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Selling candy in Nevada

Sources last read Oct 24, 2026

What Nevada's own pages say about making candy at home, each line linked, and the path to a store when you want one to stock it.

Run the free rules check for it: no account, no AI.

A sketch of Candy in its box.
General information, not advice. This is written for small food makers and cites its sources, but it is not legal, regulatory or food-safety advice, and it cannot account for your product, your state or your facility. Rules change and thresholds are adjusted yearly. Confirm anything you are about to act on with your state agency, a Process Authority, or the FDA.

Can I make candy at home in Nevada?

Nevada's own pages name candy, or foods like it, among what Nevada says a home kitchen may make. ShelfStep found these lines by the words they use; whether they cover your product is for the Nevada Department of Agriculture and your local health authority to say. Those lines, as the state writes them:

  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: what may be made at homeNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(b) "Food item" means: (1) Nuts and nut mixes; (2) Candies; (3) Jams, jellies and preserves; (4) Vinegar and flavored vinegar; (5) Dry herbs and seasoning mixes; (6) Dried fruits; (7) Cereals, trail mixes and granola; (8) Popcorn and popcorn balls; or”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026

What rules does candy come under beyond Nevada's?

Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads candy as a baked good, snack or dry mix. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:

ShelfStep’s plan default, not a lawBaked goods, snacks, dry mixes: cottage-food vs commercial-kitchen decision, allergen labeling, shelf-life.USA.gov, state health departments

What the rules behind it say, in their own words, with the page and the day ShelfStep read each. ShelfStep does not decide which of them apply to your product.

Source to check: the rules behind ShelfStep's plan for candy
  • Acidified foods: the definition and its exclusions21 CFR 114.3(b) says:“(b) Acidified foods means low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added; these foods include, but are not limited to, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes, cauliflower, puddings, peppers, tropical fruits, and fish, singly or in any combination. They have a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85 and have a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. ... Carbonated beverages, jams, jellies, preserves, acid foods (including such foods as standardized and nonstandardized food dressings and condiment sauces) that contain small amounts of low-acid food(s) and have a resultant finished equilibrium pH that does not significantly differ from that of the predominant acid or acid food, and foods that are stored, distributed, and retailed under refrigeration are excluded from the coverage of this part.”21 CFR 114.3(b) · Read Oct 8, 2026
Source to check: FDA food facility registration
  • FDA's definition of a food facility21 CFR 1.227 says:“Facility means any establishment, structure, or structures under one ownership at one general physical location, or, in the case of a mobile facility, traveling to multiple locations, that manufactures/processes, packs, or holds food for consumption in the United States. ... The private residence of an individual is not a facility.”21 CFR 1.227 · Read Oct 8, 2026

Where may food made at home be sold in Nevada?

  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: where it may be soldNDA, Food Safety Program says:“A cottage food operation cannot prepare or sell food items at a permitted food establishment.”NDA, Food Safety Program · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: where it may be soldNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(a) Sold on the private property of the natural person who manufactures or prepares the food item or at a location where the natural person who manufactures or prepares the food item sells the food item directly to a consumer, including, without limitation, a farmers' market licensed pursuant to chapter 244 or 268 of NRS, flea market, swap meet, church bazaar, garage sale or craft fair, by means of an in-person transaction that does not involve selling the food item by telephone or via the Internet;”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: where it may be soldNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(b) Sold to a natural person for his or her consumption and not for resale;”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: a yearly sales ceilingNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(a) "Cottage food operation" means a natural person who manufactures or prepares food items in his or her private home or, if allowed by the food safety authority, in the kitchen of a fraternal or social clubhouse, a school or a religious, charitable or other nonprofit organization, for sale to a natural person for consumption and whose gross sales of such food items are not more than $100,000, as adjusted pursuant to subsection 6, per calendar year.”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: a yearly sales ceilingNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“Beginning with Fiscal Year 2026-2027, the amount of gross sales of a cottage food operation specified in paragraph (a) of subsection 7 must be adjusted for each fiscal year by the Department by adding to the amount the product of the amount multiplied by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (All Items) published by the United States Department of Labor from July 2025 to the July preceding the fiscal year for which the adjustment is calculated. The Department shall publish the adjusted amount on the Internet website of the Department on or before September 30 of each year.”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026

What does Nevada say a home-made label must carry?

  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: the home-made labelNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(d) Labeled with "MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENT FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION" printed prominently on the label for the food item;”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: the home-made labelNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(c) Affixed with a label which complies with the federal labeling requirements set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 343(w), 9 C.F.R. Part 317 and 21 C.F.R. Part 101;”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026
  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: the home-made labelNRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) says:“(e) Prepackaged in a manner that protects the food item from contamination during transport, display, sale and acquisition by consumers; and”NRS 580.600 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026

How do I get candy into a store in Nevada?

  • Nevada's Cottage Food Operation rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesNRS 580.900 (Nevada Legislature) says:“Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to operate a food establishment unless the person possesses a valid permit issued to him or her by the food safety authority.”NRS 580.900 (Nevada Legislature) · Read Oct 24, 2026

From there, ShelfStep's standard plan for a baked good, snack or dry mix has 18 steps. The first 6 help you find out where and how candy can be made at all, so they come first:

  1. 1.

    Write the recipe down with exact amounts

    Cost, price, nutrition and the label are all worked out from this. Write it in the units you actually use; ShelfStep converts for the label. What matters is that someone else could make the same batch from what is written.

  2. 2.

    Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen

    The planned storage helps the reviewer assess the process, shelf life and packaging.

    In the plan: It decides which rules you follow.

  3. 3.

    Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale

    This finds out whether the state’s rules allow making this in a home kitchen or point to a commercial one — and that changes the cost and the timeline of everything after it. It is much cheaper to find out now than after buying packaging.

    In the plan: Your state's home-kitchen rules, in its own words. Whether they cover your product is for your state's agency to say.

  4. 4.

    Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured

    These measurements give your reviewer information about the batch; they do not establish safety or storage conditions on their own.

    In the plan: The two numbers the acidified-food rules name. Measured on the finished product, once it has settled.

  5. 5.

    Look into FDA registration

    Registration is how FDA knows your facility exists; the plan is what an inspector or a buyer’s audit asks to see. Both are far easier to do now than during either.

  6. 6.

    Choose the container and what seals it

    The container decides the label size, how many fit a case, what shipping costs, and whether the process authority’s answer still holds. Changing it later re-opens all four.

    In the plan: How it will be packed, what will seal it and what one will cost. Not sure yet is an answer.

Every step, with its reason and what it typically costs, is on the candy page:

1. Write the recipe down with exact amounts2. Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen3. Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale4. Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured5. Look into FDA registration6. Choose the container and what seals it7. Shortlist three co-packers or commercial kitchens8. Work out what one batch, and one unit, costs to make9. Set up lot codes and a recall plan10. Make a first full-size batch11. Find out how long it keeps12. Get barcodes13. Draft the label with everything it has to say14. Set the wholesale and shelf price from the cost15. Sell it at a market before you scale16. Get product liability insurance17. Make the one-page sheet a buyer reads18. Name your first three stores

Where do I go from here?

How to sell candy to storesEvery step, its reason and its typical costSelling food made at home in NevadaAll of Nevada's lines, what you may make, register and outgrow
Can I sell food made in my home kitchen?5 min readDoes my label need a Nutrition Facts panel?4 min readHow do I work out my shelf life and best-by date?4 min read

Check the rules for yours, then keep it

The rules check runs the same deterministic engine ShelfStep uses inside the app, on your answers, and quotes the sentences each rule rests on, with their links and the day ShelfStep read them. It does not decide which apply. It is free, needs no account and uses no AI. A ShelfStep workspace then keeps your plan, your records and the dates, free for one product.

Run the free rules checkStart free
Something here out of date, or a state we should write up next? Email hello@shelfstep.com.