Can you make jam under someone else's label, or sell another maker's jam under yours?

Yes, in both directions, once you are a licensed producer. A licensed jam maker can make product for a farm stand, winery, inn or shop that sells it under its own brand, and a shop or brand can sell jam another licensed maker produced. Federal labeling rules allow it as long as the name on the jar is qualified with a phrase such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" when that business did not make the food. Cottage food makers usually cannot do it, because most cottage laws bar resale and require the maker's own name on the label. This page covers both directions, whose name goes where, how liability falls, and how to price the work.

Two directions, two different businesses

What the label must say in either direction

21 CFR 101.5 requires every packaged food to name "the manufacturer, packer, or distributor," with a place of business that includes street address, city, state and ZIP code, though the street address may be left off if it is listed in a current city or telephone directory [1]. The private label rule is in paragraph (c): "Where the food is not manufactured by the person whose name appears on the label, the name shall be qualified by a phrase that reveals the connection such person has with such food; such as 'Manufactured for ___', 'Distributed by ___', or any other wording that expresses the facts" [1].

So a winery selling your fig jam might print "Distributed by Hillside Winery" with its address. Nothing in 101.5 requires your name as the maker to appear as well. The other label elements (product name, net weight, ingredients, allergens, nutrition labeling unless exempt) still apply to whoever's name is on the jar; see what a jam label must say.

If the product is called jam, jelly, preserves or fruit butter, it must meet the federal standard for that name whatever the brand. A client's request for less sugar or an unusual fruit can push a product outside the standard, which changes the name the label may use. That rule lives on what you can call your jam.

Why cottage food makers usually cannot do this

Most cottage food laws were written for direct sales by the person who made the food. Many bar wholesale, consignment and resale outright, and they generally require the label to carry the cottage operation's own name and address; Alabama's, for example, requires the operation name and home or post office box address on the label [2]. A jar made in your home and sold under a farm's brand fails both tests in most states. If a farm or shop asks you for private label jam while you are still in cottage food, the honest answer is usually "not until I am licensed." Check your state's rules on selling jam in your state.

Making jam for someone else's brand

Private label work can fill slow weeks and use fruit a farm client supplies. It goes well when four things are settled first.

1. Whose formula. If you use your own tested formula, it stays yours. Say so in writing. If the client brings a family recipe, it has to be tested and turned into a weighed formula before production, and any change that affects safety (lower sugar, added peppers, a low-acid fruit) needs a process review. A process authority's letter is written for a specific formula and container, so a change means a new review [3].
2. Who supplies what. Fruit from the client's orchard, your jars and lids, their printed labels: write down each item, who buys it, and who owns leftovers.
3. Approval of the label. You are producing a food that carries someone else's name, but you are the one who knows what is in it. Approve the ingredient list, allergens and net weight before labels are printed.
4. Records and recall. Keep the batch record and lot code for every private label run exactly as you would for your own brand, and agree who calls whom if there is a complaint. The tracing records are on records, lot tracing and recalls.

UF/IFAS's advice for copacking applies here in reverse: put the quantity, quality, timeline, price and payment terms in a contract [4], and sign a confidentiality agreement if either side is sharing a formula.

Selling another maker's jam under your brand

This is the route for a shop, a gift company or a brand owner who would rather sell than cook. The maker must be licensed for the product and, if its plant sells mostly to businesses, registered with FDA; see FDA registration and food safety rules. Ask for:

• The maker's state license and FDA registration number.
• The product specification by weight and the readings each batch must meet.
• Its product liability insurance certificate, and whether you can be named as additional insured.
• Its recall plan and how it codes lots.
• Any process authority letter for the product, especially for pepper jelly or other acidified products.

Oklahoma State's copacking bulletin recommends having an attorney and accountant review the agreement, including liability [5]. Your brand is on the jar, so a customer's first call about a problem jar comes to you.

Liability: who answers when a jar goes wrong

Federal labeling makes the business named on the label the visible party, and buyers and customers will treat it that way. The maker controls the process. The contract is where those two facts are reconciled: each party's insurance, who pays for retrieving and destroying recalled jars, and who handles regulators. Neither the UF/IFAS nor the Oklahoma State bulletin sets a standard split [4][5], so do not assume one. Your insurance agent should see the agreement before you sign; insurance basics are on insurance, licenses and sales tax.

Pricing private label work

No source publishes current private label margins for jam, and margins depend on who supplies fruit and packaging. Price from your own numbers:

1. Work out your full cost per finished jar for the run: fruit (zero if the client supplies it), sugar, pectin, jar, lid, labor, kitchen time, energy, and the share of overhead such as insurance and licensing.
2. Add the costs that private label creates: setup and changeover between products, label application if the client's labels are a different size, smaller runs, and storage until pickup.
3. Set a minimum run in jars below which the setup cost makes the work unprofitable.
4. Add your margin, and compare the result against what you earn per jar selling your own brand wholesale.

If the client wants your formula too, price it separately or decline; a recipe sold once is gone. The cost per jar calculator handles the first two steps.

The contract comes next

Whichever direction you are going, the agreement carries the same terms as a copacking contract: specification, quantity, schedule, supplies, price, label approval, confidentiality, insurance, recalls and exit. Each is laid out on working with a copacker.

References

1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 21 CFR 101.5, Food; name and place of business of manufacturer, packer, or distributor, accessed October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/101.5
2. Alabama Department of Public Health, *Cottage Food*, July 9, 2026. https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/foodsafety/cottage-food.html
3. University of Georgia Extension, Mohan, *Step-by-Step Guidelines for Processing, Manufacturing, and Regulatory Approval of Acidified Foods in Georgia* (B 1455), November 2015. https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/B%201455_1.PDF
4. UF/IFAS Extension, O'Donoughue, Jennings and Ahn, *Finding and Using a Co-packer* (FSHN20-35), May 2020, revised October 2024. https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS380/pdf
5. Oklahoma State University Extension, Holcomb, *Food Processing Using a Co-Packer* (FAPC-106), June 2017. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/food-processing-using-a-co-packer.html