Every cottage food product in Colorado must be packaged and labeled with specific information — including an exact disclaimer. Here's what goes on your label.
Under the Colorado Cottage Foods Act (C.R.S. § 25-4-1614), every product you sell must be pre-packaged and labeled before it reaches the consumer. The label must include all of the following elements, printed in English:
The common or usual name of the food product — what a consumer would recognize it as. Examples: "Chocolate Chip Cookies," "Strawberry Jam," "Garlic Dill Pickles."
Your full legal name or your registered business name (DBA/trade name). This identifies you as the cottage food producer.
The physical address of the kitchen where the product was made. This is typically your home address, or the address of another kitchen you used for production.
A current phone number or email address where you can be reached. Colorado allows either one — you don't need both.
The date on which the product was made. Use a clear, unambiguous format like "Made on: March 15, 2026" or "Prepared: 03/15/2026."
All ingredients listed in descending order of predominance by weight — the ingredient you used the most goes first. Include sub-ingredients in parentheses. Example: "enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)."
The exact Colorado disclaimer statement must appear on every label. See the full text below — this is mandatory and cannot be modified.
This exact statement must appear on every cottage food label you produce. It cannot be shortened, paraphrased, or omitted:
In addition to the product label, you must display a placard, sign, or card at every point of sale with a slightly shorter version of the disclaimer:
This sign should be clearly visible to customers at farmers markets, events, your home, or anywhere you conduct sales. For online sales, CDPHE recommends including this statement on your product listing or website.
Colorado's required cottage food disclaimer doubles as your allergen warning — it lists the nine major food allergens and informs the consumer that your home kitchen may process any of them. You do not need a separate "Contains:" allergen statement like you'd see on commercial products, but the disclaimer must appear in full.
These are the allergens named in Colorado's required disclaimer and recognized under federal food allergen labeling rules:
You cannot label products "allergen free." Colorado law specifically prohibits cottage food products from being labeled as "allergen free." Because your home kitchen is not a controlled allergen-free environment, this claim would be misleading. Your disclaimer must always acknowledge that common allergens may be present.
Best practice: While Colorado only requires the standard disclaimer, consider also listing specific allergens present in your product within or near the ingredient list — for example, "Contains: wheat, eggs, milk." This goes beyond the legal minimum but builds trust with customers who manage allergies. It's especially important if you sell at farmers markets where customers ask about ingredients in person.
Colorado's Cottage Foods Act does not explicitly require net weight or net contents on cottage food labels. However, including the weight or volume of your product is strongly recommended as a best practice — it helps customers compare products, sets clear expectations, and aligns with federal labeling standards. If you plan to eventually scale beyond cottage food, building this habit early will make your transition smoother.
The Colorado statute does not specify minimum font sizes for cottage food labels. However, all required information must be clearly legible to the consumer. As a practical guideline, keep body text at 6 points or larger, and ensure the disclaimer is readable without magnification. For very small packages, you may need to use a separate tag or hang tag to fit all required information.
If you want to label your cottage food product as "organic," you must be certified by a USDA National Organic Program (NOP) accredited certification agency. However, you can list individual ingredients as organic within your ingredient list (e.g., "organic cane sugar") without NOP certification — as long as the word "organic" does not appear on the primary display panel or product name.
Baked goods and confections that contain alcohol as an ingredient (rum cake, bourbon brownies, etc.) are allowed under cottage food rules. CDPHE recommends including the statement "This product contains alcohol" on your label, though this is not a legal requirement. It's a smart practice that protects you and informs your customers.
If you sell whole shell eggs under the cottage food framework (up to 250 dozen/month), egg cartons have additional labeling requirements under C.R.S. § 35-21-105. Each carton must include the address where the eggs originated and the packaging date. Eggs that have not been treated for salmonella must also include this safe handling statement:
Required egg handling statement: "Safe Handling Instructions: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep eggs refrigerated, cook eggs until yolks are firm, and cook any foods containing eggs thoroughly. These eggs do not come from a government-approved source."
Here's what a properly labeled Colorado cottage food product looks like. Use this as a reference when designing your own labels:
Create compliant Colorado cottage food labels with the required disclaimer pre-filled. Choose a template, enter your product details, and download a print-ready label.
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