No, not from a home kitchen or a backyard smoker, under any cottage food law I've read. Meat sold to the public has to come from an inspected source, and smoked meat also needs refrigeration to stay safe, so it falls outside the foods home-kitchen laws were written for. North Dakota, one of the broadest cottage laws, still says no uninspected meat. Minnesota covers only foods that aren't potentially hazardous. There are legal routes, though. A restaurant, caterer or food truck, licensed by your state or county, can smoke and sell brisket as plates and meals, as long as it starts from inspected meat you buy: federal law exempts that kind of retail cooking from USDA inspection. Selling packaged smoked meat to a store is different again, and needs the meat processed in a USDA-inspected plant, or a state plant with an equal program. In the example below, a Minnesota pitmaster works out which route fits.
The short version
- Cottage food laws don't cover smoked meat: meat must be inspected, and it needs refrigeration.
- North Dakota: no uninspected meat. Minnesota: no potentially hazardous food.
- Route one: a licensed caterer, restaurant or food truck, cooking inspected meat, selling meals to consumers.
- Federal law exempts that retail cooking from USDA inspection.
- Route two: packaged smoked meat for stores needs a USDA-inspected or equal state plant.
- Either route means a licensed kitchen, not a home one.
- TaroStack keeps each cook as a batch with the meat lots that went into it. More below.
The routes
| Route | What you sell | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| From home | Nothing with meat | Not allowed under cottage food laws |
| Caterer or restaurant | Meals and plates to individual consumers | A food license, a licensed kitchen, inspected meat |
| Food truck | Plates at events and lunches | A mobile food license, a commissary, inspected meat |
| Packaged for stores | Vacuum-packed brisket, sausage | Processing in a USDA-inspected or equal state plant |
Licenses for the truck route are in food truck license, and the commissary in food truck commissary requirements.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Retail exemption | Curing, cooking and smoking at a retail store or restaurant for sale to consumers is exempt from federal inspection (9 CFR 303.1(d)) |
| What a restaurant is | Product prepared only for meals or entrees to individual consumers, from federally or state inspected meat, in normal retail quantities; caterers serving individual consumers included (303.1(d)(2)(iv)) |
| North Dakota | No sale of uninspected products made from meat under cottage food (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02(3)) |
| Minnesota | Cottage food covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
Your state and county license the caterer, restaurant or truck. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Rochester pitmaster's options
Silver Lake Smoke, a made-up backyard pitmaster in Rochester, Minnesota, smokes brisket on weekends and keeps getting asked to sell it:
| What they asked | Allowed? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Brisket by the pound from the backyard | No | Not under cottage food |
| Brisket plates at a brewery on Fridays | Yes | A food truck license, a commissary, inspected brisket |
| Catering a wedding for 120 | Yes | A caterer's license, a licensed kitchen, inspected meat |
| Vacuum-packed sliced brisket for a grocery | Not yet | A USDA-inspected plant, or a state inspection program where there is one |
| Bottled BBQ sauce at the farmers market | Maybe | Its own rules, not meat rules |
The pitmaster started with catering, renting a licensed commissary kitchen with a smoker on site and buying USDA-inspected briskets from a restaurant supplier, so the meals fall under the restaurant and caterer exemption from federal inspection. The grocery stays a plan for later, once the volume justifies a processor. The sauce route is in how to start a BBQ sauce business.
Get the checker
Download the home smoked meat 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
Catering a wedding means 60 pounds of brisket bought, smoked, held and served, and a health inspector who may ask where each brisket came from. The supplier's invoice and the smoke log have to meet somewhere.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each cook as a batch with the meat lots that went into it.
Receiving with lots. Each delivery of brisket is received from its supplier with its lot.
Each cook a batch. A cook takes the briskets it used off stock, with their lots, and fields of your own on the batch record hold the smoker temperature and the cooling times.
Where it went. Each catering order records what it took, so a question about a wedding's brisket leads to the cook and the supplier's lot.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which supplier's brisket was smoked | An invoice in a drawer | Lots received from the supplier |
| Smoker and cooling readings | A clipboard | Fields on the batch record |
| Which event got which cook | Remembered | The order and its batch |
Batches, lots and your own fields 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.