Can You Sell Homemade Beef Jerky? Rules, Permits, and How to Start

For almost everyone reading this, beef jerky made in your own kitchen is not something you can sell. Beef falls under a federal meat inspection law, and the state home-food laws we read either name meat as excluded or leave it off their lists. You can still sell jerky, though. Small vendors do it every weekend at farmers markets, and they use one of four paths the law actually allows. This guide is written for part-time vendors, not meat plants.

This guide covers the federal rule, what 9 states say, Colorado's 2027 change, the four legal paths, the 2026 dollar limits, deer and other game, and the steps to a first legal sale.

Can You Legally Sell Beef Jerky Made in Your Home Kitchen?

Usually no: 8 of the 9 state cottage food and food freedom rules we checked on October 7, 2026 do not let you sell homemade beef jerky today, and the ninth, Pennsylvania, lists jerky on a registration form that federal meat law may not back up. The reason is mostly federal. Beef comes from cattle, and meat from cattle, sheep, pigs and goats falls under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. That law requires meat sold to the public to be prepared under inspection, unless one of a short list of exemptions applies.

Here is the part that decides it for a home kitchen. The exemption a small seller would lean on is the retail store exemption in 9 CFR 303.1(d). It lets a "retail store" cure, cook and smoke meat for its customers without an inspector, and it defines a retail store as "any place of business" that meets its conditions. It never says a home kitchen can or cannot be one. So the honest answer is that federal law does not settle the home kitchen question by itself. Your state and county decide whether they will license your kitchen as a retail food business, and FSIS (the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service) decides whether that business meets the exemption.

What this means for you in plain terms:

• Your home dehydrator is fine for jerky you eat or give away to friends and family.
• The moment money changes hands, the jerky needs a legal source. That means an inspected plant, a licensed store kitchen that meets the retail exemption, or, in Colorado from 2027, a registered cottage kitchen, once Colorado confirms in writing how that fits federal meat rules.
• If you want to try a home path, get it in writing. Email your state's meat inspection or cottage food office and your FSIS district office, describe your kitchen and your sales, and keep the answer.
• Your recipe is still yours. Every legal path lets you use your own marinade and your own cut.

If you have already read our guide on how to sell beef jerky from home, which covers equipment, packaging and where jerky sells, this page is its companion. It answers the harder question: which door you are allowed to walk through.

Why Don't Cottage Food Laws Cover Jerky?

Cottage food laws are state laws, written for home foods like bread and candy. A state can decide that cookies or jam made at home are fine to sell, because state food law covers those foods. Meat from cattle is regulated by federal law first, and 5 of the 9 state rules we read exclude meat by name.

Food safety is the other reason. The USDA says a pound of raw meat weighs about 4 ounces after it becomes jerky, and the drying step is where the danger lives. According to the jerky page of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 are likely to survive the 130 to 140 degree heat of a home dehydrator, and they become more heat resistant as the meat dries. That is why the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline tells home cooks to heat beef to 160°F before drying.

Our list of what foods you can sell under cottage food laws puts jerky, sausages and smoked meats in the "not allowed" column for this reason. Here is what cottage food laws typically do cover instead:

• Baked goods like bread, cookies and pies
• Jams, jellies and fruit butters
• Candy, roasted nuts and granola
• Dried fruit, dried herbs and dry mixes

Notice that dried fruit is on that list. Dried meat is not. The drying method is similar, but the legal category is completely different. Colorado's 2027 law is the first one we read that moves meat jerky into the allowed column, and it comes with conditions covered below.

Which Federal Law Decides Who Can Sell Beef Jerky?

The Federal Meat Inspection Act decides it, and the details sit in the federal exemptions rule, 9 CFR 303.1. That rule lists the only situations where meat can be prepared without an inspector on site. eCFR showed the rule up to date as of October 6, 2026 when we read it on October 7. Of the exemptions in the rule, three matter to a small jerky vendor:

1. Your own animals, for your own household. A rancher can slaughter cattle they raised and eat the meat at home with household members, nonpaying guests and employees. Nothing gets sold, which is why a guest who pays for a farm stay does not count.
2. Custom processing, for the owner's household. A custom processor can slaughter and prepare an animal for the person who brought it in, for that person's household only. Game animals get the same treatment.
3. Retail stores and restaurants. A retail store can cure, cook, smoke and otherwise prepare meat for sale to consumers, as long as it meets a list of conditions covered below.

Everything else needs inspection, either by the USDA or by one of the 30 state programs that enforce rules "at least equal to" federal inspection.

What Are the Legal Ways to Sell Beef Jerky?

Beef jerky can be sold legally through four paths today, plus Colorado's cottage path from January 1, 2027, and one common path looks legal but isn't. The right one for you depends on where you want to sell, how much you want to make, and whether your state runs its own inspection program.

Scroll sideways to compare all six paths.

Paths and limits come from 9 CFR 303.1 on eCFR, the Federal Register notice of April 28, 2026, the USDA's state inspection pages and Colorado's 2027 Cottage Food Act pages, all loaded October 7, 2026. Colorado marks its 2027 pages "for information purposes only" until the law starts. Plant fees and batch sizes vary by plant and are not published in one place.

For a part-time vendor, the first or fourth row is usually the realistic start. A co-packer is the fastest way to a product you can sell anywhere. The retail exemption is the path for someone who already runs, or partners with, a licensed food business. Colorado residents may get a fifth row in 2027, once the state confirms in writing how it fits the federal rules.

How Does the Retail Exemption Work for a Small Jerky Vendor?

The retail exemption lets a retail store make jerky on site and sell it to household customers without a federal inspector, as long as it meets six conditions. Under 9 CFR 303.1(d), "Curing, cooking, smoking" are listed as operations "traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores and restaurants," which is why a butcher shop can sell its own jerky. A restaurant falls under a separate, narrower definition: it prepares meat "only for sale or service in meals or as entrees directly to individual consumers" at the restaurant. So a restaurant can serve its own jerky with a meal, but selling bags to take home needs the store conditions below, or a business that is a combined retail store and restaurant.

The conditions, in plain English:

1. You sell to consumers only. The rule defines a consumer as a household, hotel, restaurant or similar institution. Selling to another store so it can resell your jerky breaks the exemption.
2. At least 75 percent of your meat sales, in dollars, go to household customers. The rest can go to restaurants, hotels and similar buyers.
3. Those non-household sales stay at or under the yearly dollar cap. For 2026, FSIS's April 28, 2026 notice set it at $109,600 for meat, up $6,000 from $103,600, applicable from May 28, 2026.
4. Every piece of beef you use was inspected and passed. You buy your beef from an inspected source, like a grocery supplier or a USDA plant.
5. You sell normal retail quantities. The rule defines that as no more than half a carcass per customer, which for cattle is 300 pounds. No jerky buyer gets close.
6. Your work stays within normal retail operations, and jerky you make is for households only. Paragraph (f) of the rule limits what a store prepares for non-household buyers to cutting, grinding, breaking bulk and wrapping. Curing, cooking and smoking, the steps that make jerky, are allowed only for household customers.

The catch is the word "store." The exemption is written for a place of business, not a person with a dehydrator. You still need whatever retail food license your state or county requires, and the rule is written around sales at that establishment. Ask your regulator before you take retail-exempt jerky to a market booth or ship it.

Can a Restaurant or Hotel Buy Jerky From a Retail-Exempt Store?

Only jerky that came from an inspected plant, and only if the store just splits the case or rewraps it. Jerky the store makes itself can go to household customers only, because paragraph (f) leaves curing, cooking and smoking off the list for non-household buyers. Those rewrapped sales to non-household buyers count against both the 25 percent share and the $109,600 cap.

Here is how the two limits work together, using our cost sheet:

• A store with $40,000 a year in meat sales can sell at most $10,000 to restaurants and hotels, because 25 percent is the tighter limit.
• A store with $100,000 a year can sell at most $25,000 to them.
• A store with $600,000 a year hits the $109,600 cap before it hits 25 percent.

Does Your State Run Its Own Meat Inspection Program?

Thirty states run their own meat inspection program, and 20 do not. According to the USDA's list, last updated December 17, 2025, 26 states inspect both meat and poultry, and 4 (Arkansas, Georgia, Oregon and South Dakota) inspect meat only. If your state is on that list, you can choose state inspection instead of federal inspection.

The states with their own programs are:

• Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa
• Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada
• North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota
• Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

The 20 states without a state meat program include California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington. In those states, inspected jerky means a USDA plant.

State inspection is often closer to home and easier to reach for a small plant. The trade-off is the border. The USDA's state program page says those programs cover meat "distributed within the State," while the separate interstate program lets some small state plants ship "nationwide." One more wrinkle: the USDA's interstate shipping page, updated August 19, 2026, says 29 states have a program, while the list above says 30. If you are counting on state inspection, ask your state whether its program is active.

Can You Sell Jerky Under a Food Freedom Law?

No: all 3 of the broad food freedom style laws we read, in Wyoming, Utah and North Dakota, carve meat out, and a state home-food law does not change what the federal meat law requires. These laws let you sell a wide range of homemade food directly to customers, and Wyoming's shows how the meat carve-out works. Our food freedom states list covers the states with these laws. Here is how Wyoming handles meat.

So even in Wyoming, where home cooks can sell so much else, a home cook who buys beef at the store and turns it into jerky has no path through food freedom. Our guide to Wyoming's cottage food law lists what you can sell there instead.

Some food freedom states treat meat from animals the federal law does not cover differently. The federal meat law covers cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, so a state can open a door for other animals. Wyoming is the example above: its statute allows rabbit and some farm-raised fish now, while beef waits on the governor's certification. That door is narrow and differs by state. Read the statute, and get the answer in writing from your state agency before you buy a single pound.

What Do Big Cottage Food States Like Texas Say About Jerky?

The big cottage food states we read say no to jerky in plain words. Texas is a good example because its law is one of the most generous in the country, and it still draws a hard line at meat.

If a law that open still carves out meat, expect most smaller cottage food programs to do the same. Our cottage food laws by state guide lists the caps and allowed foods for each state, and the Texas cottage food law guide covers the Texas rules in detail.

Three patterns show up across the state programs we read:

• Meat is excluded by name in 5 of the 9: Texas, Colorado's current rule, Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota.
• Poultry is usually excluded right alongside meat, the way Texas lists both, with small exceptions for poultry in Wyoming, Utah and North Dakota.
• Dried fruit and vegetable "jerky" is often allowed, because it is not meat. California lists fruit roll-ups and Florida lists dried fruits.

What Do the 9 State Rules We Read Say About Homemade Jerky?

Eight of the nine leave homemade beef jerky out today, and only Pennsylvania names jerky on a home-kitchen form. We read each state's own page, packet or statute on October 7, 2026. This is not all 50 states, so check yours in our state guide and then with your state agency.

Swipe left to see all 9 states and every column.

Each source was loaded on October 7, 2026. Count: 5 states exclude meat by name, 3 leave meat jerky off an approved or permitted list, and 1 lists it on a form, so 8 of the 9 do not allow homemade beef jerky today. Colorado's 2027 law changes its row; the next section covers it.

Does Florida Allow Homemade Jerky?

No, Florida's cottage food rules leave meat jerky off the approved list, even though its yearly sales cap is $250,000. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services lists approved cottage foods like breads, candies, dried fruits and dry herbs, with a $250,000 yearly sales cap, and no meat products on the list. We read that page on October 7, 2026.

Florida also has no state meat inspection program, according to the USDA list, so inspected jerky made in Florida means a USDA plant. A Florida vendor who wants to sell beef jerky this year is looking at a USDA co-packer or a licensed retail store. Our guide to the Florida cottage food law covers what you can sell from home there instead, and fruit jerky fits on that list.

Will Colorado Let You Sell Homemade Beef Jerky in 2027?

Under Colorado state law, yes, starting January 1, 2027, with conditions and a $150,000 yearly sales cap. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says its new Cottage Food Act, the "Tamale Act" (HB26-1033), "now allows meat and meat products," and its 2027 food eligibility page lists "Jerky (Beef, Turkey, Pork)" among approved foods. Until that date, the department's current page still lists jerky as ineligible.

What that means if you live in Colorado:

• Register with the state every year. The act requires registration with the health department, renewed annually.
• Take the training. A Colorado State University cottage food course, or an equal certificate, is required to register.
• Buy USDA-inspected beef. A grocery store or butcher counts; a hunter's deer or a custom-exempt steer does not.
• Skip the vacuum sealer. Vacuum-packed beef jerky is named as not allowed.
• Watch the cap. Total cottage food sales stay at $150,000 or less per calendar year.
• Add the new label items. Your registration number, the county where you made it, your phone or email, the production date, and the department's website address.

The department's pages do not explain how the new state law fits with the federal meat rules covered above. Before you plan a 2027 launch, email the program at cdphe_cf@state.co.us, which its eligibility page names for questions, and keep the written answer. Our guide to the Colorado cottage food law covers the rest of the state's home food rules.

Can You Sell Deer, Turkey, or Fruit Jerky Instead?

Fruit jerky is the easiest of these to sell, and deer from a hunt is the hardest. The federal custom exemption lets a processor prepare a game animal for the hunter's household, not for sale, and selling wild game is a separate question run by your state wildlife agency. The next section covers deer in detail.

Here is how the common alternatives compare:

Drag the table sideways to compare each kind of jerky.

Sources read October 7, 2026: 9 CFR 303.1, 9 CFR 352.1 and 9 CFR 381.10 on eCFR, the USDA's bison page, Colorado's 2027 eligibility page, and the Wisconsin DNR and Minnesota wild game pages named in the next section.

• Turkey or chicken jerky. Poultry falls under a separate federal law, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, with its own exemptions in 9 CFR 381.10. A farmer can slaughter up to 1,000 birds of their own raising a year outside the rules, as long as none of it moves across state lines, and the small-scale exemptions allow up to 20,000 birds a year, sold only inside the state with a label stating the exemption under P.L. 90-492. We read that rule on eCFR on October 7, 2026. The retail exemption's 2026 cap for poultry is $76,100 instead of $109,600. It is not a shortcut around inspection.
• Farm-raised bison or elk. These species are not cattle, sheep, pigs or goats. Federal rules (9 CFR Part 352) define "exotic animal" to include reindeer, elk, deer, antelope, water buffalo, bison and yak, and put them under a voluntary inspection program the business pays for. The USDA's bison page says bison can be inspected under that voluntary federal program or under "FDA equivalent inspection," which includes state inspection, and notes that "Some states require that all exotic animals be inspected to be sold in commerce." Your state agriculture department makes the call.
• Fruit jerky and fruit leather. Allowed as a cottage food in many states, because it is dried fruit. Check your own state's allowed list in our cottage food laws by state guide before you start. This is the one version you can often make at home.
• Jerky dog treats. These are pet food, which your state feed regulator handles under a different set of rules. Our guide to whether you can sell homemade dog treats covers that path, including New York's separate rule for jerky treats.

If you want to start selling this month, fruit jerky is the realistic home-kitchen product. Our guide on how to sell dehydrated snacks covers drying temperatures and packaging for it.

Is It Illegal to Sell Deer Jerky?

Selling jerky made from a deer you hunted is illegal in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the two states whose wildlife rules we read, no matter how it was made. That rule comes from state wildlife law, not food law. The Wisconsin DNR's guidance on selling wild animals lists "The meat or bones (other than the head bones) of a wild deer" as illegal to buy, sell or trade, and a Minnesota Department of Agriculture fact sheet on wild game says it is unlawful to buy or sell edible products from a game carcass, "including products such as sausage," with a gross misdemeanor penalty. We read both on October 7, 2026.

What that means for a hunter who makes great venison jerky:

• Giving it away is usually fine. Wisconsin lets a hunter give deer meat to another person, as long as the hunter keeps the registration number until the meat is eaten.
• Trading it is selling. Minnesota's fact sheet counts barter and "exchange for consideration" as selling.
• A processor's label settles nothing. Minnesota's sheet says a processor handling wild game for others must mark the packages "Not for Sale."
• Bear is the same story. Wisconsin lists "The meat or bones of a bear" as illegal to commercialize, and Minnesota's sheet lists bear meat among the parts its statutes specifically prohibit from sale.

Farm-raised deer is different. Wisconsin allows the sale of "All carcasses, skins and parts from farm-raised deer with proper proof of source," and federal rules treat farm-raised deer as exotic animals under voluntary USDA inspection. If you want to sell venison jerky, the realistic path is farm-raised venison, processed at a plant that inspects it, under your state's rules.

Food safety is the other reason to be careful with deer. The USDA's jerky page cites researchers who found that "Venison can be heavily contaminated with fecal bacteria," depending on the hunter's skill and where the wound is, and lab tests on venison found E. coli survived drying times of up to 10 hours at temperatures up to 145°F.

Can You Buy Wholesale Jerky, Repackage It and Sell It to a Gas Station?

No, not unless an inspected plant does the repacking and the bag carries its establishment number. Repacking jerky into your own bags is a way of preparing meat, and 9 CFR 303.1 exempts "Wrapping or rewrapping products" from inspection only when a retail store does it for its own consumers. A gas station that resells your bags is a store, not a consumer, so those sales need product made and packed under inspection, with the plant's inspection mark on the bag.

Here is how the 3 common versions of this idea play out:

1. Buy a case of inspected jerky and resell the sealed bags as they are. That is reselling a finished product, not preparing it. Ask your state about any retail food or sales tax license you need.
2. Buy bulk inspected jerky and repack it into your own branded bags for your own market booth. That is rewrapping. A licensed retail store can do it for consumers under the retail exemption; a person without a store cannot.
3. Repack bulk jerky into your own bags and sell them to gas stations or gift shops. That is wholesale, and it needs an inspected plant. Ask a co-packer to make or pack your branded bags instead.

The cleanest version of "my own brand at the gas station" is a USDA-inspected co-packer that makes your recipe or packs your label, so the bag carries an establishment number every store will accept.

What Does It Take to Make Your First Legal Sale?

A first legal sale takes five steps, plus one habit of keeping records, and the order matters because the first answer changes everything after it. Plan on calls to at least 3 plants, a label review, and a decision about where customers will order, all before anything gets made. Most of the work happens before you spend $1 on beef. Your plant will give you its own timeline for scheduling and label work.

• Call your state's agriculture department or meat inspection agency. Ask one question: "I want to sell beef jerky I make from my recipe. Which inspection path is available in this state?" Their answer tells you whether state inspection is an option, and in Colorado, whether the 2027 cottage path fits your plan. Ask for the answer by email.
• Pick your path. Choose a co-packer if you want to sell anywhere, a state plant if you will only sell in-state, or the retail exemption if you already run a licensed food business.
• Find the plant or the kitchen. Ask the state agency for a list of inspected plants that take small custom-recipe runs, then call three and compare minimum batch sizes and per-pound fees.
• Get your label approved. Inspected meat labels carry the plant's establishment number and must meet federal labeling rules. The plant usually walks you through it.
• Set up where customers will order. Decide how market regulars will reorder between Saturdays before your first batch comes back, so the first run sells through.

After the five steps, keep every document. The plant's paperwork, your label approval, your invoices for inspected beef and any written answer from your state are your proof if a market manager or health inspector asks.

Can You Sell Jerky at a Farmers Market?

Yes, if the jerky came from an inspected plant or a qualifying store kitchen, and if your market and county allow it. Market managers can ask for several documents, like the ones listed below, plus things such as a sampling permit or a sales tax ID. Expect to show where the jerky was made, and a letter from your plant does that.

What market managers commonly ask a jerky vendor for:

• Proof of inspection, like the establishment number on your label or a letter from your co-packer
• A copy of your label, with the product name, net weight, ingredients and your business name
• A county or state vendor permit, which is separate from the inspection
• Proof of liability insurance, which many markets require for every vendor
• A plan for temperature, if any of your products need to stay cold

Shelf-stable jerky in sealed bags is one of the easier meat products to handle at a booth. It doesn't need a cooler, and it is easy to sample if your county allows samples. If you sell under a state inspection program, remember that the market has to be in the same state, unless your plant is in the CIS interstate shipping program covered below. A booth at a market across the state line is interstate commerce, even if it is only 20 minutes from home. That same state line decides six other places to sell, and the guide to where to sell beef jerky walks through each one, from gun shows and taprooms to Etsy, with what a $12 bag costs you at a market, on your own storefront, on Etsy and Amazon, and in a store.

Retail-exempt jerky adds one more question. The exemption is written around sales at the store, so a market booth is a question for your regulator before your first Saturday. Colorado cottage jerky, from 2027, is sold directly to consumers in Colorado, so ask the state program and your market manager whether a booth counts before you plan one.

Can You Sell Jerky Online or Ship It to Another State?

You can sell and ship jerky anywhere in the country only if it came from a USDA-inspected plant, or from a state plant in the interstate shipping program. Jerky from a regular state-inspected plant can be sold online, but only to customers inside your state, and it cannot be mailed across state lines. The USDA's state program page describes those programs as covering meat "distributed within the State."

How that plays out by path:

1. USDA co-packer or USDA plant. Ship to all 50 states, sell wholesale, list on any website.
2. State-inspected plant. Sell online for local pickup or in-state delivery. Block out-of-state addresses.
3. Retail exemption. Ask your regulator. The rule is written for sales at the establishment, so shipping is a question to settle before you promise it.
4. Colorado cottage food, from 2027. Colorado's 2027 page describes direct sales to the public. Ask the program about online orders and shipping before you promise either.

One exception exists. Under the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) program, some small state-inspected plants can operate like federal plants and ship across state lines. Only states that signed an agreement take part. As of our October 7, 2026 check, the USDA's page (updated August 19, 2026) lists 10 of them: Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. Under 9 CFR 332.3 the plant also has to average 25 or fewer employees, with never more than 35 on the payroll at one time, and the USDA's CIS page adds federal sanitation standards, label review and a written HACCP plan. Ask your state agency whether your plant is enrolled. For most part-time vendors, local pickup is the simplest answer because it keeps every sale inside your state.

What Food Safety Rules Still Apply Once You Are Licensed?

Every legal path still requires a proven safe process, and the inspected ones require it in writing. USDA and state-inspected plants run under a written food safety plan called HACCP, short for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. The USDA publishes a compliance guideline written specifically for jerky made in small and very small plants, the FSIS Compliance Guideline for Meat and Poultry Jerky Produced by Small and Very Small Establishments, dated August 2014. It is best-practice guidance for inspected plants, not a set of rules.

The core safety steps the USDA recommends for jerky:

• Heat beef to 160°F before drying, and poultry to 165°F
• Hold the dehydrator at 130 to 140°F during drying, so the meat dries fast enough
• Don't count on marinade to kill bacteria. A study the USDA cites found "Marination alone did not result in significant reduction of the pathogen"
• Use whole muscle slices where you can. NDSU Extension recommends them, and in studies the USDA cites, ground-beef jerky showed more bacterial survival.
• Know the shelf life. The USDA says commercially packaged jerky can be kept 12 months and home-dried jerky 1 to 2 months

Retail stores face their own rules. Montana's health department posts a guidance for processing beef jerky in retail operations, developed by a committee that included FDA, USDA and state agriculture staff, with USDA project funding. It explains that drying and curing meat at retail can require a variance and a written HACCP plan in places that adopted those parts of the FDA Food Code. Ask your county whether it requires both before you make jerky in a store kitchen.

Which Cut of Beef Makes the Safest Jerky to Sell?

Lean, whole-muscle cuts sliced 1/4 inch thick or thinner are the standard. North Dakota State University Extension says "typically, lean cuts such as beef round roasts or pork loin are used," because fat can go rancid in storage, and it recommends whole-muscle cuts for home processing because they make "a safer, more traditional jerky product." Its guide also says to slice no more than 1/4 inch thick and trim visible fat. We read that guide on October 7, 2026.

For a co-packer run, your plant may have its own preferred cut and slice thickness, because its validated process is written around them. Ask before you buy beef for a test batch.

Why Is Beef Jerky So Expensive?

Mostly because of water loss: a pound of jerky starts as 2.5 to 4 pounds of raw beef. The USDA says a pound of raw meat weighs about 4 ounces after it becomes jerky, so a pound of finished jerky starts as about 4 pounds of beef. At the Bureau of Labor Statistics' August 2026 average of $8.959 a pound for boneless USDA Choice round roast, the beef alone in a pound of jerky costs $35.84.

Swipe the table to see both yields.

Beef price: BLS average price series for round roast, USDA Choice, boneless, August 2026, $8.959 a pound, pulled October 7, 2026. Yields from the USDA jerky page and NDSU Extension's jerky guide, both read October 7, 2026. Marinade, packaging, labels, plant fees, labor and booth fees are extra.

The rest of the price comes from everything a home cook never pays for: the plant's minimum run and per-pound fee, label approval, packaging that keeps oxygen and moisture out, and the time it takes to slice, marinate, heat and dry. NDSU's guide points out that store jerky in half-ounce packs at $1 or more works out to at least $32 a pound. Our beef jerky pricing guide turns those costs into a bag price you can put on a sign.

Where Should Your Jerky Customers Place Orders?

Once your jerky comes from an inspected plant, the next problem is turning Saturday market buyers into weekly reorders without living in your text messages. Pre-orders fit jerky well, because a bag keeps and a regular can reserve the same flavor each week. Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually, with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing, and gives you one storefront link where customers pick flavors and bag sizes, pay, and choose a pickup day.

For a jerky vendor, the parts that matter are pre-orders by pickup date, payment collected up front so a co-packer run is paid for before it ships, local delivery inside a radius you set (1 to 25 miles), and a link you can print on your label or booth sign. New vendors get a 7-day trial with no charge until day 8, per the signup page we checked on October 7, 2026.

Slide the table to see the full fee stack for each platform.

We checked these on Homegrown's signup page, Square's online store plans page and Shopify's pricing page on October 7, 2026. The month of 50 orders adds the annual-billing plan price to 50 card fees ($44.00 for Homegrown and Shopify, $48.00 for Square), and Shopify's figure uses its standard card rate, so premium cards push it higher. Shipping, taxes and any add-on apps are not included.

Honest comparison: at 50 orders a month, Square's Free plan costs $6 less than Homegrown, and it is a strong choice if you already use Square at your booth. Shopify is the better fit once you sell USDA-inspected jerky nationwide and ship every order. Homegrown handles pickup and local delivery inside your radius, not shipping, and it does not handle wholesale accounts or keep inspection paperwork. Customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order. Selling by the pound is on the roadmap, not live, so list jerky in fixed bag sizes, each with its own price. There is no drops or countdown-release feature. Your storefront is listed on the Homegrown marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link.

When your first inspected batch is a few weeks out, that is the time to set up your Homegrown storefront and put the link on your booth sign, so regulars can reserve their flavor before the bags arrive.

What Mistakes Get Jerky Vendors in Trouble?

The most common jerky mistakes come from treating meat like baked goods. Here are 7 that can cost you a market spot or worse.

1. Selling home-dried jerky "just at the market." Market size doesn't change the federal meat rule or your state's home-food list. One complaint can end your booth and your season.
2. Using custom-exempt meat. Beef from a custom processor is marked "Not for Sale." Using it for jerky you sell breaks the rule even in a licensed kitchen.
3. Assuming a rented kitchen makes it legal. A commercial kitchen rental gives you a clean space. It does not give you an inspection grant or a retail exemption on its own.
4. Shipping state-inspected jerky out of state. An online order from a neighboring state is interstate commerce. Block those addresses or move to a USDA plant, unless your plant takes part in the CIS shipping program covered above.
5. Wholesaling retail-exempt jerky to a shop. A gas station, gift shop or grocery that resells your jerky is not a consumer, so those sales need inspected product.
6. Selling store-made jerky to a restaurant. A retail-exempt store can send restaurants and hotels only inspected product it cuts, grinds, splits or rewraps. Jerky the store cooks and dries stays with household customers.
7. Jumping the gun in Colorado. The cottage path starts January 1, 2027, needs registration and training first, and rules out vacuum-packed beef jerky.

The fix for all seven is the same first step: get the path in writing from your state agency before your first batch. If you are moving up from a cottage food business, our guide to moving from cottage food to a commercial kitchen covers the costs of that jump. When your inspected jerky is ready and you want regulars to order ahead of your next production run, you can start taking pre-orders on Homegrown and share the link at your booth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you sell homemade beef jerky at a farmers market?

Usually not if it was made in a home kitchen. Beef jerky sold at a farmers market normally has to come from a USDA-inspected plant, a state-inspected plant in your state, or a store kitchen that qualifies for the federal retail exemption. Colorado's 2027 law adds registered cottage kitchens selling directly to consumers in Colorado, once the state confirms how that fits the federal rules. Your market will usually ask to see proof, like the establishment number on your label.

Do you need a license to sell beef jerky?

Yes. The jerky needs inspection, a retail exemption or, in Colorado from 2027, a cottage food registration (ask Colorado in writing how that fits federal meat rules first), and you will usually also need a county or state vendor permit and a compliant label. The exact licenses depend on your state and your path, so call your state's agriculture or health department first and ask which path applies.

Is beef jerky allowed under cottage food laws?

Not in 8 of the 9 states whose rules we read on October 7, 2026. Texas, which lets home vendors sell almost any food up to $150,000 a year, still lists meat and meat products as the first exception. Colorado lists beef jerky as an approved cottage food starting January 1, 2027, though its pages leave open how that squares with federal meat law, and Pennsylvania's home registration form has a jerky checkbox. Ask either state in writing before relying on it.

Can I use a co-packer to sell my own jerky recipe?

Yes, and it is the path that lets you sell in any state, in stores, online and wholesale. A USDA-inspected co-packer makes your recipe under its own inspection, and the product carries the plant's establishment number. Expect minimum batch sizes and per-pound fees, and compare at least three plants before you sign.

Can I sell homemade beef jerky online?

Only jerky from an inspected plant can be sold online without checking with a regulator first. A qualifying retail store, or a registered Colorado cottage kitchen from 2027, has to ask its regulator about online orders first, because those rules are written around sales at the store or directly to the customer. USDA-inspected jerky can ship to all 50 states. Jerky from a state-inspected plant can be sold online only to customers in that same state, unless that plant is approved for interstate shipping under CIS, so local pickup is the safest setup.

How much can a retail store sell under the jerky exemption?

There is no dollar cap on sales to household customers, and jerky the store makes can only go to them. Sales to hotels, restaurants and other institutions must stay at or under 25 percent of the store's meat sales and at or under $109,600 for 2026, and those buyers can only get inspected product the store cuts, grinds, splits or rewraps. The rule has FSIS adjust that dollar figure whenever the consumer price index shows a change of more than $500 in the price of that volume of meat, and the new cap is published in the Federal Register.

Can you sell jerky made from a deer you hunted?

No, not in Wisconsin or Minnesota, whose wildlife rules we read. Wisconsin's DNR lists the meat of a wild deer as illegal to buy, sell or trade, and Minnesota counts barter and trades as selling. Jerky from farm-raised deer is a different question that runs through voluntary inspection and your state agriculture department.

Related Reading

These 6 guides cover the next questions most jerky vendors ask, from packaging to which foods you can make at home instead:

• How to Sell Beef Jerky From Home: equipment, packaging, flavors and where jerky sells once you are legal.
• How Much to Sell Beef Jerky For: turn beef, plant and packaging costs into a bag price.
• Where to Sell Beef Jerky: seven places to sell and which kind of plant each one needs.
• Cottage Food Laws by State: caps and rules for every state.
• Colorado Cottage Food Law: the rest of Colorado's home food rules.
• How to Sell Dehydrated Snacks: fruit jerky, dried fruit and other home-kitchen options.

Beef jerky takes more setup than cookies, but the rules are clear once you know which door you are walking through. Start with one email to your state's health or agriculture department, pick your path, and when your first inspected batch is ready, start your Homegrown storefront so your regulars can order the flavors they want before the next run.