Selling a spice rub or blend in Tennessee
What Tennessee's own pages say about making a spice rub or blend 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.
Can I make a spice rub or blend at home in Tennessee?
Tennessee's own pages, as ShelfStep read them on October 8, 2026, do not name a spice rub or blend or foods like it, so this page cannot tell you whether a home kitchen in Tennessee may make it. Ask the Tennessee Department of Agriculture before you make it at home to sell. What the state allows and leaves out in general is on the Tennessee page.
What rules does a spice rub or blend come under beyond Tennessee's?
Outside a home kitchen, ShelfStep's plan reads a spice rub or blend as a baked good, snack or dry mix. The plan's own line for it, a default and not a law:
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.
- 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
- 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 Tennessee?
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: where it may be soldTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) says:“(1) Non-time/temperature control for safety food homemade food items must be sold either by: (A) The producer to the consumer, whether in person or remotely, including, but not limited to, a sale by telephone or internet; or (B) An agent of the producer or a third-party vendor, such as a retail shop or grocery store, to the consumer;”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: where it may be soldTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) says:“(2) Non-time/temperature control for safety food homemade food items must be delivered either by: (A) The producer to the consumer; or (B) An agent of the producer, a third-party vendor, or a third-party carrier to the consumer;”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: where it may be soldTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) says:“(3) Time/temperature control for safety food homemade food items must: ... (C) Be sold either by: (i) The producer to the consumer, in person; or (ii) An agent of the producer, in person, such as a farm stand located on the property where the food was prepared;”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF p.58) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: where it may be soldTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) says:“(c) This section does not: ... (5) Apply to sales other than intrastate sales made within this state.”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) · Read Oct 8, 2026
What does Tennessee say a home-made label must carry?
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: the home-made labelTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) says:“(4) The following information must be provided to the consumer, in the format required by subdivision (b)(5): ... (D) The following statement: "This product was produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection. This product may contain allergens."; and”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: the home-made labelTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) says:“(4) The following information must be provided to the consumer, in the format required by subdivision (b)(5): ... (A) The name, home address, and telephone number of the producer of the homemade food item; (B) The common or usual name of the homemade food item; (C) The ingredients of the homemade food item in descending order of predominance; and”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: the home-made labelTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) says:“(5)(A) The information required by subdivision (b)(4) must be provided: (i) On a label affixed to the package, if the homemade food item is packaged; (ii) On a label affixed to the container, if the homemade food item is offered for sale from a bulk container; (iii) On a placard displayed at the point of sale, if the homemade food item is neither packaged nor offered for sale from a bulk container; or (iv) On the webpage on which the homemade food item is offered for sale, if the homemade food item is offered only for sale on the internet; and”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) · Read Oct 8, 2026
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: the home-made labelTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) says:“(B) If the homemade food item is sold by telephone or custom order, the seller need not display the information required by subdivision (b)(4), but the seller shall disclose to the consumer that the homemade food item is produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection, and may contain allergens. The seller shall have the information required by subdivisions (b)(4)(A)-(C) readily available and provide it to the consumer upon request.”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-118 (PDF pp.58–59) · Read Oct 8, 2026
How do I get a spice rub or blend into a store in Tennessee?
- Tennessee's Tennessee Food Freedom Act rules: what applies beyond the home-kitchen rulesTennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-204 (PDF p.60) says:“(a)(1) Except as provided in § 53-1-118, a person shall not manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for introduction into commerce unless the person holds a valid license issued by the commissioner.”Tennessee General Assembly, 2026 Tennessee Code Bill, Volume 2, §53-1-204 (PDF p.60) · 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 a spice rub or blend 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 a spice rub or blend page:
Where do I go from here?
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.