Office of the Texas State Chemist
Verified September 7, 2026. Figures quoted from the statute, rule, fee page or form.
Texas counts dog treats as commercial feed, so the feed law applies before the first bag is sold. The Office of the Texas State Chemist licenses the feed facility, and the licensing fee is $75, paid one time per facility. Every brand and product name sold in containers of 5 lb or less is then registered before it is distributed. A product sold only in that size goes on the Small Package Registration form at $50 per product per year, due September 1; a product sold in both small and larger bags is still registered, but it pays tonnage instead of the flat fee. The Texas cottage food chapter does not reach any of this: Health and Safety Code ch. 437 carries no pet food or animal feed provision, and the state health department sends pet bakeries to the Office of the Texas State Chemist instead.
| Item | What Texas says | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| Firm instrument | YesFeed License, one per feed facility and one per guarantor named on the label, applied for on Form LA 0198 | Form LA 0198 Feed License Application, title line (Rev 5-3-11) |
| Firm fee | Yes$75 per feed facility, one time (the license is permanent under Tex. Agric. Code 141.023, so there is no renewal period); a further $75 late fee applies to a late application | Form LA 0198 Instructions, Section 5: Application Fees |
| Firm fee period | YesPermanent, no renewal, unless the service revokes, suspends, annuls or amends the license, the licensee withdraws or cancels it, the licensee report indicates no activity for one year, or the service requires a new license; the service must also cancel the license of a licensee who does not pay a delinquent inspection fee and penalty in time | Tex. Agric. Code Sec. 141.023 (Term of License) |
| What one firm instrument covers | YesOne license per feed facility and one per guarantor named on the label | Form LA 0198 Instructions, Section 1: Licensee |
| Product registration | DependsEach brand and product name of a pet food distributed in individual containers of five pounds or less must be registered before it may be distributed (4 TAC 63.8(a)); the same recipe sold in a two pound bag and a six pound bag is still a registered product, but it loses the flat-rate small-package fee and pays inspection fees on all sizes through the tonnage system (4 TAC 61.31(d)); a product distributed only in containers larger than five pounds needs no product registration | 4 TAC Sec. 63.8(a) (Registration of Pet Foods in Packages of Five Pounds or Less) |
| Fee per product | Yes$50 per product per state fiscal year (September 1 to August 31, due September 1) | Form PR 0196 Small Package Registration (5 lbs or less), Instructions item 4 |
| Product registration period | YesAnnual, state fiscal year September 1 to August 31, fee due September 1 | OTSC Fees.aspx, 'Commercial Feed Inspection Fees' table, row 'Product Annual Inspection Fees (5 pounds or less) per product per year' (cell text) |
| Small package threshold | YesIndividual containers of five pounds or less; the flat-rate product fee is available only where the product is distributed solely in that size, so the same recipe sold in a two pound bag and a six pound bag is a tonnage product | Tex. Agric. Code Sec. 141.071(c) (Inspection Fee) |
| Small package fee | Yes$50 per product per state fiscal year (September 1 to August 31, due September 1), available only where the product is distributed solely in containers of five pounds or less | Tex. Agric. Code §141.071(c) (Inspection Fee) |
| Tonnage fee applies | DependsYes for pet food distributed in containers larger than five pounds, and for a product distributed in both a small and a larger container size; no for a product distributed only in containers of five pounds or less, which pays the flat product fee instead | Form LA 0198 Instructions, Section 3: License Class |
| Tonnage rate | Yes$0.19 per ton of commercial feed distributed, the rate published by the Service as of June 19, 2007; the statutory base rate is 15 cents per ton, which the director may move in increments of 1 cent | OTSC Fees.aspx, 'Commercial Feed Inspection Fees' table, row 'Feed Tonnage fee as of June 19, 2007' (cell text; Cost cell '19¢/ton') |
| Tonnage minimum | Yes$100 per licensee per state fiscal year (September 1 to August 31), paid in advance and credited against the first tonnage inspection fee owed in that fiscal year | Tex. Agric. Code §141.071(d) (Inspection Fee) |
| Tonnage reporting | DependsA facility generating $100 or more in tonnage fees during a license year files a quarterly sworn report with payment, due on or before the 31st day following the last day of November, February, May and August; a facility producing less than $100 a license year files one annual sworn report, due on or before the 31st day following the last day of August; a report is due even when no tonnage was distributed | Tex. Agric. Code Sec. 141.072(a) (Quarterly Tonnage Reporting and Inspection Fee Payment) |
| Label goes in with the filing | DependsA label for each product must be submitted with the small-package registration (4 TAC 63.8(b)) and new guarantors submit labels of all products (Form LA 0198 Section 2); there is no pre-market approval step, and written label review on request is free to a licensed facility (4 TAC 61.29(a)) | 4 TAC §63.8(b) (Registration of Pet Foods in Packages of Five Pounds or Less) |
| Out-of-state sellers | YesThe license and the inspection fee reach any person who manufactures or distributes commercial feed in Texas, wherever located; an out-of-state licensee must in addition keep the required records in Texas or pay the cost of auditing them elsewhere | Tex. Agric. Code Sec. 141.021(a) (License Required), first sentence |
Three flavors, every one of them sold only in bags of 5 lb or less.
Every figure above is multiplied out from the figures printed beside it, and each of those comes from a quote in the table. Laboratory work for the guaranteed analysis, packaging, a sales tax permit and a business entity filing are separate costs from separate agencies and are not counted here.
File the Feed License Application, Form LA 0198
One form goes in for each guarantor and each unlicensed feed facility. The guarantor is the licensee responsible for the product, and the guarantor name and address are what appear on the label. If you bake the treats and put your own name on the bag, you are both. The licensing fee on the form is $75.
Give the facility address on the form
Section 3 of the form asks for the physical address of the facility, or directions from the nearest crossroads. The snapshot we read carries no agency guidance on home kitchens either way, so ask the office directly if your kitchen is your home.
Register each product on Form PR 0196
Small Package Registration covers products distributed only in packages of 5 lb or less. List every brand and product name on the form and include a label for each one. The fee is $50 per product.
Send both forms with one check
Mail the signed license application and the small package registration together with a check payable to the Office of the Texas State Chemist, at the address printed on the forms.
Wait for the notification before you sell
4 TAC 61.11(b) is explicit that no facility distributes commercial feed in Texas until it has received affirmative notification of its licensing, either originally or as amended.
Ask for the free label review
4 TAC 61.29(a) says the Service provides written label review at no cost when the requester represents a facility licensed to distribute the product in Texas. Tex. Agric. Code 141.055(b) bars a fee for that review or advice.
Renew the product side every September 1
The small package fee is a flat $50 per product for each state fiscal year, due September 1. The license itself is permanent unless the service acts on it, you cancel it, or your report shows no activity for one year.
The flat $50 covers a product packaged only in containers of five pounds or less. A product sold in both small and larger containers moves to the tonnage system instead: a $100 minimum annual inspection fee paid in advance and credited against tonnage, at the published rate of 19 cents per ton, with quarterly sworn reports.
The Texas snapshot has no raw-specific pet food provision. What still applies is the general adulteration rule at Tex. Agric. Code 141.148, which reaches feed that consists in whole or in part of a diseased, filthy, putrid or decomposed substance unless it has been rendered harmless. Federally, FDA treats pet food contaminated with Salmonella and not going through a later kill step as adulterated, and its compliance policy names pet treats and chews among the products covered.
The Texas license and inspection fee cover distribution in Texas. Every other state runs its own feed law with its own instrument and its own fee, and AAFCO states that shipping product into a state in response to an internet purchase counts as distribution there.
Distribute in Tex. Agric. Code 141.001(9) means sell, offer for sale, barter, exchange or otherwise supply. There is no farmers market, direct-to-consumer or internet carve-out anywhere in ch. 141, ch. 61 or ch. 63. The one license exemption is for a person making only retail sales of feed that already carries a licensed manufacturer, guarantor or distributor label.
AAFCO puts hide, hooves, ears, pizzles and similar animal-part chews outside registration and labeling while no nutritional claims are made, and says jerky-type meat treats are full pet food that must be labeled everywhere and registered in states requiring small-package listing. The Texas rules we read do not repeat that carve-out in their own words, so confirm it with the office before you rely on it.
| Item | What Texas says | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| Required label items | YesProduct and brand name required (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(2)); species designation required, the words dog food or cat food or a similar designation conspicuously on the principal display panel (4 TAC 63.2(k)); quantity statement required, in English and SI units (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(3), 4 TAC 61.22(8)(A)); guaranteed analysis required in the fixed pet food order (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(4), 4 TAC 63.2(c)); ingredient statement required by common or usual name, and failure to list ingredients in descending order by predominance by weight may be misleading (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(5), 4 TAC 63.5(b)); nutritional adequacy or purpose statement required except on a dog or cat food prominently identified as a snack or treat (4 TAC 63.2(o)); feeding directions required only for a dog or cat food labeled complete and balanced (4 TAC 63.2(q)); calorie content statement required (4 TAC 63.9(a)); guarantor name and principal address required (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(1)); precautionary statements required as a warning statement and directions for use for each medicine, drug, mineral, vitamin, antibiotic or antioxidant in the feed (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(7)) | Tex. Agric. Code Sec. 141.051(a)(1)-(5) (Labeling of Commercial Feed) |
| Guaranteed analysis | YesA guaranteed analysis of nutrients is required on every commercial feed label (Tex. Agric. Code 141.051(a)(4)); on a pet food label the guarantees run in the fixed order crude protein minimum, crude fat minimum, crude fiber maximum, moisture maximum, with additional guarantees following moisture (4 TAC 63.2(c)) | Tex. Agric. Code §141.051(a)(4) (Labeling of Commercial Feed) |
| What a treat is excused from | DependsA dog or cat food prominently identified as a snack or treat on the principal display panel, as part of the designation required by 4 TAC 63.2(k), needs no statement of nutritional adequacy or purpose (4 TAC 63.2(o)); nothing else is waived, and feeding directions are in any case required only for a dog or cat food labeled complete and balanced (4 TAC 63.2(q)) | 4 TAC §63.2(o) (Label Format and Labeling) |
| AAFCO text adopted | Yes4 TAC 61.1 adopts the terms and definitions of the last published edition of the annual AAFCO Official Publication; no Official Publication of any year is in the snapshot | 4 TAC §61.1 (Definitions), introductory paragraph |
| AAFCO edition | DependsNo fixed year is named; 4 TAC 61.1 adopts the last published edition of the annual AAFCO Official Publication, and no Official Publication is in the snapshot, so the operative edition cannot be read here | 4 TAC §61.1 (Definitions), introductory paragraph |
The full item list, both AAFCO editions and the exceptions are in the label guide, and the laboratory side of the guarantees is in where to get a guaranteed analysis.
The Texas duty follows the product, not the seller: anyone who manufactures or distributes commercial feed in Texas needs the license, wherever they are based, and an out-of-state licensee has to keep its records in Texas or pay the cost of auditing them elsewhere. The same logic points the other way when you ship out of Texas.
A home kitchen is outside FDA facility registration.
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.
Federal package rules still apply to every bag you sell.
Ingredients required to be declared on the label of a food [...] shall be listed by common or usual name in descending order of predominance by weight on either the principal display panel or the information panel in accordance with the provisions of § 501.2 .
Your state label rules come from an AAFCO model, not from FDA.
Pet food labeling is regulated at two levels. The current FDA regulations require proper identification of the product, net quantity statement, name, and place of business of the manufacturer or distributor, and proper listing of all the ingredients in the product from most to least, based on weight. Some states also enforce their own labeling regulations.
The statute sets a base rate of 15 cents per ton that the director may move in steps of 1 cent, and the office publishes the rate in force on its fee page: 19 cents per ton, beside a 2007 date. We print the published rate, not the statutory base.
The license application is a 2011 revision, the small package form carries a 2002 form date and the fee page footer stops at 2023. The amounts on all three agree with the statute, so the age of the paper does not change the figures.
The record for Texas carries 15 recorded gaps and 10 staleness flags from the reading pass. Those are about the documents, not about your product.
Tex. Agric. Code 141.141 makes a violation of the chapter a Class C misdemeanor, and a Class B misdemeanor where the person has already been convicted under the same subchapter. Distributing feed that is unlicensed, misbranded or unpaid for is a separate offense under 141.143. The service can also issue a stop-sale order, seek condemnation of the product or ask a court for an injunction.
A sales tax permit comes from the revenue side of the state and lets you collect tax. It is not a feed instrument and no feed office issues it.
A business entity filing or a trading name registration comes from the secretary of state or the county. It records who you are. It says nothing about feed.
A local food handler card or a home kitchen permit belongs to the human food regime. Services that bundle these three and call the bundle a license are selling you paperwork you may well need, but not the instrument on this page.
Tex. Agric. Code 141.021(a) says a person may not manufacture or distribute commercial feed in this state without a valid current license issued by the service for each feed facility. Pet food is commercial feed in Texas, and ch. 141 carries no home, hobby or small-scale exemption. The single carve-out is for a person making only retail sales of feed that already bears a licensed manufacturer, guarantor or distributor label, which is not the position of someone baking and labeling their own treats.
The cottage food chapter, Health and Safety Code ch. 437, describes food produced at a person's home and never mentions pet food or animal feed. The Department of State Health Services answers the question in its own FAQ for pet bakeries: it does not regulate the manufacturing of pet food, and it gives the phone number of the Office of the Texas State Chemist instead.
The Texas duty attaches to manufacturing or distributing commercial feed in the state, not to the channel you sell through. Distribute is defined as sell, offer for sale, barter, exchange or otherwise supply, so your own site, a marketplace listing and a market stall all sit inside the same sentence. Shipping into other states adds their feed laws on top.
The feed license fee is $75, one time per facility. On top of that, each product sold only in packages of 5 lb or less costs $50 per product per year, due September 1. Three flavors in small bags means the $75 once and the $50 three times over.
Yes, where the product is sold in containers of five pounds or less. 4 TAC 63.8(a) registers each brand and product name before it may be distributed, the small package form takes a list of products with a label attached for each, and the flat fee follows the product rather than the order. A product sold in both small and larger containers is still registered but moves to the tonnage system. A new product needs the registration form but not an amended license.
The guarantor name and address, the brand or product name, a quantity statement on the principal display panel in English and SI units, a dog food designation on that same panel, the guaranteed analysis in the order crude protein minimum, crude fat minimum, crude fiber maximum and moisture maximum, an ingredient statement in descending order by weight and a caloric content statement. A product prominently identified as a snack or treat on the principal display panel is excused from the nutritional adequacy statement and from nothing else.
Statute: yes: Tex. Agric. Code ch. 141 (Texas Commercial Feed Control Act), Secs. 141.001 through 141.149. Rules: yes: 4 TAC ch. 61 (Commercial Feed Rules, Secs. 61.1 through 61.91) and 4 TAC ch. 63 (Pet Food Rules, Secs. 63.1 through 63.20). Agency: yes: Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service, Office of the Texas State Chemist, under the direction of the director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (program page).
Snapshot read and adjudicated September 7, 2026, record date 2026-09-07. 38 recorded facts for Texas.
DogTreatLicense is an informational reference about state commercial feed laws as they apply to people who make and sell pet treats in the United States. It reprints instrument names, fees, thresholds, label items and citations from state statutes, rules, fee schedules and agency forms, together with the date each state was last verified. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and fees and rules change. Confirm with the state feed control office before you register or sell.
Read the terms before you rely on any figure here.