Getting Legal to Sell

The registrations and licenses a real commercial product needs, in the order you actually do them.

1. Who actually regulates you: federal, state, and localMap every agency with authority over your product — FDA or USDA at the federal level, plus your state and your local health or agriculture department — before you fill out a single form.
2. Register your facility with the FDAComplete your FDA food facility registration in the right order — the free DUNS number first, the registration itself second — and keep it from quietly expiring.
3. State and local licenses, permits, and plan reviewLine up the state processor license, local health permit, zoning check, and plan review your FDA registration doesn't cover — in the order that keeps none of them from stalling the day you open.
4. USDA or FDA: which one is your product under?Place a meat-, poultry-, or egg-containing product on the correct side of the FDA/USDA line, and understand why that one placement reshapes your whole path to legal.