Montana Local Food Choice Act
Montana Local Food Choice Act (MLCFA) allows Montanans to sell homemade foods with certain restrictions. Only foods that do not contain meat are allowed and your customers must be informed your product is not regulated. All food must be entirely prepared and packaged at your home. Sales must take place from your home, at an event, at a farmer’s market, farm stand, or through an arranged delivery or pick-up. No permits or licensure is required.
You can sell food made and packaged (if necessary) at home. The food cannot contain any meat.
You can also sell home-produced milk and home-raised poultry under MLFCA, but there are additional requirements. Please contact Missoula Public Health for more guidance.
Food must be completely made and packaged at home. You cannot use MLFCA to make, prepare, or package food at an event, at a farm stand, or any other place that is not your home. This includes pouring drinks, cutting a slice of cake, or preparing samples. Samples that are pre-packaged at home are allowed.
You can sell your homemade foods at events, farmer’s markets, and farm stands. You can also sell your food directly from your home or arrange a personal pick-up or delivery.
You cannot set up a booth to sell food without an event. You cannot use a third-party delivery service like Doordash or Grubhub. You also may not mail your food to customers.
You can only sell food directly to informed consumers. This means you cannot sell your food to grocery stores, restaurants, or any third parties for resale.
One of the requirements of selling under MLFCA is that you must tell your customers that your food is homemade and “is not licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected per any official regulations.” You can inform your customers verbally, with a sign, or with a label on the product.
Both Cottage Food Registrations and MLFCA are ways to sell homemade food in Montana, with some key differences. The main difference is that cottage foods are only foods that do not require refrigeration. For example, cookies, muffins, breads, and standard jams.
Under MLFCA, you can sell any homemade food that doesn’t contain meat.
Another difference is that cottage food vendors register with Missoula Public Health. To register, vendors submit their plans to us and we review their recipes, review their labels, and advise on hygiene.
Selling under MLFCA requires no kind of review from Missoula Public Health.
The last difference is that cottage food vendors are allowed to set up a booth anywhere, anytime (with landowner permission) to sell their foods. People selling under MLCFA are restricted to only selling at events, farmer’s markets, farm stands, directly from your home, or arranged pick-up/delivery.
For more information on the different food service pathways, please see our Food Service Pathways Guide.
A Temporary Food Service (TFS) is a fully regulated way to provide permitted food to the public at an event.
Unlike MLFCA, which allows limited sale of food made and packaged at home, a TFS requires that food is prepared at a commercial commissary kitchen or onsite at an event.
With a TFS permit, you can apply to sell any type of food, while under MLFCA you are limited to homemade foods that do not contain meat.
A TFS also requires permitting by Missoula Public Health and may be inspected during events. Selling under MLFCA requires no kind of review from Missoula Public Health.
For more information on the different food service pathways, please see our Food Service Pathways Guide.