Pasta splits by water. Dried pasta, dried until it snaps, keeps on a shelf, so it's a cottage food: California's list names dried pasta, Michigan allows foods that don't need temperature control, Minnesota allows food that isn't potentially hazardous with a registration and training, and North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer. Fresh pasta, soft and moist with egg, needs the fridge, and filled ravioli with cheese or meat even more so; those aren't cottage foods, except frozen and labeled in North Dakota, and meat fillings not at all. In the example below, a California home pasta maker decides what to bring to market.
The short version
- Dried pasta is a cottage food in all four states here.
- Fresh egg pasta needs the fridge: not a cottage food.
- Filled ravioli with cheese or meat: not a cottage food.
- North Dakota allows refrigerated items frozen and labeled, but no uninspected meat.
- Dry it until it snaps, then bag and label it.
- Wheat and eggs on the label.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Pasta, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dried egg tagliatelle | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Fresh fettuccine | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
| Cheese ravioli, fresh | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
The business beyond home is in pasta business plan, and bags and labels in how to package pasta for sale.
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 California market table
Capitol Pasta Kitchen, a made-up home pasta maker in Sacramento, California, registered as a Class A cottage food operation. Its egg tagliatelle and semolina shapes are dried on racks until they snap, bagged and labeled with wheat and eggs. The market asked for fresh ravioli; fresh pasta and cheese fillings need refrigeration, so they wait for a licensed kitchen. California's rules in full are in california cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home pasta 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. Four shapes, a drying rack that fills on Thursday, and bags at two markets are where an underdried batch has to be caught.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each bag 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 bags is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each bag 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 bag 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.