Can I Sell Refrigerated Food from Home in Tennessee?

Yes — but only since July 1, 2025. House Bill 130 expanded Tennessee's Food Freedom Act to allow certain perishable (TCS) foods from home kitchens for the first time. Before that amendment, only shelf-stable products were covered.

The expansion comes with real restrictions, though. Selling refrigerated food from home is legal, but the how is significantly more limited than shelf-stable products.

What Refrigerated Foods Are Allowed

The 2025 amendment covers four categories of TCS (time/temperature control for safety) foods:

Pasteurized dairy products: Butter, yogurt, kefir, and hard cheeses made from pasteurized milk. Raw (unpasteurized) milk and raw milk products are still completely banned.

Eggs: Shell eggs from flocks of fewer than 3,000 hens.

Cream-based baked goods: Cheesecakes, cream pies, custard-filled pastries, and meringue-topped items — products that were previously off-limits because they need refrigeration.

Cooked poultry: Chicken pot pies, rotisserie chicken, poultry-based soups and stews. Poultry must come from birds processed under the federal 1,000-bird exemption (9 CFR § 381.10) or from a state-inspected facility. Transactions are capped at 75 pounds of poultry per customer.

The Sales Channel Restriction

This is the most important rule for TCS products: you can only sell them in person, directly to the consumer. The producer (or an immediate agent — a family member or employee) must physically hand the food to the buyer.

What this rules out:

• No shipping via USPS, FedEx, UPS, or any commercial carrier
• No third-party delivery services (DoorDash, Instacart, etc.)
• No wholesale to grocery stores, co-ops, or boutiques
• No placement on restaurant menus

You can accept orders by phone or online, but the actual handoff must happen face to face — at your home, a farmers market, or a roadside stand located on the property where the food was prepared.

Temperature Control Requirements

TCS foods must stay out of the danger zone (41°F to 135°F) at all times:

Cold items: Must be held at 41°F or below during storage, transport, and display. Use active refrigeration or insulated coolers packed with ice. At a farmers market, this means running a powered cooler or maintaining a documented ice system.

Hot items: Must be held at 135°F or above using commercial-grade thermal containers.

The two-hour rule: Any TCS food that sits in the danger zone for more than two hours must be discarded immediately. No exceptions, no re-chilling.

Additional Labeling for TCS Products

TCS products carry one extra labeling requirement beyond the core label information: the date of production. Every perishable item must show the exact date it was produced. This supports traceability if a food safety issue surfaces — the Tennessee Department of Health can trace a complaint back to a specific production batch.

What's Still Banned

Even with the TCS expansion, some perishable categories remain completely off-limits for home kitchens:

• Raw milk and raw milk products — no exceptions
• Red meat (beef, pork, lamb, wild game) — requires USDA-inspected commercial facilities
• Fish and shellfish — federal jurisdiction, no home-kitchen exemption
• Low-acid canned animal products — canned chicken soup or canned meat stews require commercial processing

The poultry exemption is narrower than it appears. It covers whole birds and cooked poultry products, but combining poultry with low-acid canning (pressure-canning chicken soup, for example) is prohibited under the TFFA.

Making Perishable Sales Work

Selling TCS foods from a home kitchen is viable but operationally demanding. You're managing cold chain logistics every time you sell, and your sales volume is limited to what you can physically deliver in person. Most TCS sellers concentrate on farmers market weekends and pre-order pickup windows rather than trying to maintain daily availability.

Our Tennessee Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide includes a temperature control log, product classification worksheet, and the full HB 130 compliance breakdown — so you can confidently add perishable items to your product line without stepping outside the law.

See more Tennessee guides →