Illinois’ Cottage Food Law allows food entrepreneurs, local producers, and home cooks to sell non-potentially hazardous homemade foods and drinks to the public. Prior to 2012, those foods had to be prepared in a licensed commercial kitchen, an expensive option for those running a small business.

Demand for locally produced food and a growing cottage food industry has spawned statewide conversations around food entrepreneurism, resulting in the Home-to-Market Act, a set of legislative updates to the Cottage Food Law. The amendment, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2022, gives owners the opportunity to grow their business by expanding the direct-to-consumer venues through which they can sell.

Previously, food operators could only sell homemade foods through farmers markets. Now, sales avenues also include fairs, festivals, public events, order pickup from the operator’s home or farm, delivery to customer, and online sales within the state.

“It’s an exciting time to be in the cottage food industry,” says Mary Liz Wright, University of Illinois Extension nutrition and wellness educator.

Significant Cottage Food Law changes resulting from the Home-to-Market Act include:

• Point-of-sale avenues outside of farmers markets.

• Buttercream icing no longer prohibited.

• Clarification for acidified and fermented foods.

• Regulations and certification processes have become more standardized and consistent.

Wright and fellow Illinois Extension educator Jenna Smith have been instrumental in helping to refine these changes that promote innovation while retaining safe food preservation practices that minimize the risk of exposing the public to foodborne illnesses.

Wright says that the law’s focus has shifted since its 2012 inception. Instead of publishing a finite list of approved foods, it focuses on identifying 14 groups of potentially hazardous, prohibited foods that pose a greater risk of transmitting foodborne illness.