Hot sauce sits on a fault line in cottage food law. Peppers are a low-acid vegetable, and hot sauce is made safe by adding vinegar or fermenting until it's acidic, which makes it an acidified food in FDA's terms, the kind federal rules regulate because of botulism. Michigan excludes foods under those federal rules, naming salsa as an example; California's approved list includes vinegar and mustard but not hot sauce; Minnesota allows home-canned vegetables at pH 4.6 or lower; and North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer. So in Minnesota a tested hot sauce can be a cottage food, and in Michigan or California it takes a commercial kitchen and the acidified food process: a scheduled process from a process authority and FDA registration.
The short version
- Hot sauce is an acidified food: peppers made acidic with vinegar or fermentation.
- Michigan excludes acidified foods, salsa included.
- California's list has vinegar and mustard, not hot sauce.
- Minnesota: home-canned vegetables at pH 4.6 or lower; test each batch.
- North Dakota: allowed, direct to the customer.
- The commercial path: a process authority and FDA registration.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot with its pH on record. More below.
Hot sauce, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinegar habanero sauce | No: canned foods other than jams are excluded | Only at pH 4.6 or lower | Yes | No: not on the list |
| Fermented red chili sauce | No: canned foods other than jams are excluded | Only at pH 4.6 or lower | Yes | No: not on the list |
| Dried chili flakes | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
What makes a food acidified is in acid food vs acidified food, and the commercial path in how to start a hot sauce business.
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) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Minnesota hot sauce table
Iron Range Heat, a made-up home hot sauce maker in Virginia, Minnesota, registered as a cottage food producer and tests every batch with a calibrated pH meter. The vinegar habanero sauce reads 3.5 and the fermented red chili 3.8, both under 4.6, so both go on the market table with the cottage food label. A customer from Michigan asked about shipping; under Michigan's law the same sauce isn't a cottage food, and Minnesota's cottage food sales stay in Minnesota. When the business outgrows the kitchen, the plan is in hot sauce business plan.
Get the checker
Download the home hot sauce 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 pH is right for the batch that was tested. A batch with more peppers or less vinegar can read higher, and without each batch's reading on record, nobody can say which bottles were checked.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, and a field of your own can hold its pH.
Recipes by weight. Each sauce is a recipe, with its peppers and vinegar by weight.
Batches by lot. Each batch records which pepper and vinegar lots it used and how many bottles it filled.
Recalls. If a batch is in doubt, one report shows every customer who got it.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which recipe a batch followed | Remembered | Each batch from its recipe |
| Which peppers went into a batch | Not recorded | Batches by lot |
| Who got a doubtful batch | Market memory | One recall report |
Recipes, batches and recalls 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.