If your product contains any prohibited ingredients, your application for a Cottage Food Operator's Permit will be denied.

Check the Prohibited Ingredients list

If you believe your product is shelf-stable but the product does not appear on the approved products list, you may submit your product to a laboratory for official analysis. The laboratory will perform a scientific analysis of your product sample to evaluate whether it is non-TCS as required.

Laboratory analysis is not free. You must purchase a private analysis report from an approved Food Testing Laboratory.

A list of Food Testing Laboratories is maintained by the Rutgers Food Innovation Center.

See the list of NJ Food Testing Laboratories

With your submission, include detailed information about the product you intend to make. NJDOH will review your product information and respond via email. Due to high volume and time and effort required to evaluate each item, NJDOH cannot offer a timeframe for individual product review.

Launch the product submission form

If you would like to sell TCS food, you must use a commercial kitchen.

Because TCS foods are potentially dangerous, a health inspector must visit the location and verify that the kitchen and your preparation processes are safe. Because we cannot inspect your home kitchen, we cannot approve TCS foods prepared in your home. Therefore, you must prepare TCS food in an inspected commercial kitchen.

Each local municipality may have its own rules, permits, and resources regarding the use of commercial kitchens. Contact your local health department and tell them you are interested in making food in a commercial kitchen to sell to the public.

Find my Local Health Department