Sell Salsa, Tamales, Jerky, and More From Home in New Mexico

Every Product Has Its Own Legal Path

New Mexico's 2021 Homemade Food Act opened the door for home kitchen sales — but it didn't throw it wide open for every food. Whether you can legally sell a specific item depends on its food safety classification, your location within the state, and in some cases, whether you're willing to get lab testing done.

Here's the item-by-item breakdown for the products New Mexicans ask about most.

Salsa and Hatch Chile Products

This is where New Mexico's rules get uniquely complicated. Salsa is an acidified food, and acidified foods carry a risk of Clostridium botulinum growth if the formulation isn't controlled precisely.

Throughout New Mexico: You cannot produce and sell salsa, hot sauce, or other acidified products from a home kitchen under the standard unlicensed home-kitchen exemption, even with pH testing. To manufacture and sell them, use a commercial kitchen, complete a formal plan review, obtain a process-authority evaluation, and secure an annual food processor permit. The Extension Food Technology Program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) can analyze your recipe's pH and water activity as part of that process.

Inside Albuquerque and Bernalillo County: The city and county operate independent delegated environmental health programs and also classify acidified foods as prohibited under the home-kitchen exemption. A verified pH does not change that classification.

The same product-classification principle applies to green chile products. If your product is a dried chile powder or a dry spice blend, it qualifies as non-TCS and is allowed under the Homemade Food Act. If it's a fresh salsa, chile sauce, or any product preserved through acidification, it is prohibited under the standard home-kitchen exemption and follows the commercial route.

Tamales

Tamales present a split that depends entirely on what's inside them.

Vegetarian tamales filled with cheese, beans, or vegetables are not automatically covered by the Homemade Food Act. Tamales are moist prepared foods; if they require refrigeration or other temperature control, they must be produced in a permitted commercial kitchen. Do not assume a meat-free filling alone makes them eligible.

Meat tamales — pork, chicken, beef — are categorically prohibited under the Homemade Food Act. Fresh meat and poultry are TCS foods that require temperature control and must be processed in an inspected commercial facility under the applicable food-processing rules. There is no home kitchen workaround for meat-filled tamales, regardless of where you are in the state.

This is one of the most frequently misunderstood rules because tamales are deeply embedded in New Mexico's food culture. But the law draws its lines based on food science, not tradition.

Jerky

Beef jerky, turkey jerky, and all dehydrated meat products are prohibited under the Homemade Food Act. Meat is a high-protein TCS product, and the dehydration process doesn't remove it from that classification. Commercially, jerky production requires an inspected processing plant and the applicable commercial food-safety approvals.

If you want to sell jerky, you need a licensed commercial facility — either your own inspected plant or shared time in a licensed co-packing facility.

Honey

Raw, unprocessed honey is one of the easiest items to sell legally in New Mexico. As a raw agricultural commodity, pure honey falls under the jurisdiction of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA), not NMED.

You don't need a food permit to sell raw honey. Honey follows the NMDA raw-agricultural-commodity path rather than the egg-dealer registration rules. For honey specifically, your label must comply with the NM Food Act — product name, net weight, your contact information, and an ingredient list (which for pure honey is just "honey").

The key limitation: you cannot add other ingredients to the honey and still sell it under the agricultural commodity exemption. Flavored honey, honey with mix-ins, or honey-based sauces become processed food products with their own classification requirements.

Cookies, Candy, and Baked Goods

These are the clearest yes. Cookies, brownies, cakes (without cream, custard, or cheese fillings), candies, chocolate-covered pretzels, popcorn, and similar items are non-TCS foods that are fully allowed under the Homemade Food Act.

No state permit, no kitchen inspection, no sales cap. You need your ANAB-accredited food handler card, proper labeling with the mandatory disclaimer, and your local business registration — but the product itself is unrestricted statewide.

The only baked goods that cross the line: cheesecakes, cream pies, custard-filled pastries, and anything with cream cheese or dairy-based frosting that requires refrigeration. Those are TCS foods.

The Common Thread

For products covered by the Homemade Food Act, the checklist is the same: classify the product, verify your local jurisdiction's rules (especially if you're in Albuquerque), get your food handler card, register for your NMBTIN, secure your local business license, and label everything correctly. For raw agricultural commodities such as pure honey, follow NMDA's separate requirements.

The New Mexico Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide includes a product classification flowchart that walks through this decision tree for any recipe, plus jurisdiction-specific rules for Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Bernalillo County, and tribal lands — so you don't have to piece together the rules from six different agency websites.

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