Home Based Food Operations

Summary

The Home Food Processing Establishment (HFPE) license replaces the home bakery license and adds the ability for licensees to make, package, and process additional food products. 

 

For more information, please visit the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals webpage.  

 

Common Food Chart

 
“Home food processing establishment” means a business on the premises of a residence in which homemade food items are produced for sale or resale, for consumption off the premises, if the business has gross annual sales of less than $50,000. However, “home food processing establishment” does not include a residence in which food is prepared to be used or sold by churches, fraternal societies, charitable organizations, or civic organizations. 
“Homemade food item” means a food that is produced and, if packaged, packaged in a home food
processing establishment. “Homemade food item” includes food that is not time/temperature control for
safety food but does not include such food if it is produced and sold under Iowa Code section 137F.20.
Homemade food items do not include the following:
1. Unpasteurized fruit or vegetable juice;
2. Raw sprout seeds;
3. Foods containing game animals;
4. Fish or shellfish;
5. Alcoholic beverages;
6. Bottled water;
7. Packaged ice;
8. Consumable hemp products;
9. Food that will be further processed by a food processing plant or another home food processing
establishment;
10. Time/temperature control for safety food packaged using a reduced oxygen packaging method;
11. Milk or milk products regulated under Iowa Code chapters 192 and 194;
12. Meat or meat food products, and poultry or poultry products regulated under Iowa Code chapter
189A, except for any of the following products when sold directly to the end consumer:
     * Poultry, poultry byproduct, or poultry food product if the producer raised the poultry pursuant
        to the exemption set forth in 9 CFR 381.10(c)(1) limiting the producer to slaughtering not more  than one thousand poultry during the calendar year;
     * Poultry, poultry byproduct, or poultry food product if the poultry is from an inspected source
       exempted pursuant to 9 CFR 381.10(d); or
     * Meat, meat byproduct, or meat food product if the meat is from an inspected source exempted
       pursuant to 9 CFR 303.1(d); or
13. A raw agricultural commodity. Other than raw bean or seed sprouts, raw agricultural
commodities do not require a license issued by the department to sell and may be sold by home food
processing establishments, although they are not homemade food items.
“Standardized recipe” means a recipe that has been tried, adapted, and retried several times for use
by a given food service operation and has been found to produce the same good results and yield every time when the exact procedures are followed with the same type of equipment and same quantity and quality of ingredients. At a minimum, a standardized recipe includes the recipe name, listing of each ingredient, a measurement of each ingredient, equipment and utensils used, preparation instructions, and procedures to ensure the safety of the food.
“Cottage food” means the production and sale of food produced at a private residence other than time/temperature control for safety food as provided in Iowa Code section 137F.20 as enacted by 2022 Iowa Acts, House File 2431, section 10, and food for resale that is not time/temperature control for safety food. “Cottage food” includes home-processed and home-canned pickles, vegetables, or fruits that have a finished equilibrium pH value of 4.60 or lower or a water activity value of 0.85 or less for which each batch has been measured by a pH meter or a water activity meter and each container that is sold or offered for sale contains the date the food was processed and canned. “Cottage food” does not include any of the following: 1. Milk or milk products regulated under Iowa Code chapters 192 and 194. 2. Meat, meat food products, poultry, or poultry food products regulated under Iowa Code chapter 189A.