A food processing license, called a food manufacturing license in some states, is the state license for a place that makes or packs food for other businesses to sell: a bakery packing cookies for grocers, a sauce maker, a snack plant, a co-packer. It comes from the state agriculture or health department, with a plan review and inspections, and renews yearly in a lot of states. The fee often depends on how much you produce and how risky the food is, with foods that need refrigeration and canned foods paying more. Places that sell directly to consumers, restaurants and retail stores, have their own licenses instead, and states often exempt a few things, raw honey, washing and packing fresh produce, small home canners. On top comes the federal layer: FDA facility registration and a food safety plan under 21 CFR part 117, with modified requirements for a small, qualified facility. Wisconsin, the example's state, licenses each food processing plant separately, with licenses expiring March 31 and fees by last year's production: $40 under $25,000, up to $270 for a plant over $250,000 handling potentially hazardous food, plus $195 for canning. In the example below, an Appleton cookie plant renews its license. Below are the layers, Wisconsin's rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- A food processing license covers a place that makes or packs food for other businesses to sell.
- It comes from the state agriculture or health department, with inspections and yearly renewal.
- Fees often rise with production and risk; canning pays more.
- Restaurants and retail stores have their own licenses; raw honey and fresh produce packing are often exempt.
- Add FDA facility registration and a food safety plan under 21 CFR part 117.
- Wisconsin: a license per plant, expiring March 31, $40 to $270 by production and risk, plus $195 for canning.
- Wisconsin exempts home-canned acidic foods sold at markets under $5,000 a year, and a few others.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lots and the year's production. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State | An LLC filing |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Registration, and which sales are taxable |
| Food processing license | State agriculture or health department | Plan review, inspection, yearly renewal |
| FDA facility registration | FDA | Unless it's a retail food establishment (21 CFR 1.226) |
| Food safety plan | FDA, 21 CFR part 117 | Preventive controls, or a qualified facility's modified requirements |
| Labels | FDA, 21 CFR part 101 | Including Nutrition Facts for stores |
What a food safety plan holds is in what is a food safety plan. Every state differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
Wisconsin's rules
| Rule | Wis. Stat. 97.29 |
|---|---|
| Food processing plant | A place used mainly for food processing, where the food isn't sold or distributed directly to consumers |
| Not a food processing plant | Licensed retail stores and restaurants, dairy and meat plants, raw honey extraction, washing or packing fresh produce, and others |
| A license | For each plant, not transferable, expiring March 31 |
| Under $25,000 of production | $40 a year |
| $25,000 to $250,000 | $120 with potentially hazardous food or canning; $50 without |
| $250,000 or more | $270 with potentially hazardous food or canning; $110 without |
| Canning | A $195 surcharge |
| Home canners | No license to sell home-canned pickles and other foods at pH 4.6 or lower at markets and community events, under $5,000 a year |
The statute is section 97.29 of chapter 97; the department's rules can change the amounts. Wisconsin's home-kitchen rules are in Wisconsin cottage food law.
An example: an Appleton cookie plant
Fox River Cookie Co., the made-up cookie maker in Appleton, Wisconsin, I use in these examples, bakes chocolate chip cookies in six-cookie packs for a regional grocery chain, about 130,000 packs a year:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, June 2023 |
| Food processing plant license | Renewed March 20, 2026; expires March 31, 2027 |
| Fee category | $250,000 or more of production, no potentially hazardous food, no canning: $110 |
| Canning surcharge | Not needed |
| FDA facility registration | Done October 2024; renewal due by December 31, 2026 |
| Food safety plan | Done October 2024 |
| Labels | Done, with Nutrition Facts |
| Product liability insurance | Renews June 1, 2027 |
The cookies are shelf-stable, so the plant pays the lower fee for its production band; a cream-filled cookie would move it to the potentially hazardous column. The label work is in how to make a nutrition label.
Get the checklist
Download the food processing license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, the cost, the date done and the renewal date; the status and the total cost fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A license fee based on last year's production, a grocery chain that wants lot codes and dates, and a recall plan that has to name every store: a checklist doesn't count production or trace a lot.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lots, and the year's production.
Each batch a lot. A batch of dough records the flour, butter and chocolate lots it used, automatically, gets a lot with its best-by date, and lot labels print for the cases.
The year's production. Batches and sales are kept by product and date, so last year's production and sales are in your reports when the renewal asks.
Where it went. Each delivery to the chain records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every store order a batch reached.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which flour went into a batch | Not recorded | Lots recorded on the batch |
| Last year's production | Added up in March | Batch and sales reports |
| Which deliveries got a batch | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches, recipes and sales orders 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.