Selling jam under the Arkansas Food Freedom Act

Yes, and Arkansas gives home jam makers more room than almost any other state. Under the Food Freedom Act (Act 1040 of 2021) there is no permit or inspection for foods that do not need temperature control, no stated sales cap, and you may sell online, through shops and even across state lines if you follow federal law [1]. The condition is a number: the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) allows jams, jellies, preserves and fruit butters when the "Final product pH ≤4.6 or aw ≤0.85" [1]. A tested recipe gets you there; change the recipe and you test before you sell.

ADH's three columns

ADH's Homemade Food Production Guidelines (updated May 21, 2026) sort products into three columns: Allowed, Not-Allowed and Exceptions. Foods in the Exceptions column "need extra information," and ADH asks you to contact it about the risks before selling them [1]. For jams and spreads, the table reads like this:

ADH links its own jam, jelly, preserve, marmalade and conserve recipes from the guidelines, and says "Deviations to these recipes will require further product testing" by a laboratory or a calibrated pH meter before sale [1]. A meter must read to 0.1 pH unit with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.1 [1]. How to calibrate and read one is on measuring pH.

Pepper jelly: two kinds, two answers

Arkansas is one of the few states that splits pepper jelly by how it is made [1]:

• With commercially dried and ground pepper: allowed, subject to the same pH rule.
• With whole pieces of fresh pepper: in the Exceptions column. Ask ADH first.
• ADH's Golden Pepper Jelly recipe, linked from the guidelines, "can be used but cannot be modified."

The reason is acid. Fresh peppers are a low-acid vegetable, and a jelly full of pepper pieces depends on the recipe's vinegar to bring it under pH 4.6. Until a process authority says otherwise, treat any pepper jelly you sell as an acidified food; see pepper jelly.

Low-sugar, freezer jam and refrigerator jam

Reduced-sugar and sugar-free spreads sit in the Exceptions column [1]. Sugar does real preserving work in jam, and a low-sugar spread made with low-methoxyl pectin can behave differently on the shelf. Call ADH with your recipe before you list one. The background is on low-sugar jam.

Freezer jam made from fruit is allowed under frozen products [1]. Keep it frozen through the sale and label it for the freezer.

Refrigerator jam is an Exception [1]. A jam that must stay in the refrigerator is not shelf-stable, so ADH wants to hear about it first.

Pumpkin and sweet potato butters

ADH's jam table names "Pumpkin, squash, sweet potato butters," but the text of the guidelines does not make clear which column they sit in [1]. The pH rule settles it in practice. Pumpkin is low-acid, home-canned pumpkin butters have measured as high as pH 5.4, and the National Center for Home Food Preservation says there is no tested home canning process for them [2]. A canned pumpkin butter will not meet ADH's 4.6 limit. If you want to sell one, call ADH and plan on a frozen or refrigerated product. See pumpkin butter and other low-acid spreads.

Where you can sell

The Food Freedom Act lets you sell to the "informed end consumer" in several ways [1]:

• in person, by telephone or online
• from a retail space at the home, farm, ranch or office where you make the food
• through a third-party vendor's retail location, such as a shop, if the vendor keeps your jam "separate from inspected products"
• with delivery by you, your agent, a third-party vendor or a carrier

Two limits: restaurants cannot buy your jam to use in their food, and the guidelines do not clearly settle farmers markets, so ask your market and local health unit [1].

Online and out of state. If you sell online, "the website must include the above labeling information," and the package must carry the label too [1]. Interstate sales are allowed "if the seller complies with all federal laws," and ADH tells sellers to contact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the other state's health authorities first [1]. What federal registration may involve is on FDA registration and food safety rules.

Five items on every Arkansas package

Each package needs [1]:

1. the date the food was made
2. your name, address and telephone number, or an identification number from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture if you prefer not to print your address
3. the common or usual name of the food
4. ingredients in descending order of predominance
5. the statement "This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens."

ADH also requires a disclosure sign or placard where you sell [1]. If you sell from bulk, you hand the buyer a written sheet with every disclosure [1]. Federal elements, including net weight and allergen naming, are on what a jam label must say.

Calling your local health unit

ADH's guidelines direct questions to the Environmental Health Specialist at your ADH local health unit [1]. Use that call for anything in the Exceptions column, any recipe you have changed, and any plan to ship out of state. Foods that need temperature control must come from an ADH permitted and inspected facility [1]; ask the same office which permit fits. This page was last verified in October 2026.

Pricing for Arkansas's wider market

With shops, online buyers and other states all open to you, price for every channel before you take an order. Start with how to price jam and the shipping rules on selling jam online.

References

1. Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Homemade Food Production Guidelines, updated May 21, 2026. https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Homemade-Food-Guide-5.21.2026-Update.pdf
2. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Beware: Pumpkin Butter, December 7, 2012. https://nchfp.uga.edu/blog/beware-pumpkin-butter