Nevada Cottage Food Law: NRS 446.866 Requirements Explained

What NRS 446.866 Actually Says

Nevada Revised Statutes 446.866 is the law that lets you prepare and sell certain foods from your home kitchen without the commercial kitchen requirements, routine health inspections, and food establishment permits that apply to restaurants and food trucks. It creates what the state calls a "cottage food operation."

The law sets five conditions that must all be true for the exemption to apply:

1. You prepare food in your primary domestic residence — not a second home, garage conversion, or rented commercial space
2. The food is non-potentially hazardous — shelf-stable items that do not require refrigeration to stay safe
3. You sell directly to the end consumer, face-to-face — no wholesale, no shipping, no online ordering
4. Your gross annual sales stay under $35,000 per calendar year
5. You register with your local health authority and receive an approval letter before starting sales

Miss any one of these, and the cottage food exemption does not apply. You would need a commercial kitchen and a standard food establishment permit instead.

The Kitchen Inspection Question

One of the biggest benefits of NRS 446.866: your home kitchen is exempt from pre-operational inspections. No health inspector needs to visit your house, approve your layout, or sign off on your equipment before you start selling.

That said, "exempt from inspection" does not mean "exempt from standards." You are expected to self-enforce professional sanitation practices. The law and your local health authority's guidelines require separating cottage food preparation from daily household cooking, keeping children and pets out of the kitchen during production, and following a wash-rinse-sanitize protocol on all food-contact surfaces before every batch.

If a customer reports a foodborne illness linked to your products, health department sanitarians can investigate. If the authority determines that your product was adulterated or was the source of an outbreak, it may charge a fee up to the actual cost of the public health investigation.

What You Can (and Cannot) Make

NRS 446.866 restricts cottage food to non-time/temperature-controlled-for-safety (non-TCS) products prepared using dry heat methods. In practical terms:

Allowed: Breads, rolls, biscuits, cookies, celebration cakes (with shelf-stable frosting), fruit pies, pastries, hard candies, cotton candy, popcorn, commercially-coated chocolates, standard fruit jams and jellies, dried herbs, seasoning mixes, trail mix, granola, dehydrated fruits, coated nuts, and strained flavored vinegars.

Prohibited: Anything containing cream, custard, meringue, cream cheese frosting, or low-sugar frosting. No pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, or cream-filled pastries. No dried meats, raw dough, dried or cooked pasta, infused vinegars with solid ingredients, or sugar-free jams. Sourdough starters are also prohibited — Washoe County's Northern Nevada Public Health guidelines explicitly exclude them.

All raw ingredients must come from approved commercial sources — licensed grocery stores, commercial wholesalers, or permitted distributors. You cannot use homegrown eggs, raw milk, backyard produce, or uninspected animal products in cottage food.

The Five Health Districts

Nevada does not have one statewide cottage food registration office. Instead, authority is split across five separate agencies depending on your address:

• Clark County (Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City, Mesquite): Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) — registration via email to [email protected], fee approximately $160
• Washoe County (Reno, Sparks, Incline Village): Northern Nevada Public Health (NNPH) — online application through the onenv.us portal
• Carson City and Douglas County: Carson City Health and Human Services (CCHHS) — initial registration is free, with mandatory label review
• Churchill, Mineral, Eureka, Pershing Counties: Central Nevada Health District (CNHD) — submit by email or mail; email applications go to [email protected]
• All other rural counties: Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) — online via the Aithent system, free registration

Each district has its own fee schedule, training expectations, and local rules. Getting registered with the wrong agency or following the wrong county's guidelines is one of the most common mistakes new operators make.

AB 352: The Law Is Changing in 2027

Assembly Bill 352, passed in 2025 and signed by Governor Lombardo, completely restructures Nevada's cottage food system. The changes take effect July 1, 2027:

• Regulatory authority moves to the Nevada Department of Agriculture — one statewide registration replaces five separate county processes
• Annual revenue cap increases from $35,000 to $100,000 — adjusted for inflation every two years
• Online sales and shipping become legal — operators can accept orders by phone, website, or social media and ship via USPS, UPS, FedEx, or third-party delivery platforms
• Uniform $30 state licensing fee — local municipalities cannot charge additional cottage-food-specific fees
• Standardized food safety training — one state-approved course every three years replaces county-specific handler cards

Until July 1, 2027, the current county-by-county rules under NRS 446.866 remain fully in effect. Operators who attempt to sell online, exceed $35,000, or skip local registration before the transition date are violating current law.

What to Do With This Information

If you are planning a home food business in Nevada, the sequence matters: verify your address falls in the right health district, confirm your recipes qualify as non-TCS, get your food handler training done, design compliant labels, and then register with your local authority. Starting production before you have your approval letter puts you at risk of enforcement.

For the complete step-by-step process — including county-specific registration instructions, a product eligibility matrix, label templates, and business setup guides — the Nevada Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide walks through every step from recipe validation to first legal sale.

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