TCS food: cookies, not cheesecake, from home
Cheesecake is a TCS (time/temperature control for safety) food: it needs the fridge to stay safe, and most cottage food laws cover only shelf-stable foods like cookies.
Most cottage food laws only cover foods that stay safe on a shelf. This short explains why: germs need available water to grow, so a moist food like cheesecake is a TCS (time/temperature control for safety) food that needs the fridge. Baked goods like cookies and bread, and classic fruit jams (sugary and acidic), keep on a shelf. The video sorts a home baker’s market table, then gives the one question to ask before adding a recipe: does it need the fridge to stay safe? If yes, check your state’s rules first. A few states, including Arizona, Texas and Tennessee, now allow some fridge foods under extra rules.
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Go further
- Glossary: TCS Food (Time/Temperature Control for Safety)
- Read: Cottage Baker's Glossary: 32 Terms Every Home-Bakery Seller Needs to Know
- Read: California Cottage Food Operations: Class A vs. Class B, the 2026 Sales Caps, and the Compliance Map
- Read: Texas Cottage Food Law: What You Can Sell, Where, and How to Stay Under the $150,000 Cap
- Read: Tennessee Food Freedom Act: A Cottage Food Maker's Guide to America's Most Permissive Home Kitchen Law
- For At-Home Bakers
- For Cake Decorators
- For Jam & Preserve Makers
- For Farmers Market Vendors
- Guide: Start a home bakery
- Guide: Start a jam business
- Guide: Start a meal prep business
Transcript
Hook
Why can you sell cookies from home, but not cheesecake?
Definition
Cheesecake is a TCS food. That means it needs time and temperature control to stay safe.
Why
Germs need water to grow. In moist cheesecake, they can multiply at room temperature. A food dry or acidic enough keeps them from growing.
Example
A home baker’s table: cookies, bread and most jams keep on the shelf, so they’re in. Cheesecake, custard and cream pies need the fridge, so under most cottage food laws, they’re out.
Takeaway
Before adding a recipe, ask: does it need the fridge? If yes, check your state’s rules first. Some states allow it, with extra rules.
Sources
- A TCS (time/temperature control for safety) food needs time/temperature control to limit pathogen growth or toxin formation; foods whose water activity and pH keep pathogens from growing (for example, water activity below 0.88) are not TCS foods: FDA Food Code 2022, §1-201.10(B), Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food (Tables A and B) (opens in new tab)
- TCS food is held at 41°F (5°C) or below, or 135°F (57°C) or above, unless time is used as the control: FDA Food Code 2022, §3-501.16 and §3-501.19 (opens in new tab)
- Most US cottage food laws (as of 2018) limit home production to non-TCS foods, called “potentially hazardous foods” in earlier Food Codes; low-sugar jams can be TCS foods: Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, Cottage Food Laws in the United States (August 2018), pp. 3, 9 (opens in new tab)
- California’s cottage foods exclude baked goods with cream, custard or meat fillings, and allow only jams that meet 21 CFR Part 150: California Department of Public Health, Approved Cottage Foods List (opens in new tab)
- Arizona’s cottage food program includes TCS foods (2024): Arizona Laws 2024, Ch. 18 (HB 2042), A.R.S. §§36-931, 36-932 (opens in new tab)
- Texas cottage food operations may sell TCS foods with registration (effective September 1, 2025): Texas SB 541 (89th Legislature), enrolled (opens in new tab)
- Tennessee homemade food includes TCS foods sold in person by the producer or an agent (effective July 1, 2025): Tennessee Public Chapter 431 (SB 484 / HB 130, 2025), text as rewritten by Senate Amendment 1 (SA0263) (opens in new tab)
- Tennessee’s agriculture department confirms that, since July 1, 2025, the Tennessee Food Freedom Act allows the production and sale of certain time/temperature controlled foods: Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Tennessee Food Freedom Act (opens in new tab)
- Wyoming’s Food Freedom Act covers potentially hazardous homemade food sold by the producer: Wyoming Statutes §11-49-103 (opens in new tab)
- Utah exempts homemade food (food made in a private home kitchen, except raw dairy and most meat; poultry only under the 1,000-bird exemption) sold within the state to an informed final consumer from licensing: Utah Code Title 4, Chapter 5a (sections 4-5a-102, 4-5a-104 and 4-5a-105) (opens in new tab)
General education, not legal or food-safety advice. Cottage food rules differ by state and change often; check your state agency before you sell.
Last updated .