Expert: Carol Schlitt - 10/2/2006

Question
Hello Carol,

Further to your advice on salad dressing.  I have a homemade poppy seed dressing (i.e. oil and vinegar emulsion) that I would like to start selling at craft stores, christmas gifts etc.  How do I determine shelf life and whether this dressing needs to be refrigerated (for example if our salad dressing tests below pH 4.o).

If we want a dressing to be shelf stable at room temperature, is preservatives the only way?

I appreciate your assistance and expertise.

Best regards,

Tamara

Answer
Hi Tamara,

Processing (yes -- this is considered food processing)salad dressing for sale is something that can not be done from your own home kitchen.

If you want to pursue the selling of your dressing, I suggest you attend a one-day food entrepreneur workshop that will help you to explore the options for processing and bottling your dressing. Several Universities around the country offer food entrepreneural assistance to help small businesses get started with their food product idea. They help with market analysis (ie -- is their a market for your product), develope of a safe product that can be made in quantity with your same flavor profile, how and where to sell the product, etc.  

The University of Nebraska has a food entrepreneural center that you might want to check out:  http://fpc.unl.edu/Entrepreneur/

Other universities with food entrepreneural centers include:

Cornell University: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/necfe/

Penn State: http://foodsafety.psu.edu/processor/resources.htm

Rutgers:
http://www.foodinnovation.rutgers.edu/

Good Luck Tamara -- I hope to see your bottled dressing on my store shelves someday!!

Sincerely,

Carol C. Schlitt
University of Illinois Extension