Home and Hearth BakerLimited food establishment (home food processing, registered with PDA)
Food Safety Act, 3 Pa.C.S. 5721-5737 (registration: 3 Pa.C.S. 5734); PDA Limited Food Establishment program and application packet (Rev 10-2024); 21 CFR Part 101 and Part 117 as adopted by the Department · 3 Pa.C.S. Chapter 57 as revised by Act 106 of 2010; 3 Pa.C.S. 5734 last amended by Act 180 of 2012. 'Limited food establishment' is a PDA program name; no statute or regulation section defining it was found.
Yearly sales limit
No state limit
No sales cap in state law or PDA guidance. (Federal FSMA rules give modified requirements to businesses under $1,000,000 a year; PDA packet.)
No sales cap in state law or PDA guidance. (Federal FSMA rules give modified requirements to businesses under $1,000,000 a year; PDA packet.)
Permit or registration
Yes
Food establishment registration (Limited Food Establishment)
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services
Fee: $35 a year (3 Pa.C.S. 5734(c)); first fee paid to the inspector at the opening inspection by check or money order to 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'. Do not send money with the application.
Official page
Food establishment registration (Limited Food Establishment)
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services
Fee: $35 a year (3 Pa.C.S. 5734(c)); first fee paid to the inspector at the opening inspection by check or money order to 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'. Do not send money with the application.
Official page
Food safety training
No
Where you make it
A home or home-style (residential-style) kitchen registered with PDA as a food establishment. If the personal home kitchen is used, no animals or pets may be in the home at any time; a separate area may be allowed only behind a fully closing door with its own entrance and exit (baby gates are not acceptable). No children in the kitchen during processing. Home cooking and business processing may not happen at the same time. Business ingredients kept separate in food-grade, pest-proof containers. Water from an approved source: municipal water bill, or a private well tested at a DEP-approved lab for coliform and nitrate/nitrite, with coliform retested every year. Local zoning approval required. Not available in Philadelphia County (PDA packet).
Selling in person
Allowed: from the production site, and at farmers markets, roadside stands, fairs and community events. A Retail Food Facility License from PDA (or the local health department) may also be needed at events, farmers markets, or a retail store at the site.
Phone and online orders
Allowed: PDA says registration covers sales direct from the site, including internet sales
Delivery and shipping
Not addressed; the PDA application asks for 'Transportation methods to other locations or for delivery of products.'
Selling out of state
PDA: interstate sales, including internet sales, may require FDA registration and federal nutrition labeling. Outside Home and Hearth Baker's scope.
Stores and wholesale
Wholesale: not allowed. PDA says limited food establishments are for direct-to-consumer sales only, and wholesale or distribution to other food businesses needs a different license. PDA also says 'some retail stores may also carry your products if they meet labeling requirements'; ask PDA before selling through a store.
Examples you can sell
Only non-TCS (non-potentially hazardous) foods that do not need refrigeration or hot holding after preparation (PDA)
- Baked goods without cream fillings: cakes, breads, bagels, cookies, rolls, muffins, brownies, biscuits, most fruit pies
- Candy: fudge, caramels, hard candy, chocolates
- Jams and jellies made from standard recipes
- Certain snack mixes and dry goods
- Dehydrated foods and dry herbs
- Honey and maple syrup (PDA guidelines apply)
- Nut butters, vinegars
- Acid, acidified and fermented foods with pH 4.6 or below (pickles, salsa, sauerkraut, BBQ sauce) with approved recipe and testing
- Some acidic or fermented drinks (lemonade, root beer, kombucha) with pH testing
Not allowed
- TCS (potentially hazardous) foods, including perishable baked goods: cheesecakes, cream or custard pies, pumpkin pies, meringues
- Meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, and dairy foods (raw or heat-treated animal foods)
- Cut fresh fruits and vegetables, tofu, garlic-in-oil products
- Low-acid canned foods (most soups, gravies, unpickled vegetables): only in a commercial steam retort facility
- Wholesale juice (juice HACCP rule, 21 CFR 120)
- Freshly brewed coffee and tea
- Chocolate-covered fruit, unless the fruit is whole, uncut, and pH 4.6 or below