6 V.S.A. Chapter 155 contains the statutes pertaining to the manufacture and sale of frozen desserts. The most common holder of this license is a “Creemee Stand”. This license is required for all those who make and sell ice cream, frozen yogurt, frozen custards, ices and other frozen desserts. If the items contain dairy products, they must be made from a pasteurized base mix. There are several levels of licensing for Frozen Desserts. Refer to “Frozen Desserts” page for more information. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets promulgated frozen dessert rules.
License Requirements
There are three potential levels of licensing required for making frozen desserts:
1. Those that are “scooping” ready-made hard ice cream into cones or cups for on-site consumption do not need a license from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. There are sanitation requirements that can be found in the Frozen Dessert Rules. If any food preparation is done, a license may be needed from the Vermont Department of Health, Food and Lodging Program.
2. Frozen desserts that contain milk or milk products must have the base mix pasteurized prior to freezing. Only flavoring may be added to the base mix after it has been pasteurized prior to freezing. If a base mix of milk, cream, sugar or other sweetener, along with stabilizers and other allowed ingredients that has already been pasteurized (as a blended mix) is utilized, the only license needed is a Frozen Dessert License. For a Frozen Dessert License please fill out a Retail Application.
3. If the ice cream is made from "scratch" (milk, cream, sugar and other ingredients are blended) the mix must be pasteurized after blending. That level of processing requires regular inspection and a Vermont Milk Handlers License.
Factsheet for High Quality Creemees
A helpful factsheet on creemee machine usage was developed by Cornell University and has been modified to match more closely with Vermont rules. It will be very useful for those that are managing a continuous flow ice cream freezer (like a creemee or soft serve machine).