Who is Exempt from the Federal Juice HACCP Regulation?

21 CFR Part 120

Retail Businesses
If you qualify as a retail establishment, you are not required to process juice under a HACCP system. A retail establishment is an operation that provides juice directly to consumers and does not sell or distribute juice to other businesses. The term "provides" includes storing, preparing, packaging, serving, and selling juice.

If you hire someone to make juice from your fruit and sell the juice at your roadside stand, you, the retailer, are exempt from the juice HACCP regulation, but the processor who makes your juice is subject to the regulation. That processor is not a retail establishment because the processor is not vending the juice directly to consumers.

If you produce your own juice and sell it at your roadside stand, and also sell or distribute some of your juice to other businesses to sell or resell, your juice must be processed under a HACCP system because not all of the juice is being provided directly to consumers. For more information on what types of businesses qualify as retail establishments, see the publication, "Juice HACCP Regulation Questions and Answers (see section I. C for availability information).

Non-Beverage Foods with Juice Ingredient (e.g., fruit flavored candy)
The juice HACCP regulation only applies to the processing of juice that is sold either as juice or for use as an ingredient in beverages. Thus, in the case of a non-beverage food such as a fruit flavored candy that contains juice as an ingredient, neither the candy nor the juice ingredient is subject to the requirements of the juice HACCP regulation. Processors may find it beneficial to use HACCP systems voluntarily to produce such foods.

Processors of Ingredients from Fruit Other than Juice
Food ingredients other than juice that are derived from fruits and vegetables, e.g., citrus oil, are not subject to the juice HACCP regulation. The juice HACCP regulation applies only to juice that is sold either as juice or for use as an ingredient in beverages and not to any other fruit or vegetable product.