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What your state allows

Updated October 2026

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What the federal rule covers Inside a state, it varies enormously Dairy licensing is usually its own permission Cottage food almost never covers this Record who told you what Plant-based may sit somewhere else entirely References

The federal prohibition is specific about its reach, and what happens inside your own state is not covered by it. That is where the real variation lives.

What the federal rule covers

Milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption, delivered into interstate commerce or sold. Pasteurized, or made from pasteurized ingredients. That is a clear line and it is drawn at the state border.

Inside a state, it varies enormously

Some states permit retail sale of raw milk, some permit it only at the farm, some permit herd-share arrangements, and some prohibit sale for human consumption entirely. There is no pattern to infer and no safe assumption to carry across a border.

Dairy licensing is usually its own permission

Separate from a general food premises license, often with its own inspection schedule and its own equipment requirements. Ask about it as a dairy question rather than as a food business question, because the two processes frequently sit in different parts of the same department.

Cottage food almost never covers this

A product that requires refrigeration for safety is outside most cottage food lists by definition, and a dairy product is the clearest case of one. Treat that as the starting assumption and confirm it rather than hoping.

Record who told you what

Name, date, what you described and what they said. Guidance gets restated and staff change, and a specific conversation you can point at is a different position from a recollection.

Plant-based may sit somewhere else entirely

An oat or nut beverage is not a milk product, so it may fall under general food rules rather than dairy licensing even when made in the same room. That can cut either way, and it is worth asking as its own question rather than assuming it follows the dairy answer.

References

21 CFR 1240.61, Mandatory pasteurization for all milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption, which prohibits delivering such a product into interstate commerce unless it has been pasteurized or is made from pasteurized dairy ingredients. law.cornell.edu

Michigan State University Extension. Cottage food law: which preserved products are covered. canr.msu.edu

Written from federal regulation and FDA guidance, not from a laboratory. Pasteurization of milk and milk products in final package form for interstate commerce is a federal requirement, and what your state permits inside its own borders is a separate question. Anything here is a starting point for a conversation with your state department of agriculture, not a determination that you comply.