All cottage food products must be pre-packaged in the home kitchen. The food packaging must conform to the labeling requirements of the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and must contain the following information:
- The name of the cottage food operation and unit of local government in which the cottage food operation is located. You do not have to include your street address, if you would prefer not to.
- The identifying registration number provided by the local health department on the certificate of registration and the name of the city or county in which the registration was filed;
- The common or usual name of the food product;
- All ingredients of the food product, including any color, artificial flavor, and preservative, listed in descending order by predominance of weight shown with the common or usual names;
- Allergen labeling as specified under federal labeling requirements (see pages 2-3);
- The following phrase in prominent lettering: “This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens. If you have safety concerns, contact your local health department.”; and
- The date the product was processed/made.
Example Labels:
| Goodies by Gary | Laurel’s Bakery |
|---|---|
| Ipava, IL Fulton County Reg. #012-101-22CF |
Canton, IL Fulton County Registration #055-005-22CF |
| Almond Clusters | Banana Bread |
| Ingredients: Almond bark [sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, nonfat dry milk, soy lecithin], Almonds | Ingredients: All-purpose flour [bleached wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, enzymes, folic acid], bananas, powdered sugar, milk, butter [cream, salt, natural flavoring], sugar, eggs, walnuts, baking soda, vanilla. |
| CONTAINS: Milk, Soy, Tree Nuts | Contains: Wheat, Milk, Eggs, Tree Nuts |
| Prepared on: 5/10/22 | Prepared on: 01/30/22 |
| This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens. If you have safety concerns, contact your local health department. | This product was produced in a home kitchen not inspected by a health department that may also process common food allergens. If you have safety concerns, contact your local health department. |
Allergen Labeling
The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 requires that the nine major food allergens be identified on the label of prepackaged food. The nine major food allergens, which account for over 90% of all food allergies, are:
- 1. Wheat
- 2. Milk
- 3. Eggs
- 4. Soy
- 5. Peanuts
- 6. Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts)
- 7. Fish (e.g., salmon, bass, flounder, cod)
- 8. Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster)
- 9. Sesame (added in 2023)
The first labeling option is to include the name of the allergen contained in each ingredient in parenthesis or brackets following the common name of the ingredient. For example:
Vanilla Wafers
Ingredients: Enriched flour [bleached wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, enzymes, folic acid] [wheat], sugar, soybean oil, corn syrup, whey [milk], eggs, vanilla, natural and artificial flavoring, salt, leavening, lecithin [soy].
The second labeling option is to place the word “Contains” followed by the name of each major food allergen contained in the food, immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, in type size that is no smaller than the type size used for the list of ingredients. For example:
Vanilla Wafers
Ingredients: Enriched flour [bleached wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, enzymes, folic acid], sugar, soybean oil, corn syrup, whey, eggs, vanilla, natural and artificial flavoring, salt, leavening, lecithin.
Contains: Wheat, Milk, Eggs, and Soy
Note: Components of ingredients that contain more than one ingredient must also be listed. For example, if making chocolate chip cookies, you must include the ingredients of the chocolate chips from the package (e.g., Chocolate chips [sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, natural flavors.]). Be sure to include any allergens contained in ingredient components on your label — so even if your cookie recipe does not call for milk or soy, those allergens must be listed because the chocolate chips contain milk and soy.
Identifying Allergens on Ingredient Labels
| You must identify this Top 8 allergen on your label | If the food includes any of these ingredients* |
|---|---|
| Milk | Milk, buttermilk, powdered milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream, whipped cream, half and half, butter, artificial butter flavoring, ghee, cheese (any variety), cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sherbet, casein, caseinate, galactose, lactose, lactate, lactalbumin, rennet, whey |
| Wheat | Flour, all-purpose flour, bread flour, wheat germ, wheat protein isolate, wheat starch, bread, bread crumbs, bulgur, couscous, cracker meal, cracker crumbs, farro, farina, malt, malt extract, matzo, noodles, pasta, seitan, semolina, spelt, tabbouleh, triticale, triticum, wheatgrass |
| Eggs | Egg, egg white, egg yolk, egg wash, eggnog, dried egg solids, dried egg, powdered eggs, egg substitute (such as Eggbeaters), meringue, meringue powder, albumin, apovitellin, globulin, livetin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, ovoglobulin, ovomucin, ovomucoid, ovotransferrin, ovovitelia, ovovitellin, silici albuminate, Simplesse, surimi, trailblazer, vitellin |
| Soy | Soy, soy nuts, soy nut butter, soy protein, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soy sauce, soy sprouts, soya, soya flour, soybeans, soybean granules, soybean curd, soybean flour, soy lecithin, lecithin, soybean paste, bean curd, edamame, hydrolyzed soy protein, miso, natto, okara (soy pulp), shoyu, soy albumin, soy concentrate, soy fiber, soy formula, soy grits, soy milk, soy miso, supro, tamari, tempeh, teriyaki sauce, textured soy flour (tsf), textured soy protein (tsp), textured vegetable protein (tvp), tofu, yuba (bean curd). Note: Soybean oil is typically not allergenic unless cold pressed, expeller pressed, or extruded. |
| Peanuts | Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, peanut butter morsels, arachic oil or arachis, hydrolyzed peanut protein, mixed nuts, or cold pressed, extruded or expelled peanut oil |
| Tree Nuts | Almond, almond extract (and other nut extracts), almond flour, almond butter (and other nut butters), almond milk, marzipan, pecan, walnut, black walnut, cashew, hazelnut, Nutella, macadamia nut, pine nut, pesto, pistachio, beechnut, brazil nut, bush nut, butternut, chestnut, filbert, ginko nut, hickory nut, lichee nut, nangai nut, shea nut, mixed nuts |
This is not a comprehensive list. Always check ingredient labels carefully!