Getting started

Read this before buying a jar

Updated October 2026

On this page8

What this covers The container definition And the food definition Put those together Which is not a kitchen project So the honest answer for most people is one of two things Three of the nine leaves are not packaging at all References

The jar is what brings the regulation, so this page comes before any decision about which jar.

What this covers

Bone broth, broth, stock, soup, dip and deli salad dressing, plus catering bulk, meal prep and takeout. Nine leaves, and the regulation divides them in a way the filling process does not.

The container definition

A hermetically sealed container means a container that is designed and intended to be secure against the entry of microorganisms and thereby to maintain the commercial sterility of its contents after processing. A glass jar with a lined lid is exactly that.

And the food definition

Low-acid foods means any foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity greater than 0.85. A broth, a stock and most soups and dips are over both figures.

Put those together

A low-acid food, thermally processed, in a hermetically sealed container, sold shelf stable, is a low-acid canned food. That brings a scheduled process established by a competent processing authority, establishment registration with FDA within ten days, process filing, and retort equipment.

Which is not a kitchen project

And the regulation says why in its own words: the harmful nature of such foods cannot be adequately determined after these foods have entered into interstate commerce. You cannot test your way to confidence after the fact.

So the honest answer for most people is one of two things

Sell it refrigerated or frozen, which is not shelf stable and therefore not within part 113. Or acidify it to a finished equilibrium pH at or below 4.6, which moves it into the acidified foods regime that the written site on Pickles covers.

Three of the nine leaves are not packaging at all

Catering bulk, meal prep and takeout are foodservice in disposables consumed within hours. The questions there are temperature control and holding time rather than container specification, and we say so rather than selling a jar into them.

References

21 CFR 113.3, the definitions for thermally processed low-acid foods packaged in hermetically sealed containers. Paragraph (j) defines a hermetically sealed container as one designed and intended to be secure against the entry of microorganisms so as to maintain commercial sterility; (n) defines low-acid foods as those with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity greater than 0.85, excluding tomatoes and tomato products below pH 4.7; (r) requires a scheduled process at least equivalent to one established by a competent processing authority. law.cornell.edu

21 CFR 108.35, Thermal processing of low-acid foods packaged in hermetically sealed containers. Paragraph (a) records that the harmful nature of such foods cannot be adequately determined after they have entered interstate commerce; (c)(1) requires a commercial processor to register with FDA on Form FDA 2541 not later than 10 days after first engaging in such processing, giving the establishment locations, the processing method in terms of equipment employed, and a list of the low-acid foods processed. law.cornell.edu

21 CFR part 114, Acidified foods, the regime for foods to which acid or acid foods are added to produce a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below, which is the alternative route for a product that would otherwise be low-acid. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation, not from a production kitchen. Nothing here is a scheduled process, and nothing here is a substitute for a competent processing authority. If you are considering a shelf-stable low-acid product, the first call is to a process authority rather than to a packaging supplier.