You can sell most types of food products, including perishable ones.

Here are ALL of the items that you cannot sell:

• Food items that contain meat or poultry, unless:
  • The meat or poultry is purchased from an inspected source exempted by 9
    CFR 381.10(d) or 301.3(d)*
  • You have raised the poultry and have 1,000 or fewer birds
• Acidified foods (pickles, salsas, sauces, etc)**
• Low-acid canned foods (e.g. canned green beans)
• Food items that have been cured or smoked to preserve the food (curing/smoking only for flavor is allowed)
• Unpasteurized fruit or vegetable juice
• Raw sprout seeds
• Food items containing any kind of fish, shellfish, or game animals
• Alcoholic beverages
• Bottled water
• Packaged ice
• Consumable hemp products
• Food that will be further processed by a food processing plant
• Perishable foods packaged using reduced oxygen packaging
• Grade “A” milk or milk products

* To clarify the exemption for meat: you can sell products that are made with purchased meat or poultry, IF the meat or poultry was not processed in a USDA facility. This would include meat that is processed by your local butcher or the meat section of a grocery store. Generally, you are NOT able to use meat that arrives pre-packaged (and ready for sale) at a store.

** Although you can’t sell acidified foods under this law, you can use Iowa’s cottage food law to sell them directly to consumers.

There are many workplace requirements in the law.

In 2016, the term for these businesses changed from “home food establishments” to “home bakeries”. Then in 2022, the term changed again to “home food processing establishments.