Selling it

Who inspects you

Updated October 2026

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Expect a dairy-specific process Expect routine testing rather than occasional The three records they will ask for Describe the whole product range Record who told you what Ask before you sign a lease References

This is the most inspected craft in the library, and dairy is usually a separate licensing track rather than part of a general food permission.

Expect a dairy-specific process

In most states dairy licensing, inspection and testing sit in their own part of the department with their own requirements for equipment, plumbing, cleaning and records. Approaching it as a general food business question will get you routed around until somebody mentions the dairy section.

Expect routine testing rather than occasional

Dairy operations are typically subject to ongoing product and environment testing rather than a one-off assessment. That is a continuing cost and a continuing obligation, and it is one of the clearest differences from the shelf-stable crafts.

The three records they will ask for

Pasteurization time and temperature, cold holding temperatures, and cleaning. Those are the backbone of a dairy operation’s paperwork, and being able to produce them without assembling them changes the tone of a visit entirely.

Describe the whole product range

Including anything cultured, anything plant-based made on the same equipment, and anything aged. A plant beverage made in a dairy facility raises its own questions, and it is better to raise them yourself.

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.

Ask before you sign a lease

Dairy premises requirements can reach plumbing, drainage, floor surfaces and the separation of rooms, and a space that works for a bakery may not be adaptable at a sensible cost. This is the single most expensive thing to discover late in this property.

Bring the equipment plan to that conversation too, because what you intend to install affects what the space has to provide.

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.