09/01/2026
📣 OKLAHOMA — WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SOME CHANGES COMING TO SMALL FOOD BUSINESSES
If you buy food from Oklahoma’s small food producers, sell their products in your store, or make food under the Homemade Food Freedom Act, there are some upcoming changes you should know about. The law has been renamed the Local Food Freedom Act, and we want to start by saying this:
We are grateful for the changes.
The increase in the annual sales limit to $250,000 gives Oklahoma’s small food businesses more opportunity to grow, and we absolutely recognize the value in that. Our concern isn’t the changes themselves, it is the lack of a reasonable transition period. There are two separate changes that will affect product labels at two different points in time.
1️⃣ November 1, 2026 — A required label wording change
The legal statement currently required on labels will need to change. The words “private residence” must be removed and replaced with “facility.” That may sound like a small change. For a business with products already manufactured, packaged, distributed to retail stores, or sitting in inventory, it isn’t.
At Sage & Spice, we have products throughout Oklahoma, holiday inventory already being prepared, and approximately 26,000 labels already purchased and waiting to be used. Every bottle involves ingredients, packaging, labeling, production, and labor. If existing inventory has to be recalled or relabeled because of this wording change, that’s a significant disruption.
2️⃣ The next change — OKHFFA → OLFFA
Then comes another label change. When businesses renew their registration, their current OKHFFA registration number will transition to an OLFFA registration number.
So businesses could potentially face two separate label changes at two separate points in time. We can’t print the new registration number until it is issued. That can mean wasted materials, expensive small print runs, additional labor, production delays, and potentially even shortages or back orders. And those consequences don’t stop with the business.
❤️ THIS IMPACTS OUR CUSTOMERS, TOO.
When small businesses have to absorb unexpected costs, those costs don’t magically disappear.
They can mean:
• Higher prices
• Product shortages
• Delayed orders
• Back orders
• Less inventory available at your favorite local stores
• Small businesses having to spend money replacing materials that were already purchased and paid for
We don’t want that for our customers any more than we want it for ourselves. Small business does not mean tiny business. Oklahoma’s small food producers have customers, retail partners, inventory, production schedules, employees, and real investments in the products they make.
We are not asking the State to abandon these changes. We are asking for TIME. A reasonable transition period would allow existing compliant inventory to be sold, previously purchased labels to be used, and businesses to transition to the new requirements through their normal production and label-printing cycles.
Large corporations are given time to transition when regulatory and labeling requirements change. Oklahoma’s small businesses deserve the same consideration.
📢 HERE’S WHERE YOU COME IN.
If you’re a small food producer, please speak up.
If you’re a retailer who carries Oklahoma-made products, please speak up.
If you’re a customer who values Oklahoma’s small food businesses and wants to continue finding those products on store shelves, please speak up.
If you’re a supplier, employee, family member, or supporter who may be directly or indirectly affected, your voice matters, too.
Please let Governor Stitt and the appropriate state officials know that you support the changes and support giving small businesses a reasonable amount of time to transition.
Please be respectful. Please be professional. But please don’t stay silent.
We are grateful for the opportunities the Local Food Freedom Act creates.
We simply want to make sure the implementation doesn’t unintentionally hurt the very small businesses the law is intended to help — or the Oklahoma customers who support them.
We aren’t asking for an exemption.
We’re asking for a transition period.
📣 Share this post. Tag an Oklahoma food business. Tag a retailer. Tell your favorite Oklahoma-made brands.
Email our governor - [email protected]
Governor Kevin Stitt
Let’s make sure the people making these decisions understand the real-world impact before these changes take effect.
