Selling food to another state, by shipping an online order or by a store across the border, moves the food into interstate commerce, where federal rules apply alongside both states'. What changes depends on what the food is and where it's made. Cottage food is a state permission for sales in that state, so homemade food generally stays home. Food from a commercial kitchen can ship anywhere, with federal labeling, FDA facility registration unless exempt, and the food safety rules for its type. Meat and poultry need federal inspection, or a state plant in the interstate shipment program. Dairy has to be pasteurized or made from pasteurized ingredients. In the example below, four makers ask whether they can ship to customers in the next state, and get four different answers. Below is each kind of food, the example, selling online, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Cottage food is a state permission; another state brings its own rules and federal ones, and homemade food isn't generally an approved source.
- A commercial kitchen's food can ship across state lines with federal labels and its type's safety rules.
- Registered facilities register with FDA unless exempt; a retail food establishment selling mostly direct is exempt.
- Meat and poultry: federal inspection, or a state plant in the interstate program; custom exempt meat is never sold.
- Dairy: pasteurized, or made from pasteurized ingredients.
- Acidified and low-acid canned foods bring their FDA filings.
- Selling online is still selling: the same rules, plus getting perishable food there safely.
- TaroStack records which lots each customer got, wherever they are. More below.
Each kind of food
| Food | Across state lines |
|---|---|
| Homemade, under cottage food | A state permission for sales in that state; FDA doesn't recognize homemade food as an approved source, as Hawaiʻi's health department notes (DOH) |
| From a commercial kitchen | Federal labeling; FDA facility registration unless exempt (21 CFR 1.226); the food safety rules for its type |
| Meat and poultry | Made under federal inspection, or at a state plant in the interstate shipment program; the exemptions are for the owner's household or the retail counter (21 U.S.C. 623) |
| Dairy | Pasteurized or made from pasteurized ingredients (21 CFR 1240.61) |
| Acidified and low-acid canned | Registration and process filings with FDA |
The facility registration rule exempts retail food establishments, places selling more than half their food directly to consumers, and a private home isn't a facility at all (21 CFR 1.227). So a bakery that sells mostly over its own counter and ships a few orders doesn't register; a maker that sells mostly to stores does. How an acidified food's process is set is in process authority letter. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: four makers, one question
Four made-up makers I use in these examples each get an order from a customer in the next state:
| Maker | Product | Can it ship? | What it takes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Hearth Bread, Fargo, North Dakota | Sourdough from a home kitchen under cottage food law | Not on its cottage food permission | A licensed commercial kitchen, or customers come to it |
| Blue Ridge Hot Sauce, Roanoke, Virginia | Hot sauce from a commercial kitchen | Yes | Its FDA registration, acidified food filings and federal labels, already in place |
| Cedar Hollow Jerky, Bozeman, Montana | Beef jerky | Yes, from the shared kitchen | Made under the kitchen's federal inspection, so the legend travels with it |
| Ironwood Pint Co., Birmingham, Alabama | Ice cream from a pasteurized base | Yes, frozen | Pasteurized base, its state license, and dry ice and a freezer box to get there |
The baker is the one who can't ship as things stand, and that's the common surprise: a cottage food permission covers the home state. How cottage food businesses start, and what they can sell, is in how to start a cottage food business.
Selling online
An online store is a shop window, not a loophole: a sale shipped to another state is an interstate sale. On top of the rules above, the food has to arrive safe: cold food cold, frozen food frozen, and packaging that survives the trip. How to ship perishable food is in shipping perishable food for a small business. Sales tax follows the buyer's state, which is a separate question for each state you sell into.
Get the checklist
Download the selling food across state lines checklist. One sheet: one line for each product with yes or no for a home kitchen under cottage food, meat or poultry, and dairy, and whether it's acidified or low-acid canned, where what shipping it to another state brings fills in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Shipping out of state multiplies customers: online orders to a dozen states, a distributor's warehouse, stores across the border. Each one has to be traceable if a lot ever needs pulling, and a spreadsheet of addresses doesn't say which lot went in which box.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack records which lots each customer got, wherever they are.
Lots on every order. Each order records the lots each customer got as it ships, whether it's a store across town or an online customer three states away, so one recall report lists every customer who got a lot, and what's still on your shelves.
Dates that travel. Each lot carries its production and best-before dates, and the oldest ships first, so stock doesn't age on the shelf while newer lots go out.
Channels. TaroStack connects to Square, and if you sell on Shopify, we set it up with you.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which lot went to which state | Not recorded | Recorded as each order ships |
| A recall across state lines | Search every channel | One recall report |
| Shipping the oldest first | Check the labels | First-expired-first-out |
Lots, orders and recalls 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.