Cottage Food Glossary: TCS, pH, Water Activity and More

Terms you will see in cottage food laws and the food science behind them, in plain language. State laws may define them differently; your state guide and state agency have the final word.

Acid food: A food that is naturally acidic, with a pH of 4.6 or below, such as most fruits. Fruit jams made from acid fruits fall here. See more ›
Acidified food: A low-acid food that has acid or acid foods added to bring its pH to 4.6 or below, such as pickled vegetables, pepper jelly, and most shelf-stable salsa and hot sauce (21 CFR 114). Commercial acidified foods need a scheduled process from a process authority. See more ›
Better Process Control School: An FDA-recognized course for people who supervise commercial production of acidified or low-acid canned foods.
Botulism (Clostridium botulinum): A serious illness caused by a toxin from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Its spores survive boiling and can grow in sealed, low-oxygen, low-acid foods, such as improperly canned vegetables or garlic in oil. See more ›
Certified food protection manager: A higher-level food safety certification earned by passing an accredited exam. A few states, such as Illinois and New Jersey, require it for cottage food.
Co-packer: A contract manufacturer that makes your product under its own licenses, usually with minimum order sizes. See more ›
Cold holding (41°F): Keeping a TCS food at 41°F (5°C) or below, the FDA Food Code limit for refrigerated foods. States that allow some TCS foods from home, like Texas and Tennessee, require it. See more ›
Commercial kitchen: A kitchen licensed and inspected for food production. Foods outside cottage food rules must be made in one. See more ›
Cottage food: Food made in a home kitchen and sold under a state cottage food law. Most states limit cottage food to low-risk, shelf-stable products like baked goods, jams, and candy, and many cap annual sales. See more ›
Cottage food operation: A general name for a home food business operating under a cottage food law. States use their own names, such as home processor, home based vendor, limited food establishment, or residential kitchen, and the official name matters when you look for forms. See more ›
Direct and indirect sales: Direct sales go straight from you to the person who will eat the food, in person, at a market, or by delivery. Indirect sales go through someone else, such as a store, restaurant, distributor, or consignment. Many states allow only direct sales of cottage food.
Fermented food: A food whose pH is lowered by microbes, such as the lactic acid bacteria in sauerkraut and kimchi. Federal rules treat fermented foods separately from acidified foods, and states handle them in different ways. See more ›
Food freedom law: A broader kind of home food law that lets producers sell many more foods, sometimes including foods that need refrigeration, directly to an informed consumer with little or no licensing. Wyoming, Utah, and Montana are examples. See more ›
Food handler card: A certificate from a basic food safety course. Many states require one for cottage food producers.
Informed end consumer: The final buyer of a homemade food who has been told it was made in a home kitchen that isn't licensed or inspected. Food freedom laws often allow sales only to this kind of buyer, not for resale.
Interstate sales: Selling food across state lines. Cottage food laws generally cover sales within one state, and interstate sales can bring in federal FDA requirements.
Label statement: The required wording that tells buyers a food was made in a home kitchen that isn't inspected. Many states set the exact words, and some set the type size. Each state guide shows the required wording. See more ›
Low-acid canned food: A sealed, shelf-stable food with a pH above 4.6 and a water activity above 0.85, such as canned green beans or meat (21 CFR 113). These need pressure processing to destroy botulism spores and are almost never allowed as cottage food.
Major food allergens: The nine allergens that federal law requires on food labels: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Most states require cottage food labels to declare them too.
MEHKO (microenterprise home kitchen operation): A permit that lets a home cook sell prepared meals from home, where the city or county has opted in. California is the best-known example. See more ›
pH: A measure of how acidic a food is, on a scale where lower numbers are more acidic. Many pathogens grow poorly in acidic foods, which is why pH testing is central to rules for pickles, salsa, and sauces.
pH 4.6: The dividing line for botulism risk in sealed foods. At a pH of 4.6 or below, Clostridium botulinum spores are not expected to grow and produce toxin. Federal rules use it to separate acid and acidified foods from low-acid foods. See more ›
Potentially hazardous food: The older name for a TCS food. Some state laws and guidance still use it.
Process authority: A person or organization, often at a university, with expert knowledge of acidification or thermal processing who reviews a recipe and sets a safe process for it.
Sales cap: The most a cottage food business can sell in a year under the state law, usually counted as gross sales rather than profit. Caps range from a few thousand dollars to none at all. See more ›
Scheduled process: The written process, including times, temperatures, and pH limits, that a process authority sets for an acidified or low-acid canned food. Commercial processors follow it for every batch and file it with the FDA.
Shared or commissary kitchen: A licensed commercial kitchen rented by the hour or month. It is often the lowest-cost way to move beyond cottage food. See more ›
Shelf-stable: Safe to keep at room temperature in its closed package. Shelf-stable foods are the core of most cottage food laws.
Standard of identity: A federal definition of what a food must contain to use a certain name. Jams and jellies have one (21 CFR 150) that sets their fruit and sugar content, and some states require cottage food jams to meet it. See more ›
TCS food (time/temperature control for safety): The FDA Food Code term for a food that needs refrigeration or hot holding to keep harmful bacteria from growing or forming toxins. Examples include dairy, eggs, cooked rice, meat, cut tomatoes, and cut melons. Most cottage food laws exclude TCS foods. See more ›
Water activity (aw): A measure, from 0 to 1, of how much of the water in a food is available for microbes to use. It is different from moisture content. Under the FDA Food Code, a water activity of about 0.88 or lower, alone or combined with pH, can make a food non-TCS. Some states set their own limits.

Cottage food glossary

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