Special Categories in South Carolina

What It Is & Why It's Separate

Any product containing meat or poultry — including beef jerky, smoked sausage, pepperoni, meat-filled empanadas, lard, and bone broth — is explicitly excluded from South Carolina's Home-Based Food Production Law. The federal USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) oversees all meat and poultry products that cross state lines. For products sold only within South Carolina, the SC Meat & Poultry Inspection Division (SCMPID) handles inspection.

The trigger: any product containing more than 3% raw or 2% cooked beef, pork, chicken, or lamb requires inspection before sale.

License Required & How to Get It

• 🏛️For in-state sales: SC Meat & Poultry Inspection Division (SCMPID) license
• 🏛️For interstate sales: USDA FSIS grant of inspection (federal) — substantially more rigorous
• 🏗️Requires an inspected facility — not a home kitchen; dedicated processing plant or commercial kitchen with separate equipment
• 📋HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plan required
• 👁️Regular on-site inspections by SCMPID or USDA inspectors
• 📞Contact: SCDA Meat & Poultry — 803-788-8747

What It Is & Why It's Separate

All Grade A milk products — fluid milk, cream, yogurt, fresh cheese, kefir, butter, and frozen dairy desserts — are regulated by the SCDA Milk Safety Division. This program transferred from DHEC to SCDA effective July 1, 2024. The SC Milk Safety Lab now handles testing of fluid milk samples and milk products.

Dairy is among the most regulated food categories due to its inherent TCS (Temperature Control for Safety) characteristics. Most home kitchens simply cannot meet the temperature control, sanitation, and testing standards required for dairy production.

License Required & How to Get It

• 🏛️SCDA Milk Safety license required for all Grade A dairy products
• 🏗️Dairy processing facility must meet SCDA Grade A standards — inspected and approved
• 🔬Regular milk testing and facility inspections required
• 📋Pasteurization requirements for most fluid dairy products (raw milk sales have separate, restricted rules in SC)
• 📞Contact: SCDA Milk Safety — 803-896-0523
• 🌐agriculture.sc.gov

What It Is & Why It's Separate

Selling eggs directly at your farm or residence is permitted without a license in South Carolina. However, once you sell eggs at any location other than your farm or home — including farmers markets, roadside stands away from your property, or to stores — the eggs must be washed, graded, sized, properly labeled, and kept refrigerated at or below 45°F. An SCDA Egg License is required.

Unlabeled, ungraded, or unsized eggs sold off your property, or eggs sold without an SCDA Egg License, are considered adulterated and subject to misdemeanor fines.

License Required & How to Get It

• 🏛️SCDA Egg License required for all off-farm egg sales
• 📋Eggs must be washed, graded, and sized per USDA Egg Grading Manual standards
• ❄️Refrigeration required: 45°F or below at all times off-farm
• 📦Must use new or unused cartons — cartons cannot bear another producer's information
• 🏷️Proper carton labeling required per FPLA
• 🌐Apply: agriculture.sc.gov

What It Is & Why It's Separate

The production and sale of alcoholic beverages in South Carolina is regulated by the SC Department of Revenue's Alcohol Beverage Licensing (ABC) division — completely separate from the food regulatory system. Cottage food law has never covered alcohol and never will. This applies to any product with any measurable alcohol content produced intentionally for sale: beer, wine, cider, mead, sake, spirits, hard seltzer, and any liqueur or flavored spirit.

Home production of alcohol for personal consumption is a separate federal matter governed by the ATF. Commercial production for sale requires an ABC license regardless of batch size or alcohol content.

License Required & How to Get It

• 🍺Brewery license: required for commercial beer production
• 🍷Winery / wholesaler license: required for wine and cider
• 🥃Distillery license: required for spirits production
• 🍯Manufacturer license: for mead, sake, and other fermented beverages
• 📞SC Dept. of Revenue ABC: 844-898-8542
• 📞ATF (federal): 1-800-398-2282
• 🌐dor.sc.gov

What It Is & Why It's Complex

Fermented probiotic beverages like kombucha, water kefir, and jun tea are prohibited under South Carolina's cottage food law for two reasons: their pH can vary batch-to-batch (making the ≤4.6 safety threshold unreliable), and live cultures continue to produce alcohol after bottling. Commercial kombucha routinely exceeds 0.5% ABV — the threshold that triggers alcohol beverage licensing requirements.

Solid fermented foods (shelf-stable kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented hot sauce) may qualify under the HBFPL if they consistently achieve pH ≤ 4.6, but are classified as "restricted" and benefit strongly from product assessment through Clemson Extension's Food2Market program before selling.

Pathways Forward

• 📋Fermented beverages (kombucha, kefir): SCDA Retail Food Establishment permit required; production in an inspected facility
• 🔬If ABV may exceed 0.5%: also requires SC ABC alcohol beverage licensing
• ✅Solid fermented foods (kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented salsas): may qualify under HBFPL at pH ≤ 4.6 — get Clemson Extension product assessment first
• 📞SCDA Retail Food Safety: 803-896-0640 / [email protected]
• 📧Clemson Food2Market: [email protected]

What It Is & The Cottage Food Nuance

Acidified foods — products like hot sauce, pickles, salsa, and relishes that are preserved through acidification (lowering pH to ≤ 4.6) — have a dual regulatory existence in South Carolina. Under the HBFPL, home producers can make and sell properly acidified versions of these products (pH ≤ 4.6) as cottage food. This is the preferred starting point.

However, once a producer moves beyond cottage food into commercial-scale production, the FDA's acidified food regulations (21 CFR Part 114) apply. These require FDA facility registration, scheduled process filings (a "process authority" must certify your acidification method), and potential inspections.

When FDA Registration Kicks In

• ✅Cottage food level (HBFPL): acidified foods at pH ≤ 4.6 using tested recipes — no FDA registration needed
• 📋Commercial scale (beyond cottage food): FDA facility registration required at fda.gov
• 🔬Process authority certification required: a food scientist must certify your acidification process meets safety standards
• 📋SCDA wholesale food safety RVC required for selling commercially to other businesses
• 📞Clemson Food2Market is SC's primary resource for acidified food guidance and process authority referrals: 1-888-656-9988

The Current Landscape in South Carolina

South Carolina does not have a legal adult-use cannabis program as of 2026. Medical cannabis legislation has been debated in the state legislature but had not been fully enacted at time of research. The production and sale of THC-containing edibles (above 0.3% THC) is not legal for home food sellers.

Hemp-derived CBD products (below 0.3% THC) exist in a complex federal and state regulatory gray zone. The FDA has not formally approved CBD as a food additive, making CBD-infused food products technically non-compliant at the federal level. South Carolina law has not explicitly authorized CBD edibles outside of a licensed hemp processor framework.

What This Means in Practice

• 🚫THC edibles: Not legal for home food sellers in South Carolina — not covered by cottage food or any other license for home producers
• ⚠️CBD edibles: Legal status is ambiguous — FDA has not approved CBD as a food additive; SCDA has not established a clear licensing pathway for home-produced CBD foods
• 📋Hemp-derived products may require SC Department of Agriculture hemp processor registration
• 🔄This regulatory landscape is changing rapidly — verify current status with SCDA and an attorney before investing in CBD product development
• 🌐agriculture.sc.gov for current SC hemp program information

What It Is & Why It's Separate

South Carolina's coastline produces some of the most celebrated shellfish in the American South — particularly Lowcountry oysters, which have become a culinary icon. Molluscan shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels, scallops) are regulated by the SC Department of Environmental Services, not SCDA, due to the harvesting and water quality considerations involved.

Selling shellfish commercially — even as a home food producer — requires a separate state seafood processing license and compliance with shellfish safety standards. This is a distinct regulatory world from cottage food entirely.

License Required & How to Get It

• 🏛️SC Department of Environmental Services regulates molluscan shellfish
• 📞Contact: 843-238-4378
• 📋Shellfish harvesting license required for taking oysters, clams, or other bivalves from SC waters for commercial sale
• 🏗️Shellfish processing facility certification required to sell processed or packaged shellfish
• 🌊Water quality monitoring and approved harvest area designations apply
• 💡Selling prepared oyster dishes (roasted, Rockefeller-style) requires a retail food establishment permit from SCDA in addition to shellfish licensing