Barbecue splits three ways. Smoked meat is a meat product that needs temperature control, and every cottage food law excludes it. Barbecue sauce is an acidified food: Michigan excludes those, Minnesota allows home-canned foods at pH 4.6 or lower, North Dakota allows it direct to the customer, and California's list doesn't include it. Dry rubs are dried herbs and spices, allowed in all four. Brisket plates from home need another route: California's home kitchen operation permit where the county allows it, Utah's home kitchen permit, or a licensed kitchen. In the example below, a Michigan pitmaster works out what can go on a market table.
The short version
- Smoked meat: excluded from cottage food everywhere.
- Barbecue sauce: an acidified food; it depends on the state and the pH.
- Dry rubs: allowed in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and California.
- California and Utah have home kitchen permits for meals.
- Selling brisket otherwise takes a licensed kitchen and inspected meat.
- Label everything as your state requires.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Barbecue, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoked brisket by the pound | No: meat and poultry are excluded | No: potentially hazardous | No: uninspected meat | No: not on the list |
| Barbecue sauce, jarred | No: canned foods other than jams are excluded | Only at pH 4.6 or lower | Yes | No: not on the list |
| Dry rub | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
A smokehouse's year is in bbq business plan, and the sauce as a business in bbq sauce business plan.
The rules
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| Michigan | Food that isn't time/temperature control for safety, including jams, candy, dried fruit, granola, dry mixes, vinegar, dried herbs and baked goods; not meat or poultry, milk products, beverages, salsa, or canned foods other than standardized jams (MCL 289.1105(k)); prepackaged, labeled with the home kitchen statement, sold straight to the consumer (MCL 289.4102) |
| Minnesota | Food that isn't potentially hazardous, and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits at pH 4.6 or lower or water activity 0.85 or less; registration every year and approved food safety training (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | No state license for cottage food sold directly to an informed end consumer; foods that need refrigeration labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen; no uninspected meat, poultry only from the seller's own birds (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| California | Cottage foods are nonpotentially hazardous foods on the approved list, among them baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings, candy, chocolate-covered nonperishables, dried fruit, dried pasta, granola, herb blends, honey, standardized jams, nut butters, popcorn, vinegar and mustard, roasted coffee and dried tea (HSC 114365.5); Class A sells directly, Class B also through shops and restaurants (HSC 113758) |
| California: home meals | A microenterprise home kitchen operation can cook and sell meals the same day, 30 a day and 90 a week, up to $100,000 a year, where the city or county has opted in (HSC 113825) |
| Utah: home meals | A microenterprise home kitchen permit from the local health department allows hot and cold meals sold directly to consumers, same day or within 72 hours with temperature logs (Utah Code 26B-7-416) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Michigan market table
Thumb Smoke Co., a made-up home pitmaster in Bad Axe, Michigan, wanted to sell brisket, sauce and rub at a Saturday market. Under Michigan's cottage food law the dry rub can go on the table, packaged and labeled with the home kitchen statement; the sauce is an acidified food Michigan excludes, and the brisket is meat. The plan: rub at the market now, sauce made in a licensed kitchen under a process authority's process later, and brisket from a licensed kitchen with inspected meat. Rubs as their own product are in spice business plan.
Get the checker
Download the home barbecue checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration, is meat or poultry, a milk product, a canned food other than jam, or a drink, and whether it's on California's list; how Michigan's, Minnesota's, North Dakota's and California's cottage food laws treat it fill in; and each state's rules as read for this article. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The rules decide what can be sold. Once rubs, sauces and smoked meat come from different kitchens under different rules, each batch's lot and where it was made have to be on record.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each jar costs.
Orders. Each customer's order goes in for its pickup or market day, with a picking list.
Each batch a lot. A batch of jars is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each jar is costed from its recipe and the batch, at what the ingredients actually cost.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets what on market day | Order sheets | Orders by day |
| Which batch went to which customer | Not recorded | Lots on each order |
| What a jar costs | A guess | True cost from the recipe and batch |
Orders, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.