Selling beef jerky in New Hampshire

Q: Where may food made at home be sold in New Hampshire?

RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says: “II. Homestead food operations selling food, excluding potentially hazardous food, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores are exempt from licensure and departmental inspection under this subdivision, except that the department may inspect when the department has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard as defined in RSA 143-A:3, IV-b.” (RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required, read October 24, 2026). ShelfStep's summary of the rules and their sources, read October 24, 2026; not legal advice.

Q: Where do I go from here?

How to sell beef jerky to stores. Every step, its reason and its typical cost Selling food made at home in New Hampshire. All of New Hampshire'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 What should I charge a store for my product?. 5 min read ShelfStep's summary of the rules and their sources, read October 24, 2026; not legal advice.

Sources last read Oct 24, 2026

What New Hampshire's own pages say about making beef jerky 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 beef jerky at home in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire's own pages, as ShelfStep read them on October 24, 2026, do not name beef jerky or foods like it, so this page cannot tell you whether a home kitchen in New Hampshire may make it. Ask the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services before you make it at home to sell. What the state allows and leaves out in general is on the New Hampshire page.

What rules does beef jerky come under beyond New Hampshire's?

Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads beef jerky as a meat or poultry product. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:

ShelfStep’s plan default, not a lawMeat or poultry (e.g. egg rolls with meat, jerky, sausage): likely USDA-FSIS jurisdiction — federal/state grant of inspection or a co-packer under continuous inspection, the USDA mark of inspection on the label, and cold-chain handling. NOT the FDA path.9 CFR 304 (application for and grant of inspection)

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 beef jerky

Meat inspection and retail stores9 CFR 303.1(d) says:“(d)(1) The requirements of the Act and the regulations in this subchapter for inspection of the preparation of products do not apply to operations of types traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores and restaurants, when conducted at any retail store or restaurant or similar retail-type establishment for sale in normal retail quantities or service of such articles to consumers at such establishments.”9 CFR 303.1(d) · Read Oct 8, 2026
State meat inspection programs9 CFR 321.1(a) says:“to cooperate with any State (including Puerto Rico) or any organized Territory in developing and administering the meat inspection program of such jurisdiction with a view to assuring that it imposes and enforces requirements at least equal to those under Titles I and IV of the Act, with respect to establishments at which products are prepared for use as human food solely for distribution within such jurisdiction”9 CFR 321.1(a) · Read Oct 8, 2026

Where may food made at home be sold in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire, homestead food operations without a license: where it may be soldRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“II. Homestead food operations selling food, excluding potentially hazardous food, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores are exempt from licensure and departmental inspection under this subdivision, except that the department may inspect when the department has reason to suspect an imminent health hazard as defined in RSA 143-A:3, IV-b.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026

What does New Hampshire say a home-made label must carry?

New Hampshire, homestead food operations without a license: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(c)(1) Products made by homestead food operations exempt from licensure shall also be clearly labeled with the following statement: "This product is exempt from New Hampshire licensing and inspection."”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
New Hampshire, licensed homestead food operations: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(2) Products made by nonexempt homestead food operations shall also be clearly labeled with the following statement: "This product is made in a residential food production area licensed by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services."”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“V. (a) All homestead food products sold in packages from the home or farm stand of a homestead food operation shall have one of the following individual labels on each package containing the following information: (1) Name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight; and allergy information.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(2) Name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; allergy information as established in rules; and a QR code or website where the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight, are listed and must be accompanied by a physical sign at the display location where the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight are listed.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: the home-made labelRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“(b) All homestead food products sold in packages from farmers' markets or to restaurants or other retail food establishments, over the Internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell the homestead product shall have individual labels on each package containing the following information: name, physical or e-mail address, and phone number of the homestead food operation; name of the homestead food product; the ingredients of the homestead product, in descending order of predominance by weight; and allergy information.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026

How do I get beef jerky into a store in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire's Homestead Food Operation rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“III. Homestead food operations that wish to sell food products, excluding potentially hazardous food, to restaurants or other retail food establishments, over the Internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers, brokers, or other food distributors who will resell the homestead product shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:13.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026
New Hampshire, freeze-dried homestead foods: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesRSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required says:“IV. Homestead food operations processing and selling freeze dried foods, from the homestead residence, at the owner's own farm stand, at farmers' markets, or at retail food stores shall be licensed under RSA 143-A:4. For the purposes of this section, freeze dried foods means fruits, vegetables, and commercially prepared dairy products.”RSA 143-A:12, Homestead Food License Required · Read Oct 24, 2026

From there, ShelfStep's standard plan for a meat or poultry product has 18 steps. The first 6 help you find out where and how beef jerky 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.
Confirm which agency's rules it falls under
Which rules your product falls under decides every step after this one, and only the right authority can say. The plan says likely; this is where someone qualified says for certain.
6.
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.

Every step, with its reason and what it typically costs, is on the beef jerky 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. Confirm which agency's rules it falls under 6. Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured 7. Choose the container and what seals it 8. Shortlist three co-packers or commercial kitchens 9. Work out what one batch, and one unit, costs to make 10. Set up lot codes and a recall plan 11. Make a first full-size batch 12. Get barcodes 13. Draft the label with everything it has to say 14. Set the wholesale and shelf price from the cost 15. Sell it at a market before you scale 16. Get product liability insurance 17. Make the one-page sheet a buyer reads 18. Name your first three stores

Where do I go from here?

How to sell beef jerky to storesEvery step, its reason and its typical cost Selling food made at home in New HampshireAll of New Hampshire'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 What should I charge a store for my product?5 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.

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