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Selling peanut butter in Virginia

Sources last read Oct 8, 2026

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

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A sketch of Peanut butter in its jar.
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 peanut butter at home in Virginia?

Virginia's own pages, as ShelfStep read them on October 8, 2026, do not name peanut butter or foods like it, so this page cannot tell you whether a home kitchen in Virginia may make it. Ask the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services before you make it at home to sell. What the state allows and leaves out in general is on the Virginia page.

What rules does peanut butter come under beyond Virginia's?

Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads peanut butter as a baked good, snack or dry mix. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:

ShelfStep’s plan default, not a lawBaked goods, snacks, dry mixes: cottage-food vs commercial-kitchen decision, allergen labeling, shelf-life.USA.gov, state health departments

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 peanut butter
  • Acidified foods: the definition and its exclusions21 CFR 114.3(b) says:“(b) Acidified foods means low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added; these foods include, but are not limited to, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes, cauliflower, puddings, peppers, tropical fruits, and fish, singly or in any combination. They have a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85 and have a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. ... Carbonated beverages, jams, jellies, preserves, acid foods (including such foods as standardized and nonstandardized food dressings and condiment sauces) that contain small amounts of low-acid food(s) and have a resultant finished equilibrium pH that does not significantly differ from that of the predominant acid or acid food, 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
  • The federal standard for peanut butter21 CFR 164.150(a) says:“to which may be added safe and suitable seasoning and stabilizing ingredients provided for by paragraph (c) of this section, but such seasoning and stabilizing ingredients do not in the aggregate exceed 10 percent of the weight of the finished food.”21 CFR 164.150(a) · 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 Virginia?

  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: where it may be soldCode of Virginia § 3.2-5130 says:“3. Private homes where the resident processes and prepares candies, jams, and jellies not considered to be low-acid or acidified low-acid food products, dried fruits, dry herbs, dry seasonings, dry mixtures, coated and uncoated nuts, vinegars and flavored vinegars, popcorn, popcorn balls, cotton candy, dried pasta, dry baking mixes, roasted coffee, dried tea, cereals, trail mixes, granola, and baked goods if such products are ... (ii) sold at any location, through the internet, or by phone to an individual in the Commonwealth for his own consumption and not for resale or consignment; (iii) delivered in person, by mail, or by delivery service to an individual in the Commonwealth for his own consumption and not for resale or consignment;”Code of Virginia § 3.2-5130 · Read Oct 8, 2026
  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: where it may be soldCode of Virginia § 3.2-5130 says:“(iv) not offered for sale to be used in or offered for consumption in retail food establishments; ... Nothing in this subdivision shall create or diminish the authority of the Commissioner under § 3.2-5102 or shall prohibit a resident selling a food product in accordance with this subdivision from advertising such food product on the Internet;”Code of Virginia § 3.2-5130 · Read Oct 8, 2026

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

  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: the home-made labelCode of Virginia § 3.2-5130 says:“(v) affixed with a label placed on the principal display panel or, for a product in packaging not large enough to bear such a label, offered for sale with a sign displaying the name, physical address or post office box number, and telephone number of the person preparing the food product, the date the food product was processed, and the statement "NOT FOR RESALE PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION."”Code of Virginia § 3.2-5130 · Read Oct 8, 2026
  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: the home-made labelCode of Virginia § 3.2-5130 says:“(iv) affixed with a label placed on the principal display panel displaying the name, physical address or post office box number, and telephone number of the person preparing the food product, the date the food product was processed, and the statement "NOT FOR RESALE PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION"; and (v) not exceeding $9,000 in gross sales in a calendar year.”Code of Virginia § 3.2-5130 · Read Oct 8, 2026
  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: the home-made labelCode of Virginia § 3.2-5130 says:“(iv) the product is labeled "PROCESSED AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION. WARNING: Do Not Feed Honey to Infants Under One Year Old."”Code of Virginia § 3.2-5130 · Read Oct 8, 2026
  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: the home-made labelVDACS, Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (rev. July 2026) says:“In addition to the exemption labeling requirements outlined above, product labels must comply with standard labeling requirements (product name, net weight statement, name and address of the manufacturer, list of ingredients and subingredients, and possibly nutritional information).”VDACS, Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (rev. July 2026) · Read Oct 8, 2026

How do I get peanut butter into a store in Virginia?

  • Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesVDACS, Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (rev. July 2026) says:“These establishments are required to be inspected, have a permit to operate, and pay an annual inspection fee of $40. ... What if I want to sell products not listed in the exemption, or sell/deliver my products beyond what is allowed by the exemption? You need to apply for a permit from the Food Safety Program.”VDACS, Virginia's Home Food Processing Exemptions FAQ (rev. July 2026) · Read Oct 8, 2026

From there, ShelfStep's standard plan for a baked good, snack or dry mix has 18 steps. The first 6 help you find out where and how peanut butter can be made at all, so they come first:

  1. 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. 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. 3.

    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.

  4. 4.

    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.

  5. 5.

    Look into FDA registration

    Registration is how FDA knows your facility exists; the plan is what an inspector or a buyer’s audit asks to see. Both are far easier to do now than during either.

  6. 6.

    Choose the container and what seals it

    The container decides the label size, how many fit a case, what shipping costs, and whether the process authority’s answer still holds. Changing it later re-opens all four.

    In the plan: How it will be packed, what will seal it and what one will cost. Not sure yet is an answer.

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

1. Write the recipe down with exact amounts2. Decide how it is kept: on a shelf, in the fridge or frozen3. Find out where you are allowed to make it for sale4. Have the pH and water activity of a finished batch measured5. Look into FDA registration6. Choose the container and what seals it7. Shortlist three co-packers or commercial kitchens8. Work out what one batch, and one unit, costs to make9. Set up lot codes and a recall plan10. Make a first full-size batch11. Find out how long it keeps12. Get barcodes13. Draft the label with everything it has to say14. Set the wholesale and shelf price from the cost15. Sell it at a market before you scale16. Get product liability insurance17. Make the one-page sheet a buyer reads18. Name your first three stores

Where do I go from here?

How to sell peanut butter to storesEvery step, its reason and its typical costSelling food made at home in VirginiaAll of Virginia's lines, what you may make, register and outgrow
How do I work out my shelf life and best-by date?4 min readWhat does a retail buyer actually ask for?4 min readWhat 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.