In many states, no. Fresh juice needs refrigeration, and juice that hasn't been pasteurized or treated another way can carry harmful bacteria, so it falls outside the foods most cottage food laws were written for. Minnesota's law is one of those: it covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous, so a fresh juice that needs refrigeration is out. A few states allow it with conditions. North Dakota's cottage law covers "food and drink products", and anything that needs refrigeration can be sold if it's kept and transported frozen, labeled with safe handling instructions and a statement that it was kept frozen, on top of the state's usual sign or label. Neither state lets cottage juice go to a café or a store. Wherever you sell, juice that hasn't been treated for a 5-log reduction in harmful bacteria carries FDA's warning statement. A juice business that sells to cafés and grocers is a juice processor, with a licensed kitchen and a juice HACCP plan. In the example below, a Grand Forks juice maker works out what it can sell, and to whom.
The short version
- Fresh juice needs refrigeration, so many cottage food laws leave it out.
- Minnesota: not under the cottage food law.
- North Dakota: allowed if kept and delivered frozen, with safe handling instructions, the frozen statement and the sign.
- Juice not treated for a 5-log reduction carries FDA's warning statement.
- Cottage juice goes to the person who drinks it, not to cafés or stores.
- Selling to other businesses makes you a juice processor, with a licensed kitchen and a juice HACCP plan.
- TaroStack keeps each press as a batch with its lot and best-by date, and where the bottles went. More below.
Juice, by kitchen and buyer
| Where it's made | Who you sell to | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| A home kitchen, North Dakota | The person who drinks it | Frozen, safe handling instructions, the frozen statement, the sign |
| A home kitchen, Minnesota | Nobody, as cottage food | Juice that needs refrigeration isn't covered |
| A licensed kitchen, selling only to consumers | Your own counter or stall | A food license; a 5-log process or the warning on packaged juice |
| A licensed kitchen, selling to cafés and grocers | Other businesses | A juice HACCP plan, as a juice processor |
The warning's exact wording and look are in juice warning label, and the plan in juice HACCP plan.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| North Dakota | Food and drink products from a home kitchen, sold directly to an informed end consumer; foods that need refrigeration labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen; not in food establishments or stores (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5) |
| Minnesota | Cottage food covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| The warning | Juice, and drinks containing juice, not processed for a 5-log reduction in the pertinent microorganism carry FDA's warning statement (21 CFR 101.17(g)) |
| In a licensed kitchen | Juice packaged in a food establishment is treated under a HACCP plan for a 5-log reduction, or carries the warning (Food Code 2022, 3-404.11) |
| Retail or processor | A retail establishment provides juice directly to consumers and doesn't sell it to other businesses (21 CFR 120.3(l)) |
States adopt the Food Code in their own versions. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: frozen juice in Grand Forks
Red River Press, a made-up home juice maker in Grand Forks, North Dakota, presses juice on Thursday evenings for the Saturday market:
| Product | Needs refrigeration? | How it's sold |
|---|---|---|
| Green juice, 12 oz: kale, cucumber, apple, lemon | Yes | Frozen, with the safe handling label |
| Apple ginger, 12 oz | Yes | Frozen, with the safe handling label |
| Ginger shots, 2 oz, box of 6 | Yes | Frozen, with the safe handling label |
| Maple granola, 12 oz bag | No | Room temperature, with the sign |
The bottles go into the freezer the night they're pressed and come to the market in a freezer chest. The label reads "Kept and delivered frozen. Keep frozen, or thaw in the refrigerator and drink within 3 days", with FDA's warning statement word for word, since nothing in the press kills bacteria. A café across the river in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, asked to stock the green juice. That's two noes: North Dakota's cottage food can't go to a food establishment, and Minnesota's law doesn't cover juice that needs refrigeration. The café order waits until the maker rents a licensed kitchen and writes a juice HACCP plan. The costs of that step are in how to start a juice business.
Get the checker
Download the home juice checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration and whether it contains meat, and how North Dakota's and Minnesota's cottage food laws treat it; 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
A café account changes the records, not only the kitchen. A juice HACCP plan means each press logged against its process, and if a batch goes wrong, a list of every café that got it, by lot.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each press as a batch with its lot and best-by date, and where the bottles went.
Each press a batch. A press of green juice is a batch from its recipe, taking kale, cucumbers, apples and bottles off stock, with its lot and best-by date.
Your own fields. Fields of your own on the batch record hold the readings your plan asks for, such as the cooler temperature at bottling.
Where it went. Each café order records which lots it took, so a question about one press leads to every café that got it.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What each press made | Counted at the end | A batch with its yield and lot |
| Readings at bottling | A clipboard | Fields on the batch record |
| Which cafés got a press | Invoices | One recall report |
Recipes, batches, lots 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.