Exactly what has to be on your label in 2026 — the five required elements, the statement you can't reword, and the allergen naming mistakes that catch even experienced bakers.
On September 1, 2025, SB 541 rewrote the Texas Cottage Food Law — the sales cap tripled to $150,000, the allowed-foods list flipped from "only these" to "anything except these," and the label rules changed. If your labels were compliant in early 2025, they may not be now.
Here's the complete, current list of what Texas requires on a cottage food label — no more, no less — pulled from the statute and DSHS guidance, not from a Facebook comment thread.
For standard shelf-stable baked goods sold directly to your customer, Texas requires exactly five elements:
A full ingredient list is optional in Texas. The law only requires you to disclose the major allergens actually present. You can add ingredients, your website, a QR code, or "By Appointment Only" — anything extra is allowed as long as the required elements are there.
Skip the guesswork. Our free SB 541 Label Maker builds a print-ready label with all five required elements, the exact non-inspection statement, and correct allergen names — download a PDF for Avery sheets or a PNG for your thermal printer.
Open the Free Label Maker →SB 541 updated the required statement of non-inspection. As of September 1, 2025, every label must carry this exact wording, in all caps, exactly as it appears in the statute:
You can't soften it, shorten it, or rewrite it in your own voice — the statute requires the statement exactly as written. If your labels still carry the old pre-2025 wording, this is the first thing to update.
Federal law (FALCPA, updated by the FASTER Act) defines nine major allergens, and Texas requires you to disclose any that are present in your product:
Two rules trip people up: you must list the allergens actually present — a blanket "may contain all major allergens" statement doesn't comply — and you must use the legal names. "Dairy" and "gluten" feel more natural on a cookie label, but they're not the terms the law recognizes.
BakeFlo was built in Texas, for Texas cottage bakers — SB 541's label requirements, the exact statement, and correct allergen naming are built into how you prep every order, pulled straight from what's already in your recipes.
See How BakeFlo WorksThe single most common objection to cottage food labeling — "I don't want my home address on every box of cookies" — finally has a clean answer. Since September 1, 2025, you can register with DSHS and receive a unique identifier number that goes on your label in place of your street address.
The rules on where the label goes are stricter than most bakers expect:
Two extra rules kick in. Anything sold through a Cottage Food Vendor (farmers market booth you don't staff, retail store, restaurant) needs a production date on the label. Refrigerated (TCS) foods need the production date plus a 12-point-font safe handling statement — and require DSHS registration to sell at all.
Pull one of your current labels and check it against this list: business name, address or DSHS identifier, product name, allergens by legal name, and the all-caps statement word-for-word. If all five are there — and a date if you sell refrigerated or wholesale — you're compliant.
This guide is for general information, not legal advice. Label requirements live in Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 437 — when in doubt, check the statute or DSHS's cottage food page directly, since rules can change between sessions.
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