Selling hummus in Massachusetts

Q: Where do I go from here?

How to sell hummus to stores. Every step, its reason and its typical cost Selling food made at home in Massachusetts. All of Massachusetts's lines, what you may make, register and outgrow How do I find and choose a co-packer?. 5 min read How do I work out my shelf life and best-by date?. 4 min read Do I need to register with the FDA to sell my food product?. 4 min read ShelfStep's summary of the rules and their sources, read October 8, 2026; not legal advice.

Sources last read Oct 8, 2026

What Massachusetts's own pages say about making hummus at home, each line linked, and the path to a store when you want one to stock it.

Run the free rules check for it: no account, no AI.

General information, not advice. This is written for small food makers and cites its sources, but it is not legal, regulatory or food-safety advice, and it cannot account for your product, your state or your facility. Rules change and thresholds are adjusted yearly. Confirm anything you are about to act on with your state agency, a Process Authority, or the FDA.

Can I make hummus at home in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts's own pages name hummus, or foods like it, among what Massachusetts says a home kitchen may not make. ShelfStep found these lines by the words they use; whether they cover your product is for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and your local board of health to say. Those lines, as the state writes them:

Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: what may be made at home105 CMR 590.000, Massachusetts Retail Food Code (mass.gov PDF) says:“Cottage Food Products means non-time/temperature control for safety baked goods, jams, jellies, and other non-time/temperature control for food safety foods produced at a cottage food operation.”105 CMR 590.000, Massachusetts Retail Food Code (mass.gov PDF) · Read Oct 8, 2026
Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: what may be made at homeMassachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) says:“TCS Ingredients : Ingredients from approved sources that are TCS foods, such as milk, cream, and eggs, may be used in food preparation for the public provided that the final product is not a TCS food.”Massachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) · Read Oct 8, 2026

What rules does hummus come under beyond Massachusetts's?

Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads hummus as a refrigerated or frozen food. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:

ShelfStep’s plan default, not a lawFrozen or refrigerated (non-meat): cold chain, shelf-life / challenge study, "keep frozen/refrigerated" labeling.21 CFR 114.3

What the rules behind it say, in their own words, with the page and the day ShelfStep read each. ShelfStep does not decide which of them apply to your product.

Source to check: the rules behind ShelfStep's plan for hummus

Acidified foods kept under refrigeration21 CFR 114.3(b) says:“and foods that are stored, distributed, and retailed under refrigeration are excluded from the coverage of this part.”21 CFR 114.3(b) · Read Oct 8, 2026

Source to check: FDA food facility registration

FDA's definition of a food facility21 CFR 1.227 says:“Facility means any establishment, structure, or structures under one ownership at one general physical location, or, in the case of a mobile facility, traveling to multiple locations, that manufactures/processes, packs, or holds food for consumption in the United States. ... The private residence of an individual is not a facility.”21 CFR 1.227 · Read Oct 8, 2026

Where may food made at home be sold in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: where it may be sold105 CMR 590.000, Massachusetts Retail Food Code (mass.gov PDF) says:“Cottage Food Operation means a person who produces cottage food products only in the home kitchen of that person's primary domestic residence and only for sale directly to the consumer.”105 CMR 590.000, Massachusetts Retail Food Code (mass.gov PDF) · Read Oct 8, 2026
Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: where it may be soldMassachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers says:“"Direct to the consumer" includes events like farmers markets, craft fairs, and sales by internet or mail.”Massachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers · Read Oct 8, 2026
Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: where it may be soldMassachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers says:“Anyone that makes food in a Residential Kitchen in Massachusetts that wants to sell in another state should confirm that they are in compliance with both Federal law and the state laws where they are doing business.”Massachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers · Read Oct 8, 2026

What does Massachusetts say a home-made label must carry?

Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: the home-made labelMassachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) says:“A Cottage Food Operation may only sell cottage food products which are prepackaged with an ingredient label. The product does not need to be analyzed by a laboratory to obtain an official ingredient list, but all ingredients must be listed in descending order of predominance by weight. If a prepared item is used in the recipe, sub-ingredients must also be listed.”Massachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) · Read Oct 8, 2026
Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: the home-made labelMassachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) says:“The label affixed or provided to the direct consumer must contain the following information (printed in English): The name and address of the Cottage Food Operation; The name of the Cottage Food Product; The ingredients of the Cottage Food Product, in descending order of predominance by weight; The net weight or net volume of the Cottage Food Product;”Massachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) · Read Oct 8, 2026
Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: the home-made labelMassachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) says:“The label affixed or provided to the direct consumer must contain the following information (printed in English): ... Allergen information as specified by federal labeling requirements.”Massachusetts DPH, Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (04/01/2019) · Read Oct 8, 2026

How do I get hummus into a store in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts's Cottage Food Operation (Permitted Retail Residential Kitchen) rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesMassachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers says:“Anyone producing food for sale at wholesale, for example, to a supermarket or restaurant that will re-sell to the ultimate consumer, is considered a Wholesale Residential Kitchen and is required to have a License or Permit under 105 CMR 500. ... Wholesale Residential Kitchen operations may sell their products to retail stores, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., and are inspected and licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Food Protection Program.”Massachusetts DPH, Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers · Read Oct 8, 2026

From there, ShelfStep's standard plan for a refrigerated or frozen food has 20 steps. The first 6 help you find out where and how hummus can be made at all, so they come first:

1.
Write the recipe down with exact amounts
Cost, price, nutrition and the label are all worked out from this. Write it in the units you actually use; ShelfStep converts for the label. What matters is that someone else could make the same batch from what is written.
2.
Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen
The planned storage helps the reviewer assess the process, shelf life and packaging.
In the plan: It decides which rules you follow.
3.
Work out how it stays cold from your kitchen to the shop
If your product needs refrigeration or freezing, plan how to keep it cold at every hand-off. Who keeps it cold at each hand-off, and how you would know if they did not, is what a buyer asks first.
4.
Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale
This finds out whether the state’s rules allow making this in a home kitchen or point to a commercial one — and that changes the cost and the timeline of everything after it. It is much cheaper to find out now than after buying packaging.
In the plan: Your state's home-kitchen rules, in its own words. Whether they cover your product is for your state's agency to say.
5.
Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured
These measurements give your reviewer information about the batch; they do not establish safety or storage conditions on their own.
In the plan: The two numbers the acidified-food rules name. Measured on the finished product, once it has settled.
6.
Get a Process Authority's letter on how it is made safe
Ask a qualified reviewer which process and storage conditions your product needs. This is where you ask someone qualified, a Process Authority, to put in writing how the product is made safe. Buyers, insurers and inspectors may ask for that document, and it cannot be obtained after the fact for product you have already sold.
In the plan: Needs the pH first. Their letter sets out the process they ask you to hold to, and the storage line for your label.

Every step, with its reason and what it typically costs, is on the hummus page:

1. Write the recipe down with exact amounts 2. Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen 3. Work out how it stays cold from your kitchen to the shop 4. Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale 5. Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured 6. Get a Process Authority's letter on how it is made safe 7. Look into FDA registration 8. Choose the container and what seals it 9. Shortlist three co-packers or commercial kitchens 10. Work out what one batch, and one unit, costs to make 11. Set up lot codes and a recall plan 12. Make a first full-size batch 13. Find out how long it keeps 14. Get barcodes 15. Draft the label with everything it has to say 16. Set the wholesale and shelf price from the cost 17. Sell it at a market before you scale 18. Get product liability insurance 19. Make the one-page sheet a buyer reads 20. Name your first three stores

Where do I go from here?

How to sell hummus to storesEvery step, its reason and its typical cost Selling food made at home in MassachusettsAll of Massachusetts's lines, what you may make, register and outgrow

How do I find and choose a co-packer?5 min read How do I work out my shelf life and best-by date?4 min read Do I need to register with the FDA to sell my food product?4 min read

Check the rules for yours, then keep it

The rules check runs the same deterministic engine ShelfStep uses inside the app, on your answers, and quotes the sentences each rule rests on, with their links and the day ShelfStep read them. It does not decide which apply. It is free, needs no account and uses no AI. A ShelfStep workspace then keeps your plan, your records and the dates, free for one product.

Run the free rules check Start free

Something here out of date, or a state we should write up next? Email hello@shelfstep.com.