law. A dairy plant license is usually required. | W. Va. Code §19-40-1 through §19-40-6 (Article 40, Cottage Foods, enacted 2026); §19-35-6 (Nonpotentially hazardous foods at farmers markets) |
| Wyoming Freedom | Conditional | Food Freedom Act allows raw milk and homemade dairy DTC with informed-consumer signage.· state override | Wyo. Stat. §11-49-101 through §11-49-104 (Wyoming Food Freedom Act) |
Take it with you
Get the cheese report as a PDF
5-page national report — verdict tiles, food-safety reasoning, and the complete 51-jurisdiction table with statute citations.
Download the PDFOr read the deeper writeup on the blog post.
Related foods
More cottage food verdicts
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51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Baked, non-refrigerated
Can I sell sourdough bread?
51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Baked, non-refrigerated
Can I sell cake with buttercream?
51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Baked, non-refrigerated
Can I sell muffins?
51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Baked, non-refrigerated
Can I sell brownies?
51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Baked, non-refrigerated
Can I sell fruit pies?
51 yes · 0 conditional · 0 no
Want all 42 foods in one PDF?
Can I Sell This? The Cottage Food Rulebook
A single 100+ page reference — every food, every state, every verdict, with the sanitation reasoning behind each yes, no, and conditional. Same data as this page, plus 41 other foods.
Fine print
This is a summary of state cottage food statutes as of July 2026, not legal advice. Statutes change; municipal zoning codes update quarterly. Verify with your state's department of agriculture, your local health department, and your city or county's planning office before selling. Crosodo is a clothing brand for cottage bakers, not a law firm.