Popsicles look simple, fruit, sugar and water, but they have to stay frozen, and most cottage food laws only cover food that keeps at room temperature. Michigan excludes food that needs temperature control; Minnesota excludes potentially hazardous food; California's approved list doesn't include frozen treats. North Dakota is the exception: food that needs refrigeration can be sold from home if it's labeled and kept frozen. Cream and milk pops add a dairy question even there. Everywhere else, popsicles for sale are made in a licensed kitchen. In the example below, a North Dakota paleta maker checks its flavors.
The short version
- Popsicles need to stay frozen: most cottage food laws don't cover them.
- Michigan, Minnesota and California: no.
- North Dakota: frozen, labeled pops, direct to the customer.
- Cream and milk pops bring dairy rules.
- Otherwise: a licensed or shared kitchen.
- A cart selling pops often needs a separate permit from the city or county.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Popsicles, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mango chile pops | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
| Strawberry lemonade pops | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
| Cream paletas | No: milk products are excluded | No: potentially hazardous | Dairy has its own rules | No: not on the list |
The year around a cart is in popsicle business plan, and the license for frozen food in license to sell frozen food.
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 North Dakota market
Prairie Pops, a made-up home paleta maker in Bismarck, North Dakota, sells fruit pops at a summer market from a freezer chest, each sleeved and labeled as kept frozen with safe handling instructions. Cream paletas stayed off the menu: dairy has its own rules in the state. In Minnesota, across the river, the same pops would need a licensed kitchen. Making them by the brine tank is in how to make popsicles in bulk.
Get the checker
Download the home popsicle 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. A freezer full of six flavors from different days is where an old batch goes out first, or nobody can say which batch a customer's pop came from.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each pop 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 pops is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each pop 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 pop 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.