Need a lil help......

[Dyce51]

I have been making my own sauces, maranades and meat rubs for a long time now. I have my recipes written down. My friends and family love my BBQ sauce and tell me I should bottle awnd sell it. I have been told that for years. Now I want to start making, bottling and selling my sauces. I just am not sure what I have to do. I know how to bottle it by using the Pressure Canning and Water-Bath Canning methods. I just don't know about the FDA and Health Dept. I want to make and bottle the stuff my self. Any pointers?

[DEFCON Creator]

I owuld suggest going to the FDA website, it has a complete library and breakdown state by state as to the bylaws. It's written in a lot of legalese, so try to stay awake. If you want to shell out a little coin, you may want to sit down with a lawyer who specializes in it, and bring a list of questions. You can also contact your local health dept., they should be able to answer some basic questions. I wish you luck in your endeavor.

[Dyce51]

Thanks Defcon. I will check out their websites.

[kato]

That is great advice but to save yourself some expense look for an FDA approved co-packer and most have non - disclousure documents plus they have all the contacts for ingredients and most likely have leads for distributers. Just check with producers in your area and see if some of them use co-packers.

Kato's is looking to use a co-packer now & get from just making sauce to marketing our products.

Good luck
Mick
Kato's

[Tina Brooks]

That is great advice but to save yourself some expense look for an FDA approved co-packer and most have non - disclousure documents plus they have all the contacts for ingredients and most likely have leads for distributers. Just check with producers in your area and see if some of them use co-packers.

Kato's is looking to use a co-packer now & get from just making sauce to marketing our products.

Good luck
Mick
Kato's

Mick, if you want to give us the opportunity to quote your co-pack, just drop me a line and I'll hook you up with production.

I should tell you though, that my kitchens are at maximum capacity until February 3. So, unless you're in a rush, you've got time to shop for a better quote, even if you like ours.

[Dyce51]

for the time being I wanna start doing a couple of local shows and a possible website to start selling my products. Can I do this without getting into trouble with the FDA and whatnot for bottling my own product on a "small" scale? (like a couple dozen of each sauce and each meat rub) I have the large kettles and whatnot to make some large batches. I've got people that want the sauces and I wanna get it to tem but I wanna be sure I can do.

Hey Kato, you said you are looking for a co-paker now. How do you bottle your sauces now? Do you have someone bottle them for you or do you do it yourself at home? You see I know how to cook and make the stuff, I know how to bottle it (safely) but I don't know the "legal" parts of it and where to start.

[Tina Brooks]

for the time being I wanna start doing a couple of local shows and a possible website to start selling my products. Can I do this without getting into trouble with the FDA and whatnot for bottling my own product on a "small" scale? (like a couple dozen of each sauce and each meat rub) I have the large kettles and whatnot to make some large batches. I've got people that want the sauces and I wanna get it to tem but I wanna be sure I can do.

Hey Kato, you said you are looking for a co-paker now. How do you bottle your sauces now? Do you have someone bottle them for you or do you do it yourself at home? You see I know how to cook and make the stuff, I know how to bottle it (safely) but I don't know the "legal" parts of it and where to start.

Hey Dyce. In order for you to legally sell foodstuffs to consumers you have to be registered and inspected. Your local town hall, where you register your business will have all of the resources you need to get start. Talk to them.

Good luck to you and welcome to the profession.

T

[Dyce51]

Thanks Tina. I will go talk to them and see what I can find out! Thanks again

[kato]

As of now we are traveling to make our sauces in a commercial kitchen that is FDA approved just to much traveling & with gas prices now not logical. We are planning on using Bodines etc. as a co-packer located closer to our new home

[Dyce51]

when you say "commercial kitchen that is FDA approved" do you mean like a resturants kitchen or am I way off? (sorry if I sound stupid, Just trying to understand what ya mean)

[DEFCON Creator]

Dyce, there is no stupid question when talking about this topic. It's the questions you don't ask that end up with black government helicopters appearing in the middle of the night, and abducting you (at least this is what Tina thinks :twisted: ) and your family.

[kato]

No we had a commercial kitchen we shared with some other producers in the warehouse complex where we were located before that had been FDA approved.
But a restarant kitchen would work the FDA just wants all thier criteria met. They just don't want products produced at home
We know a couple producers that use restaurants as a kitchen to produce thier products

Mick
Kato's

[Dyce51]

so basically as long as the product is made and bottled in the commercial/resturant kitchen it is fine correct? and most any resturant's kitchen should meet FDA requirements (I would assume)

[Tina Brooks]

so basically as long as the product is made and bottled in the commercial/resturant kitchen it is fine correct? and most any resturant's kitchen should meet FDA requirements (I would assume)

Generally a restaurant will be fine, but it really needs that FDA approval. Without it, you won't be able to go to market and the fines can be extraordinary. I don't know why, but, some kitchens are not approved for packaging goods for retail sale, only for food to be eaten on the spot but when that happens, it's because of municipal by-laws... again, check with your town hall.

Also, dry rubs require very different ventilation than standard hot sauce makers, and if you're making your own extract, like John, you may need to follow special requirements for disposing of toxic waste or require special safety equipment; like chemical grade safety masks.

We get away with rubber gloves and a cloth mask, but we only use fresh peppers, so it's a high acid vegetable kitchen. John's will have a different classification. The place where Kato is doing his stuff might be different from both of ours depending on what else is being packaged there.

The other thing you should think about is that if MEAT is cooked or processed in the kitchen where you are making your hot sauce, you'll run into a whole lot of other things to worry about...

Again... check with your town hall, they'll have someone there whose job it is to help you put that all together.

Can't wait to see your stuff.

T.

[Dyce51]

boy oh boy you guys just tossing me for more loops!!!! LOL...Basically my sauces are just mixed and cooked (I don't do extracts right now) I make some killer BBQ Sauces both HOT and No Heat. I also make a few good Hot sauces, my one wing sauces is a mix of my BBq sauce and Hot sauce that tastes great and leave flames commin out of you know where in the morning. I have to figure out who to talk to and which local kitchens are FDA certified for processing. They don't make things easy for the average person, do they.

[thehotpepper.com]

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/copackers.html

Good article.

[Dyce51]

Thank you very much. That article is very informative. Answers alot of questions and gives me a good starting point. Thanks again

[Tina Brooks]

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/copackers.html

Good article.

The server must be down or they've removed the page, I got an error message.

T

[Dyce51]

OK I think I found the solution to my problem. I need somewhere to produce my stuff legally. I talked to the local Health Department and they told me to talk to the Department of Agriculture. So I called them today and dicussed it with them. Very Helpfull peeps there! I was prepared for the game of phone tag and getting the run around. But I was impressed I talked to an actual person righjt away!!! WOW!!! but anywho.....here is a website that they refered me to. I think this is exactly what I was looking for....here check it ouit and see what you think....
http://www.acenetworks.org/frames/fvabout.htm

it is an organization that isn't toooo far from me, that helps people like me out!!!

[DEFCON Creator]

Looks great to me. Have you contacted them to see how much they charge for use of the facility?

[Dyce51]

OK I just got off the phone with the people at ACEnet. I have an appointment for Oct 24th to go meet with them. I have to take samples of my product and recipes with me. They tell me that I will be meeting with the head Food Scientist. They are sending me out a pack with rates and info for me to go over and they said they will explain and go over the rates with me at the meeting. They are also going to give me a tour of the Thermal Processing Facility that I will be useing. According to what they tell me....I will be making my own product using their equipment so I will be in full control of my product as they are not a co-paker. The only draw back is, is that the facility is about 3 1/2 hours away from me and according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture this is the only approved facility like this in Ohio. So here we go and let the fun begin!!!!!

Like I had said before, I am new to this biz. and now this brings up another question.....What type of Liability Insurance do I need to have?