Food Safety for Home-Based & Cottage Food Businesses

If you sell food you make at home in Australia — cakes, jams, granola, sauces, cottage-style baking — you are generally running a food business under the Food Standards Code, even from your own kitchen. Most home-based operators must notify or register with their local council before trading, work out whether their products are low-risk or potentially hazardous, and label allergens correctly. Requirements vary by state and council, so always confirm locally before you sell. Key takeaways: Selling food you make at home almost always makes you a food business under the Food Standards Code — even for markets, school fetes run commercially, or online orders — so you generally must notify or register with your local council first.. The biggest factor in what you're allowed to make is risk: shelf-stable, low-risk items (many baked goods, jams, dried mixes) are usually far easier to sell from home than potentially hazardous foods that need refrigeration, such as cream-filled cakes, cheesecakes and cooked meats.. Your kitchen is still a domestic space, so councils focus on how you separate business food preparation from family life, pets, and household activity — plan storage, cleaning and no-pet rules around your production times.. Every packaged food you sell must be labelled correctly, and the allergen declaration rules in Standard 1.2.3 — including the Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) requirements — apply in full, with no home-business exemption.. Rules differ significantly between states, territories and individual councils, so confirm your obligations with your local council and state food regulator before you start trading.. Are you actually a 'food business'? (Usually, yes) The moment you sell food to the public — at a market stall, through Instagram or a Facebook group, to a local cafe, or at a fundraiser run in a business-like way — you are generally operating a food business under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, even though you cook at home. Being small, part-time, or 'just a hobby that got popular' does not usually change that. What matters is that food is being sold to others, so the same core obligations around safe handling, cleanliness and labelling apply to your kitchen bench as to a commercial one. Genuine one-off, not-for-profit fundraisers (a school cake stall, a sausage sizzle for charity) are often treated more leniently by councils, but this varies — confirm with your council rather than assuming you're exempt. Selling online, at markets, to cafes/retailers, or via subscription boxes generally counts as a food business. Regularity and profit-seeking push you further toward 'business' status, but even irregular selling can count. Charitable and one-off community events are sometimes treated differently — check locally, don't assume. Where you sell (interstate, online nationally) can bring more than one jurisdiction's rules into play. Registering or notifying your home kitchen Most home-based food businesses must tell their local council they exist before trading. Under Standard 3.2.2, food businesses are generally required to notify the relevant authority of their details and activities, and many councils require a formal registration or approval for a home-based operation. The council typically wants to know what you'll make, how you'll handle higher-risk steps, and how your home kitchen is set up. An environmental health officer may inspect before you start or shortly after. Because notification and registration systems differ by state and council, use your council's home-based food business process (or the national ABLIS service at ablis.business.gov.au) to find exactly what applies to your address. Notification is the baseline obligation under Standard 3.2.2 for most food businesses. Many councils add a home-based registration, approval or annual fee on top of notification. Expect questions about your menu, water supply, pets, storage and cleaning. An environmental health officer may inspect your kitchen — book this in early, not after you've taken orders. Requirements and fees vary widely by council, so confirm with yours directly. What you can and can't make from home The single biggest factor in what a council will let you produce at home is food safety risk. Low-risk, shelf-stable foods that don't need refrigeration to stay safe — many cakes, biscuits, breads, jams and preserves, honey, chocolates, dried spice mixes and granola — are generally the easiest to sell from a home kitchen, because they don't rely on tight temperature control. Potentially hazardous foods, which must be kept refrigerated or hot to stay safe, are treated far more cautiously and are sometimes not permitted from a domestic kitchen at all. These generally include cream- or custard-filled cakes, cheesecakes, fresh cream products, cooked meats and smallgoods, sushi, fresh pasta, and many sauces and dressings that aren't acidified or shelf-stable. Some products — for example certain preserved, canned, fermented or acidified foods — carry specialised risks (such as Clostridium botulinum in low-acid canned or bottled goods) and may require validated recipes or extra approvals. Generally easier from home: shelf-stable baked goods, jams and preserves, honey, confectionery, dried mixes. Treated cautiously or often not allowed: cream/custard cakes, cheesecakes, cooked meats, sushi, fresh dairy products. Higher-scrutiny/specialised: home-canned low-acid foods, ferments, bottled sauces and infused oils. Always check whether your specific product is classed as 'potentially hazardous' — this drives most of the rules. Separating business food from domestic use Because your kitchen is also where your household lives, cooks and (often) keeps pets, councils pay close attention to how you separate commercial production from everyday domestic use. You generally don't need a fully separate commercial kitchen, but you do need to demonstrate control: cleaning and sanitising surfaces and equipme