For Nevada home cooks who sell
Selling food from your home kitchen in Nevada: two paths.
A permit from your health district, or a registered cottage food operation for shelf-stable food. Nevada has no home kitchen (MEHK) permit like Utah's. Here is how to tell which path is yours.
Start your 25 days free See it work
25 days free. Cancel anytime.
The question
Can I sell what I cook
at home?
You cook for people, not for paperwork. But in Nevada the answer depends on what you make and how you sell it.
- Food made in a private home may not be sold without a permit for that purpose from your food safety authority (NRS 580.900).
- The one exception is a registered cottage food operation: listed shelf-stable foods, sold in person, no government inspection, and a label that says so.
- You are the cook, the seller and the bookkeeper, and a missed reading cannot be made up.
First things first
A permit,
or cottage food?
Two paths. Pick by what you make.
- Cottage food. Shelf-stable foods on Nevada's list, sold in person, up to 100,000 dollars a year. Each is labeled MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENT FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION. You register with your food safety authority before selling (NRS 580.600). In Clark County, SNHD registers cottage food until July 1, 2027; after that the Nevada Department of Agriculture registers it statewide. CleanCleaver does not run cottage food registration.
- A permit. Anything else made at home and sold, like meals, needs a permit from your food safety authority. In Clark County that is the Southern Nevada Health District. In Washoe County, Northern Nevada Public Health. In most other counties, the Nevada Department of Agriculture. In Clark County, SNHD's rules say a food business may not run in a private home or a room people live or sleep in (SNHD 2-103(A)), so a permitted kitchen there means a commercial kitchen, such as a rented commissary. Elsewhere, ask your health authority whether it permits a home kitchen. With a permit you are a food establishment, and the app works the way it does for any small kitchen.
- Not sure which? Ask your health district before you sell the first jar. The cottage food rules, step by step: Nevada cottage food law.
Find your path first, free. The app is for the permit path.
With a permit
What does Nevada ask
of a permitted kitchen?
The same rules as any small kitchen, in plain words, with where each line comes from and where your county differs.
Food handler card
Nevada has no statewide food handler card. Your health district can require one.
NRS 580; NAC 446 (no card requirement found)
Guide: Food handler cards and food safety managersDoes your county differ? 1 of Nevada's 5 health departments do
Nevada law: no statewide food handler card. SNHD: every food handler needs an SNHD Food Handler Safety Training Card before starting work; it lasts 3 years. SNHD 2023 Food Regulations 2-601(A)
Food safety knowledge of the person in charge
The person in charge shows the inspector they know food safety. A food protection manager certificate is one way; a low-risk or temporary place may answer the inspector's questions instead.
NAC 446.052
Guide: Food handler cards and food safety managersDoes your county differ? 2 of Nevada's 5 health departments do
Nevada law: the person in charge shows the inspector they know food safety; a manager certificate is one way. SNHD: the person in charge must be a certified food protection manager (low-risk and temporary places are excepted). SNHD 2023 Food Regulations 2-102.2
Nevada law: the person in charge shows the inspector they know food safety; a manager certificate is one way. Northern Nevada Public Health: Risk Level II and III places employ a full-time certified food protection manager (in Level III, the person in charge, on site during cooking, cooling and reheating); a new place, or one that lost its manager, has 60 days. Washoe County food regulations 040.005, 040.015
Hot and cold holding
Hot 135°F or above and cold 41°F or below, except a whole roast cooked on the roast chart (130°F or above, not on a food truck), raw shell eggs (the air around them 45°F or below) and food marked under time control (Food Code 3-501.19, 4 hours, not on a food truck). Food carried to an event is probed at loading and on arrival.
Nevada: NAC 446.178, NAC 446.182
Guide: Hot and cold holding
What else can the inspector check? 3 more rules
Cooling
135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 6 hours total.
Nevada: NAC 446.176, NAC 446.177
Guide: Cooling food in two stagesDate marking and disposal
Ready-to-eat TCS food held over 24 hours is labeled and used within 7 days at 41°F (day of prep = day 1); home kitchens: same day or 72 hours.
Nevada: NAC 446.179, NAC 446.181
Guide: Date marking: the 7-day ruleEmployee health: report, exclude, restrict
The FDA Food Code (model) says: Food workers report vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, pus-filled sores, Big 6 diagnoses and exposures; the person in charge excludes or restricts. Here the law differs: the person in charge tells the health authority within 24 hours (NAC 446.056(1)(c)); no sore throat with fever and no exclusion or restriction for exposure (NAC 446.056).
Nevada: NAC 446.056(1)(c), NAC 446.057
Guide: Sick workers: report it and stay home
See the readings on the screen you will use.
A selling day
What does a selling day
with a permit look like?
Open the app to see what is due and what is late.
Check in
A few health questions. The answer is
OK to work
orNo food work today
.Fridge and freezer
Dip the thermometer in ice water, then type the fridge and freezer temperatures. Cold food stays at 41°F or colder (NAC 446.178).
The cooling clock
Hot food to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 6 (NAC 446.176). Start cooling sets both clocks.
The date on the wrap
Food kept over a day gets a date: use within 7 days, and the day you made it is day 1 (NAC 446.179). The app counts the days.
Kept
The binder PDF starts at the last 90 days.
These readings are on Today from day one, with your name on each.
What is in, what is not
What does CleanCleaver
not do for me?
Here is exactly what is in, and what is not.
- The fridge, cooling and date readings, saved with the time and your name.
- A binder as one PDF, starting at the last 90 days.
- Nevada's rules, each with its NRS 580 or NAC 446 section, and where your county differs.
What stays with your health district. Cottage food registration: that is your health district's program, and we do not run it.
The permit application and its fees: ask your health district.
A home kitchen (MEHK) permit: Nevada has none.
Home mode is a separate space for household chores. It has no legal records and no binder.
Look at exactly what is in and what is not.
The cost of a gap
What if a reading
is missed?
With a permit, you are inspected like any kitchen. A fridge temperature nobody wrote down is a gap the inspector can see.
CleanCleaver does not judge your permit or an inspection. It keeps what you did, with the time and your name.
After the orders
Cook what you love.
The readings are on your phone.
Cook one full week of orders on the free days first.
25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Questions? Call or text (415) 640-1667.
One or two people is Solo, $8 a month per location, and the first 25 days are free.
Questions
Before you
start.
Does Nevada have a home kitchen (MEHK) permit like Utah's?
No. Nevada law says food made in a private home may not be sold without a permit for that purpose (NRS 580.900). The permit comes from your food safety authority. The exception is a registered cottage food operation.
What counts as cottage food in Nevada?
Listed shelf-stable foods, sold in person, with sales of up to 100,000 dollars a year (NRS 580.600). Each is labeled "MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENT FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION". You register with your food safety authority before you sell. CleanCleaver does not run that registration.
Who registers cottage food in Las Vegas?
The Southern Nevada Health District registers cottage food in Clark County until July 1, 2027. From that day the Nevada Department of Agriculture is the registering authority for the whole state.
I sell meals, not jam. What do I need?
A permit from your food safety authority. In Clark County that is SNHD. In Washoe County, Northern Nevada Public Health. In most other counties, the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Ask them what your home kitchen needs to be permitted. We found no home kitchen permit in Nevada law, so the app treats a permitted home kitchen like any small kitchen.
Is Home mode the same as this?
No. Home mode is a separate space for your household: chores, guides and use-by dates. It has no legal records and no binder.
Will it remind me to take the fridge temperature?
In a browser, yes, once you say yes when the app asks. Open the app and Today shows what is due and what is late. It does not send texts.
What does a home kitchen pay?
By the size of your staff list, per location per month: Solo $8 for one or two people, then Small $24, Team $40, Kitchen $69. The 25 free days start when you add a card on Stripe's page. Cancel before they end and you pay nothing. 25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Your binder is ready when the inspector is.
Pick your place. Start with one shift.
Start your 25 days free See it work
25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Questions? Call or text (415) 640-1667