Homemade ice cream doesn't fit cottage food law: it's a milk product and it has to stay frozen. Michigan excludes milk products and food that needs temperature control; Minnesota excludes potentially hazardous food; California's approved list has no dairy; and North Dakota, which allows a lot, leaves dairy to its own rules. Ice cream for sale is made from pasteurized milk and cream in a licensed kitchen or dairy plant, and some states license frozen desserts separately. The common path is a pasteurized ice cream base bought from a dairy, frozen in a licensed kitchen. In the example below, a Minnesota maker works out how to sell pints.
The short version
- Ice cream is a milk product that has to stay frozen: not a cottage food.
- Michigan, Minnesota and California: no.
- North Dakota: dairy has its own rules, outside cottage food.
- Ice cream for sale is made from pasteurized dairy in a licensed facility.
- A pasteurized base from a dairy, frozen in a licensed kitchen, is the common start.
- Some states license frozen desserts separately.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Ice cream, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla bean ice cream | No: milk products are excluded | No: potentially hazardous | Dairy has its own rules | No: not on the list |
| Dairy-free coconut sorbet | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
| Hot fudge sauce, jarred | No: canned foods other than jams are excluded | Only at pH 4.6 or lower | Yes | No: not on the list |
The license a creamery needs is in ice cream business license, and a creamery's year in ice cream 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) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: pints in Minnesota
Lake Harriet Scoops, a made-up ice cream maker in Minneapolis, Minnesota, started making ice cream for friends at home and wanted to sell pints at a market. Minnesota's cottage food law doesn't cover it, so the owner rents time in a licensed kitchen, buys a pasteurized ice cream base from a dairy, adds the flavors and freezes it there, under the state's license. The hot fudge sauce, a jarred sauce, would need a pH reading under 4.6 to be a Minnesota cottage food, which a fudge sauce won't meet. Pints and their labels are in how to package ice cream for sale.
Get the checker
Download the home ice cream 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 path is clear: a licensed kitchen and a pasteurized base. What comes next is keeping each batch's base lot, flavors and pints straight, so a question about one pint can be answered.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each pint 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 pints is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each pint 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 pint 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.