Selling maple syrup in Massachusetts

Direct to consumers: Massachusetts' Retail Food Code (105 CMR 590.000), enforced by local boards of health, carves out pure maple products. No board of health permit is required to sell "pure maple products" at a public market or farmers market (105 CMR 590.010(D)(1)), from a temporary food establishment (590.010(C)(1)), from a mobile operation (590.010(B)(1)), or by an on-farm or off-farm cottage food operation that sells only pure maple products, unprocessed honey, whole uncut produce or farm-fresh eggs (590.010(F)(1)). The Department of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Agricultural Resources confirm in their 2022 guidance that a Retail Food Code permit "is not required for farms selling ... pure maple products". Wholesale: anyone in the business of processing or distributing food for sale at wholesale needs an annual license from DPH's Division of Food Protection (M.G.L. c. 94, § 305C), with the fee set each year by the Commonwealth; the statutory exemptions cover purveyors of fresh fruits and vegetables and "a farmer who produces and sells raw farm products", and the state's guidance doesn't say whether finished maple syrup counts as a raw farm product — see the caveats. Local boards of health may adopt stricter rules than the state code, including requiring a permit where the state doesn't.

For direct sales, yes: the retail code's cottage food section covers residential kitchens, and an on-farm or off-farm cottage food operation that only sells pure maple products needs no board of health permit (105 CMR 590.010(F)(1)). For wholesale, a home kitchen must be licensed by DPH as a wholesale residential kitchen (105 CMR 500.015): only foods that aren't potentially hazardous and don't need refrigeration, only household members may do the work, separate storage for ingredients and finished product, a soap dispenser and disposable towels at the kitchen sink, a toilet room for workers, and a three-compartment sink (or two-compartment with an approved detergent-sanitizer) or a home dishwasher meeting a 150 °F test; municipal zoning may prohibit residential kitchens. The rules speak of kitchens and don't address a backyard sugarhouse or outdoor evaporator.

Massachusetts has no grading law: the only maple section in the General Laws' food and agriculture chapters (c. 94 and c. 128) is the purity and labeling rule in c. 128, § 36C, and we found no state density standard. The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association says syrup "is graded by color according to USDA standards" — that is, the voluntary federal grades. The federal minimum of 66% soluble solids applies (see the national notes).

Syrup grades explained · check your density

• ✓Nothing may be labeled or branded maple, maple syrup, maple candy, maple cream, maple butter or maple sugar unless it is made from pure maple syrup from the sap of the maple tree (M.G.L. c. 128, § 36C)
• ✓A blend of maple syrup with anything else must print its ingredients on the package in the same size type as the words "maple syrup"; the word "maple" can't appear at all on a product with no maple syrup in it (§ 36C)
• ✓Wholesale (DPH-licensed) products must follow the federal labeling rules adopted in 105 CMR 500.004 — identity, net quantity, name and place of business, ingredients where required — plus any other state or federal requirement (105 CMR 500.006)
• ✓No Massachusetts-specific label items apply to permit-exempt direct sales beyond the purity rule and the federal requirements in the national notes

Farmers markets, farm stands, temporary stands and home-based direct sales of pure maple products are all open without a board of health permit (105 CMR 590.010). Massachusetts' retail code exempts only the product — it doesn't say where the syrup must have been made, and the UMass maple FAQ notes out-of-state syrup is sold in the state, with farmers market policies set by each market manager. Selling to retail stores, restaurants or distributors is wholesale under M.G.L. c. 94, § 305C and 105 CMR 500.000, licensed and inspected by DPH; a kitchen used for both retail and wholesale needs both the board of health permit (if any) and the DPH license. Massachusetts' rules don't address out-of-state shipping; see the national notes for federal requirements.

No maple-specific equipment, lead or bottling rules were found in Massachusetts law. Wholesale licensees must meet 105 CMR 500.000 (Good Manufacturing Practices for Food), which adopts the federal GMP rules, and wholesale residential kitchens are limited to non-potentially-hazardous foods with the facility rules listed under home production. Permit-exempt direct sellers remain subject to local boards of health, which may impose stricter requirements.