Salsa is an acidified food: tomatoes, onions and peppers brought to a safe acidity with vinegar or lime. That puts it outside most cottage food laws, which leave out foods that rely on acid for safety. Michigan names salsa as excluded; California's approved list doesn't include it; Minnesota allows home-canned salsa if its pH is 4.6 or lower, with a yearly registration and training; and North Dakota allows it sold straight to the customer. Fresh salsa, refrigerated, needs temperature control, which none of them allow except North Dakota's frozen route. In the example below, a Minnesota home cook gets a jarred salsa to market.
The short version
- Salsa is an acidified food; most cottage food laws leave it out.
- Michigan: excluded by name.
- California: not on the approved list.
- Minnesota: home-canned at pH 4.6 or lower, registered and trained.
- North Dakota: allowed, direct to the customer.
- Fresh salsa needs refrigeration: not a cottage food in these states except frozen in North Dakota.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Salsa, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canned tomato salsa | No: canned foods other than jams are excluded | Only at pH 4.6 or lower | Yes | No: not on the list |
| Fresh pico de gallo | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
| Dried salsa seasoning mix | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
Starting a licensed salsa business is in how to start a salsa business, and testing the pH in ph testing for acidified foods.
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: jarred salsa in Minnesota
Mesabi Salsa, a made-up home salsa maker in Virginia, Minnesota, registered as a cottage food producer and took the approved training. Its roasted tomato salsa is canned at home, and each batch's pH is tested and written down; the recipe runs at 3.9, under the 4.6 line. The pico de gallo customers ask for needs a fridge, so it stays off the table. Minnesota's rules in full are in minnesota cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home salsa 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. Each batch's pH reading, which jars it went into, and who bought them is what a question about one jar needs.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each jar 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 jars is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each jar 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 jar 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.