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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) helps ensure the safety of the food supply by licensing and inspecting food producers, distributors, and certain retail food establishments in Minnesota. Examples of food businesses licensed by MDA include food manufacturers, storage warehouses, grocery stores, convenience stores, bakeries, meat processors, retail meat markets/in-store delis, vending machines, and permanent and mobile businesses that primarily sell prepackaged foods, baked goods, candies, shaved ice, popcorn, or nuts. We would like to help answer your food business questions and connect you with the people and information to start a successful food business.

What You Need to Know About Being a Food Business in Minnesota

There are some general rules that apply in all circumstances. Please review the following:

  1. You need to have a license to sell food in Minnesota unless you meet an exclusion or exemption. The definition of “sell” is broad under Minnesota law – “sell” can also mean hold, transfer, or give away, even if no money is exchanged.
  2. All food businesses are subject to health and safety regulations, regardless of whether or not a food license is required.
  3. You must meet with an inspector before getting a license application. License applications are not available online. The only exception is for a Special Event Food Stand license.
  4. If you plan to manufacture meat products to wholesale (sell to other businesses/organizations), you must meet special requirements, and a meat inspector must be present at the time you manufacture the product.
  5. If you plan to sell food at a retail location, you may need a facility plan review and inspection before licensing.
  6. If you handle seafood, make juice, or pickle, bottle, or can food, you may need special training before you can be licensed.
  7. Restaurants, caterers, and food trucks that primarily serve ready-to-eat meal items or beverages, prepared or served onsite per customer order, are licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) or a local health agency, not the MDA. You can find more information on the MDH food licensing website.
  8. There are a few exclusions and exemptions to the food licensing requirement. Generally, you cannot sell food made from your home, but exceptions to this rule include cottage food producers and those selling products of the farm or garden. Please note that local zoning requirements may also prevent you from selling food from your home. A cottage food producer registration is not a food license, and those wishing to produce cottage foods must be registered with the MDA.<
  9. Please keep in mind that the process to start a food business, meet all requirements, and eventually obtain a license takes time.

Pre-Consultation Questionnaire

If you have further questions, please fill out the following web form for a referral to the MDA Licensing Liaison. We can follow up with most requests within five business days. Please allow for more time during high-volume licensing seasons.

Please fill out your contact information and answer these questions about your business.

Are you starting a new business that has not been licensed before?
Please choose one of the following
Will your business primarily be a food or non-food business?
Do you want to sell products from your farm or garden (with no added off-farm/purchased ingredients)?
Are you planning to slaughter/harvest live animals for meat sales?
What species of animal? (Choose all that apply)
Have you taken a HACCP course?
What was the course for?
Do you want to produce and sell food out of your home?
Do you have a private well and septic system?
Who do you think you will sell most of your food to (51% or more of your total sales)? (Who is your primary target customer?)
Are you planning on selling any unpackaged foods or beverages intended for immediate consumption (e.g., coffee or smoothie beverages, sandwiches, salads, or hot foods) that are prepared or dispensed onsite per customer order?

Be as specific as possible, including details about processing, preserving, or packaging (e.g., Raw meats, jerky, fresh seafood, frosted cupcakes, canned pickled vegetables, prepackaged candy and soda, freeze-dried packaged meals, etc.).

Are you only planning on selling prepackaged foods that someone else manufactured and packaged?
Where do you plan to sell your food?
Will you be producing or selling alcohol or alcohol-containing food?
Will you be canning or bottling products, producing juice, or handling seafood, or pickling (performing specialized processes)?

Please provide any additional information you think may help us better understand your vision or business plan.

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These financial responsibility requirements apply to Minnesota Pesticide Applicators, Structural Pest Control Appl

  • Seafood HACCP regulation applies to processors and importers selling fishery products for wholesale (i.e., sales to other businesses or distributors).
  • Any products that are sold wholesale must be processed in accordance with the regulation, provided that the product is in interstate commerce. This is true even if the firm's primary business is retail.

Exemptions - The rule does not apply to:

  • Harvesting or transporting fish or fishery products, without otherwise engaging in processing.
  • Practices such as heading, eviscerating, or freezing intended solely to prepare a fish for holding on board a harvest vessel.
  • Retail establishment solely selling fishery products to the end consumer. 

 

How do I know if the Seafood HACCP regulation applies to my seafood or fish-containing product?
  • Seafood HACCP regulation applies to processors and importers selling fishery products for wholesale (i.e., sales to other businesses or distributors).
  • Any products that are sold wholesale must be processed in accordance with the regulation, provided that the product is in interstate commerce. This is true even if the firm's primary business is retail.

Exemptions - The rule does not apply to:

  • Harvesting or transporting fish or fishery products, without otherwise engaging in processing.
  • Practices such as heading, eviscerating, or freezing intended solely to prepare a fish for holding on board a harvest vessel.
  • Retail establishment solely selling fishery products to the end consumer. 

 

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  • Fish means fresh or saltwater finfish, crustaceans, other forms of aquatic animal life (including, but not limited to, alligator, frog, aquatic turtle, jellyfish, sea cucumber, and sea urchin and the roe of such animals) other than birds or mammals, and all mollusks, where such animal life is intended for human consumption.
  • Fishery product means any human food product in which fish is a characterizing ingredient.
  • Molluscan shellfish means any edible species of fresh or frozen oysters, clams, mussels, or scallops, or edible portions of such species, except when the product consists entirely of the shucked adductor muscle.
  • Processor means any person engaged in commercial, custom, or institutional processing of fish or fishery products, either in the United States or in a foreign country. A processor includes any person engaged in the production of foods that are to be used in market or consumer tests.
  • Processing means, with respect to fish or fishery products: Handling, storing, preparing, heading, eviscerating, shucking, freezing, changing into different market forms, manufacturing, preserving, packing, labeling, dockside unloading, or holding.
What other definitions should I know regarding seafood processing?
  • Fish means fresh or saltwater finfish, crustaceans, other forms of aquatic animal life (including, but not limited to, alligator, frog, aquatic turtle, jellyfish, sea cucumber, and sea urchin and the roe of such animals) other than birds or mammals, and all mollusks, where such animal life is intended for human consumption.
  • Fishery product means any human food product in which fish is a characterizing ingredient.
  • Molluscan shellfish means any edible species of fresh or frozen oysters, clams, mussels, or scallops, or edible portions of such species, except when the product consists entirely of the shucked adductor muscle.
  • Processor means any person engaged in commercial, custom, or institutional processing of fish or fishery products, either in the United States or in a foreign country. A processor includes any person engaged in the production of foods that are to be used in market or consumer tests.
  • Processing means, with respect to fish or fishery products: Handling, storing, preparing, heading, eviscerating, shucking, freezing, changing into different market forms, manufacturing, preserving, packing, labeling, dockside unloading, or holding.
No