Resources for Starting Your Own Preserved Foods Business:
Can I sell my home preserved food?

Brian A. Nummer, Ph.D.
Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph. D.
National Center for Home Food Preservation
June 2006

Can I sell food made in my home kitchen?

The short answer is, "probably not." Each state is different, so proper advice is needed from a specialist in each state. Some states allow sales at farmer's markets of select foods; others prohibit sales altogether. The National Center for Home Food Preservation does NOT provide guidelines to home food preservers who wish to take the next step from home food preservation to commercial food preservation. Home food preservation is not regulated; however, food preservation and processing for commercial purposes is regulated. There are federal level regulations from the U.S. FDA (also USDA for meat and poultry products), state level regulations, and often county or city regulations. Read further to find someone who can help.

Who can help?
Processed Food Business Resources

1. First stop is to see what the U.S. FDA has to say at “Starting a Food Business”:
   http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/foodbiz.html
   
   If you are wanting to sell canned, low-acid or acidified foods, also see “Acidified and Low-Acid Canned Foods”: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/lacf-toc.html
   
   
2. Search through some of the internet sites from Cooperative Extension Service programs or some other state-specific sites listed below. An excellent source is this web page from Penn State University Department of Food Science: http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/processor/resources.htm#Before
   
   
3. Contact your county Cooperative Extension Agent to locate a program in your state or contact your state university's Food Science program. See: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html for a clickable map of contacts who can lead you to the right person. (This site is maintained by USDA, not the NCHFP.)
   
   
4. Check your state's Department of Agriculture for resources. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture maintain a web site with links to state departments of agriculture at: http://www.nasda.org/nasda/nasda/member_information/usmap.htm
   
   
5. Look for "Value Added" programs that encourage small scale processing of foods. An example of a value added process is when a strawberry grower turns his strawberries into jam. Many state university Extension or other agriculture programs, state departments of agriculture or rural development centers have value-added initiatives and assistance. An internet search using terms such as “valued added agriculture” generates a list of web sites.
   
   
6. Check to see if your state has an incubator kitchen program. Some states have programs that help entrepreneurs develop recipes to commercialize. These are usually test kitchens that share resources. Again, state Departments of Agriculture or a state university's food science department are good leads for finding incubator programs.
   
   
7. It is important to look for state-specific resources to help you know what regulations will apply to your situation. However, if you want to jump-start your thinking about whether a food processing business is right for you, this web page from Penn State University Department of Food Science has some links to helpful reading for early decision making: http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/processor/ent_res_text2.htm#Before
   

This material is based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Deparment of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 00-51110-9762.

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