Food safety & permits

Health codes split food into two groups. "Cottage foods" — bread, cookies, jams, dried fruit, candy — stay safe on a shelf, and most states let you make them at home with a simple registration. Cooked rice, meat, eggs, cut vegetables and most full meals are "TCS" foods (time/temperature control for safety): germs can grow in them within hours if they sit at the wrong temperature.

A cottage food registration almost never covers TCS food. So a bento shop normally needs either a home-kitchen permit where one exists (California MEHKO, for example) or a kitchen that holds a retail food permit (a commercial or shared commissary kitchen).

MEHKO (Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation, AB 626 and AB 1325) is the only way to sell home-cooked meals in California. It is only available where your county or city has chosen to allow it — check with your county environmental health department. If they do, they issue the permit and inspect your kitchen.

Main MEHKO limits (as of 2023): up to 30 meals a day and 90 meals a week, and about $100,000 in gross annual sales (adjusted for inflation each year). One full-time-equivalent helper besides the household. Food must be made and sold the same day, and your permit sets the rules for pickup and delivery. The permit must be renewed every year.

California cottage food (Class A: you sell directly to customers; Class B: you can also sell through shops) only covers the foods on the state's approved list — not meals, not bento. If you cook in a commercial or commissary kitchen, the kitchen's retail food facility permit is what you list.

Under California law, a website that lists MEHKO food (an "internet food service intermediary") must show each shop's permit number and the agency that issued it, and must not describe home kitchen offers with the word that means event food service. That is why everygrocer asks for your permit and shows it on your shop page.

New York's home processor exemption (registered with the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets) covers shelf-stable foods such as baked goods, candy and jams. It does not cover meals, cooked rice, meat or other TCS food, and New York has no home-kitchen meal permit like California's MEHKO.

To sell bento in New York you generally need to cook in a licensed kitchen: a food service establishment permit from your local health department (in New York City, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) or a food processing license from Agriculture and Markets, depending on how you sell.

Washington's cottage food permit (from the Washington State Department of Agriculture) covers only shelf-stable foods. Meals and other TCS food normally need a food establishment permit from your local health jurisdiction, usually in a commercial or commissary kitchen.

Washington lawmakers have considered home-kitchen meal programs. Ask your local health jurisdiction whether one is available where you live before you cook at home.

A small number of states let local health departments permit home kitchens that sell meals (Utah is one). In most states, though, the rule is the same as New York and Washington: cottage food at home is fine, meals need a permitted kitchen. Call your city or county health department, tell them you want to sell cooked meals for pickup or delivery, and ask which permit applies.

Before you can list bento or other prepared meals, you must enter your permit type, permit number and the agency that issued it in your shop settings. You can add the expiry date and a photo of the permit. Grocery-only shops do not need this.

Your permit number and issuing agency are shown on your shop page and on every bento item. If our team has compared the details with your permit photo, we show "Permit details checked by everygrocer". That means the details match the document — it is not a food safety inspection and not a guarantee.

Health permits, including MEHKO permits, must be renewed every year. We email you 30 days before the expiry date you entered and again on the day it expires. Until you update it, your shop shows the permit as expired.

You remain responsible for holding the right permit, following its rules, labeling allergens, and keeping food at safe temperatures. Our Terms of Service (/terms) say this in full.

Opening a shop on everygrocer is free — you pay 5% of an order only when you actually sell something, and never more than $20 in commission a month, plus card processing at cost on card orders. No monthly fee. Customers do not pay a platform fee. Full details: (/pricing).

everygrocer does not currently carry liability insurance that covers illness or injury from food sold on the site. We recommend that every shop owner selling prepared food carry their own product liability insurance.

Tell us: use the "Report" link at the bottom of any item or shop page and choose "Food safety concern", or email support@everygrocer.com. You do not need an account. A person reads every report.

Tell your local health department: in California, that is the county (or city) environmental health agency — for a MEHKO shop it is the agency shown as "Issued by" on the shop page. In other states, contact your city or county health department. If someone needs medical care, get it first.

What we do: if one shop receives food safety reports from 3 or more unrelated people within 14 days, we give the shop's name and permit number to the local health department. When a health department investigating a complaint asks, we give them the list of customers who bought from that shop on the same day. We may also pause the shop while we look into it.

This page is a plain-language summary to help you find the right questions to ask. Rules change and differ by city and county. Your local health department decides what permit you need; if you are unsure, ask them before you sell.