What Permits Do You Need to Sell Frozen Dumplings Made at Home or in a Shop?

Can You Sell What You Make at Home?

For many people, the first step in starting a business is making dumplings at home, selling them to friends, family, and community group buys, and gradually moving to online sales. No law says "food made at home can't be sold," but once you start selling to the public, you fall within the scope of "food businesses" under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and there are plenty of rules to follow: GHP hygiene practice, package labeling, products must not violate the prohibitions in Article 15, and once you reach certain registrations and scale, you must register as a food business and register as a factory.

The most common practical problems with producing at home: a residential kitchen can hardly provide the separation, pest prevention, handwashing facilities, and temperature records that GHP requires; and if you grow large enough to need factory registration, residential land usually doesn't comply with land use controls. Under Article 15 of the Factory Management Act (工廠管理輔導法), factories that violate land use controls or building use designations may not register.

Do You Need Factory Registration?

It depends on scale. Article 3 of the Factory Management Act (last amended May 24, 2024): a place that has a fixed location for manufacturing or processing goods, with a factory floor area above a certain size, or production equipment above a certain power capacity or thermal capacity, is a factory. The thresholds are set in the Standards for Determining the Scope, Floor Area, Power Capacity, and Thermal Scale of Factories Engaged in Manufacturing and Processing (工廠從事物品製造加工範圍及面積電力容量熱能規模認定標準, last amended December 21, 2018):

• Scope: Food manufacturing is within the scope; but "making and retailing bread, noodles, tofu, or candy within the same street address" is excluded. Dumplings are not on this exclusion list.
• Scale: Factories subject to establishment standards by law (which includes food factories) count as factory scale if the factory floor area is 50 square meters or more, or the combined horsepower and electric heating is 2.25 kilowatts or more.

When producing with machines, electric power can easily become the threshold: for example, Dong-Yih's Sweet Potato Ball & Taro Ball Portioning Machine DY-528MS at 1.6KW, and the Automatic Bun & Mantou Machine DY-201 at 2.0KW; add mixers, freezing equipment, and so on, and you need to total the horsepower and electric heating of all production equipment. Whether you're at factory scale is calculated from your actual floor area and equipment capacity; if necessary, confirm with the factory registration office of your city or county government.

Under Article 10 of the Factory Management Act, factories at this scale must complete registration before producing; manufacturing or processing without registration will be ordered to stop under Article 30 and register within a deadline, and failure to do so is punishable by a fine of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000. When registering, frozen food factories must also meet the Standards for Food Factory Buildings and Equipment and appoint hygiene management personnel as required.

Other Things to Take Care Of

• Commercial or tax registration: According to your business type.
• Food business registration: Under the notice, food manufacturers and processors with tax registration have been within the registration scope since December 31, 2015; those with factory, commercial, or company registration were included earlier. See Food Business Registration.
• GHP: All food businesses must comply, including staff health checks, training, premises cleaning, equipment washing, and daily hygiene management records.
• Product labeling: Packaged frozen dumplings are labeled under Article 22 of the Food Safety Act and the frozen food labeling regulations; see Frozen Food Labeling and Storage Temperatures.

What to Watch for When Selling Frozen Food Online

• Temperature: GHP Annex 1 requires frozen storage and transport equipment to be kept at −18°C or below; Article 8 requires frozen transport compartments to be spot-checked during receiving, loading, and unloading, and not to be warmer than −12°C. Whether you deliver yourself or use a logistics company, confirm the product stays frozen throughout.
• Packaging: GHP Article 27 requires frozen food to be packaged or suitably wrapped; items with detached or damaged packaging may not be sold.
• Labeling: Product name, ingredients, weight, and other information on your web page must match the package label; Article 28 of the Food Safety Act also prohibits labeling, promotion, or advertising that is false, exaggerated, or misleading, and food may not claim medical effects.
• Records: When selling to non-natural-person buyers such as restaurants or group-buy organizers, keep shipping records for traceability.

FAQ

Q: Can I sell frozen dumplings made at home?
A: The law doesn't prohibit it, but as a food business you must follow GHP, labeling, and other rules; once you reach the factory threshold, residential land usually can't be registered as a factory.

Q: Do I need factory registration?
A: Under the scale determination standards, a food factory with a floor area of 50 square meters or more, or combined horsepower and electric heating of 2.25 kilowatts or more, counts as factory scale and must complete registration before producing.

Q: What should I watch for when selling frozen dumplings online?
A: Keep product frozen at −18°C or below throughout, transport compartments no warmer than −12°C, packaging intact, and web pages consistent with package labels, with no exaggeration or health claims.

Q: Will buying one machine make me a factory?
A: You need to total the horsepower and electric heating of all production equipment and also consider floor area; for example, the DY-528MS is 1.6KW, but mixing, freezing, and other equipment must be counted too.