Making ice cream to sell takes a dairy or frozen dessert permit from the state, through the health or agriculture department's milk program, on top of the business layers. Ice cream is a dairy product, so the rules come from the same program that inspects milk plants, and the mix has to be pasteurized: make your own from milk and cream and you need a pasteurizer and a plant permit for it; buy a pasteurized base from a dairy and the rules get lighter, but in some states, Alabama among them, freezing it for sale still makes you a frozen dessert plant. A scoop shop that only serves ice cream made elsewhere is a food establishment instead, under the local health department. Cottage food laws don't cover ice cream, because it's a dairy product that needs to stay cold. And to call it ice cream, federal rules set the floor: at least 10% milkfat and 4.5 pounds to the gallon. In the example below, a Birmingham, Alabama ice cream maker sorts its licenses. Below are the layers, Alabama's rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- A state dairy or frozen dessert permit, from the milk program.
- The mix is pasteurized: by you, with a pasteurizer and plant permit, or by a dairy that sells you a base.
- Freezing a bought base for sale can still make you a frozen dessert plant.
- A scoop shop that only serves is a food establishment under the local health department.
- Cottage food laws don't cover ice cream.
- "Ice cream" means at least 10% milkfat and 4.5 pounds to the gallon.
- Add the business name, sales tax, labels, and FDA registration when grocers buy most of it.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's base lot and which grocers got it. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State | An LLC filing, or an assumed name |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Registration |
| Dairy or frozen dessert permit | State milk program | For making or freezing mix for sale |
| Food establishment permit | Local health department | For a scoop shop that serves |
| Standard of identity | FDA, 21 CFR 135.110 | What can be called ice cream |
| Labels | FDA, 21 CFR part 101 | Name, net quantity, ingredients, allergens, name and place, Nutrition Facts unless exempt |
| FDA facility registration | FDA | When grocers and restaurants buy more than consumers |
Every state differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
Alabama's rules
| Rule | Alabama Administrative Code, chapter 420-3-16 |
|---|---|
| Ice cream is a frozen dessert | With frozen custard, sherbet, ices and the rest (r. 420-3-16-.02) |
| A frozen dessert plant | Any place where mix or frozen dessert is made, processed or frozen for distribution or sale (r. 420-3-16-.02) |
| A permit | From the Health Officer before selling frozen desserts, applied for on the department's form (r. 420-3-16-.04) |
| Retail may be exempt | Grocery stores, restaurants, soda fountains and similar places that serve or sell but don't process (r. 420-3-16-.04) |
What the federal standard requires is in 21 CFR 135.110: a pasteurized mix, at least 10% milkfat and 10% nonfat milk solids, 1.6 pounds of solids and 4.5 pounds to the gallon. What Alabama's cottage food law does cover is in Alabama cottage food law.
An example: a Birmingham ice cream maker
Ironwood Pint Co., the made-up ice cream maker in Birmingham, Alabama, I use in these examples, freezes a pasteurized dairy base into pints for grocers, tubs for restaurants and scoops at a weekend window:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, August 2024 |
| City business license | Renewed for 2026 |
| Sales tax | Registered, August 2024 |
| Frozen dessert plant permit | Done, September 2024: the batch freezer counts, though the base comes pasteurized |
| Scoop window | To check with the county: serving its own ice cream under the plant permit |
| Pasteurized base | From a permitted dairy, with the dairy's lot on every delivery |
| Standard of identity | Checked: the base is 14% milkfat, and 40% overrun keeps it above 4.5 pounds a gallon |
| Labels | Done, with Nutrition Facts for the grocers |
| FDA facility registration | Done: grocers buy most of the pints; renewal due by December 31, 2026 |
| Product liability insurance | Done August 1, 2026; renews August 1, 2027 |
The owner first thought a bought base meant no dairy permit; Alabama's definition counts any place that freezes mix for sale. The plan is in ice cream business plan, the hazards in ice cream HACCP plan, and handing the pints to a plant instead in ice cream co-packer.
Get the checklist
Download the ice cream business 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 dairy's base lot goes into twenty flavors over a week, and the pints go to a dozen grocers. If the dairy recalls a lot, a checklist can't say which pints it reached.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's base lot, and which grocers got it.
Each batch a lot. A batch of pints records the base and mix-in lots it used, automatically, gets a lot with its date, and lot labels print for the pints.
Earliest first. Orders pick the earliest dates first, and a grocer can carry its own minimum days left.
Where it went. Each grocer's and restaurant's order records the lots it got, so one recall report traces a dairy's base lot forward to every customer.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which base went into a flavor | Not recorded | Lots recorded on the batch |
| Which pints go out first | A guess | Earliest dates first |
| Which grocers got a base lot | 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.