Can I sell hot sauce under South Carolina's home-based food law?

By Dwight Davis, Founder

Updated October 2026

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A generous law with one firm exclusion The permitted route for South Carolina sauce makers The home label, if you make allowed foods too Confirm with SCDA and Clemson Taking a South Carolina sauce into shops the licensed way References

No, and South Carolina says so by name. The South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) lists "Hot sauce and BBQ sauce" among foods not allowed under the home-based food production law, and its 2025 guidance adds pickles and fermented foods "in all forms" [1] [2]. There is no pH test or approved-recipe exception. Making any food that is not allowed requires a permit [2]. For hot sauce, that means a commercial kitchen with a Retail Food Establishment permit for retail sales, and an SCDA Registration Verification Certificate if you want to sell wholesale [1].

A generous law with one firm exclusion

South Carolina's home law, S.C. Code § 44-1-143, is more open than most in where it lets home producers sell. Products may go directly to consumers, by online or mail order delivered within the state, and to retail stores, including grocery stores, as long as the store posts a sign that the goods are not subject to commercial food regulation [1] [2]. No license is required, and there is no sales cap beyond a small-operator provision for those netting under $1,500 a year [1].

That makes the hot sauce exclusion sting, because the channels a sauce maker wants most are open to the baker next door. SCDA's 2025 guidance lists these as not allowed: hot sauce, BBQ sauce, chow chow, chutney, salsa, mustard, pepper jelly, relish, marinades, and acidified or low-acid sauces and dressings, plus pickles and fermented foods in all forms [1]. The program form CPD #2210 (June 30, 2025) repeats "Hot sauce and BBQ sauce" in its short not-allowed list [2].

Canned goods that are allowed are narrow: acidic fruits, and jams, jellies and preserves made from a science-based recipe with acidic fruit, sugar and pectin. Low-sugar, sugar-substitute and low-acid recipes do not qualify [1]. Even a pepper jelly is out [1].

Ferments are excluded in all forms

SCDA excludes fermented foods in all forms [1]. A fermented mash sauce is not allowed from home, whether or not you finish it with vinegar. The fermented sauce page explains how ferments are classified once you move to a licensed kitchen.

The permitted route for South Carolina sauce makers

SCDA's guidance says foods not allowed under the home law must be made in a commercial kitchen and sold under a Retail Food Establishment permit under SC Regulation 61-25; wholesale sales need a Registration Verification Certificate (RVC) from SCDA [1]. The guidance includes a decision tree (Appendix D) for working out which regulator applies to you [1]. SCDA now runs the home-based food program, so older references that send you to DHEC for it may be out of date.

Your plan	What you need (per SCDA)
Sell your own sauce at retail, made in a commercial kitchen	Retail Food Establishment permit [1]
Sell to shops, distributors or other businesses	SCDA Registration Verification Certificate [1]
Either one, as an acidified food	A process authority's review and the federal filings

SCDA's guidance does not set out the acidified food steps, so ask SCDA's wholesale food safety program what it expects. On the federal side, an acidified sauce maker needs food facility registration and an FCE number and process filing for each sauce and container size, built on a scheduled process from a process authority. The kitchen or co-packer page compares renting kitchen time with hiring a co-packer.

The home label, if you make allowed foods too

Many sauce makers also sell spice rubs or baked goods. For those, the home law requires this statement in capital letters, in a color that contrasts with the background [1] [2]:

"PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA'S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS."

Add the product name, ingredients in descending order by weight, allergens, and your name and address or a voluntary SCDA ID number [1]. Never put that statement on a sauce made in a permitted kitchen; licensed products follow the federal rules on what a hot sauce label must say.

Confirm with SCDA and Clemson

South Carolina's home-based food program sits in the Department of Agriculture's Retail Food Safety and Compliance unit, 350 Ballard Court, West Columbia, email homebasedfoods@scda.sc.gov, with separate retail and wholesale food safety programs [1]. Clemson answers guidance questions at sccottagefood@clemson.edu [1]. Ask SCDA which permit fits your kitchen and whether you need an RVC for the shops you plan to sell to. This page was last verified in October 2026.

Taking a South Carolina sauce into shops the licensed way

Once your sauce is made under a permit and filed with FDA, the store channel the home law dangles in front of you is open to it. The getting into stores page covers approaching buyers, and the fifty-state overview shows the other states that exclude hot sauce by name.