Jerky is shelf-stable once it's dried, but it's still a meat product, and meat products are made under inspection. Michigan's cottage food law excludes meat and poultry products; Minnesota's covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous and leaves meat out; California's approved list doesn't include it; and North Dakota's, which allows almost anything else, bars uninspected meat products, with a narrow exception for poultry from the seller's own small flock. So selling jerky means making it in a USDA-inspected or state-inspected plant, your own or a processor's that makes jerky for small brands. Retail stores and restaurants have a narrow federal exemption for products they make and sell on site, and deer jerky from a hunter's own deer is for the hunter's table, not for sale.
The short version
- Jerky is a meat product; meat products are made under inspection.
- Michigan, Minnesota and California cottage food laws leave it out.
- North Dakota bars uninspected meat, except a farmer's own small poultry flock.
- Selling jerky takes a USDA or state-inspected plant, yours or a processor's.
- Retail stores have a narrow exemption for products they make and sell there.
- Fruit leather and dried fruit fit cottage food laws instead.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot back to the meat it came from. More below.
Jerky, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef jerky | No: meat and poultry are excluded | No: potentially hazardous | No: uninspected meat | No: not on the list |
| Turkey jerky | No: meat and poultry are excluded | No: potentially hazardous | No: uninspected meat | No: not on the list |
| Mango fruit leather | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
The licensed path is in beef jerky business plan, and pricing in how to price homemade jerky.
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) |
| Federal | Inspection doesn't apply to operations traditionally done at retail stores and restaurants, such as cutting, curing, cooking and smoking, for sale in normal retail quantities to consumers there (9 CFR 303.1(d)) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a North Dakota jerky maker
Badlands Jerky, a made-up home jerky maker in Dickinson, North Dakota, had friends asking to buy its beef jerky every fall. North Dakota's cottage food law bars uninspected meat products, so the jerky stayed a gift. The maker found a state-inspected meat processor two hours away that makes jerky for small brands on its own recipe, and now sells bags made there under its label, with the plant's inspection legend. Its fruit leather, made at home, is a cottage food and sells at the same market table. North Dakota's rules in full are in North Dakota cottage food laws.
Get the checker
Download the home jerky 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
Jerky made by a processor comes back in lots, each from a run of beef, and sells over months. Which lot a bag came from is printed on the bag; which customers got that lot is the part nobody keeps.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each processor run as a lot, so every bag traces back to its run.
Runs as lots. Each run from the processor is received as a lot with its date and count.
Orders by lot. Each sale carries the lot it came from.
Recalls. If a run is recalled, one report shows every customer who got it.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which run a bag came from | Printed on the bag | Lots on each order |
| Bags left from each run | Counted in the garage | Stock by lot |
| Who got a recalled run | Market memory | One recall report |
Lots, orders 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.