Selling microgreens in Michigan: licensing, restaurants, pricing, and food safety

Short answer: in Michigan, microgreens cut once at harvest and sold as they are need no MDARD food license, the same as any whole, uncut produce. That's what MDARD's inspector told us, and it's how Michigan's produce-safety educators read it, though an MSU Product Center page reads cut product more strictly, so get your own inspector's answer in writing. The moment you chop, mix, or dry them, you're processing food and you need a license. Sprouts are a different product with different rules. Restaurants can buy from you directly, and most growers sell a mix of weekly restaurant orders and retail clamshells.

Licensing: where the line is

Michigan's food law doesn't license farms for selling whole, uncut fresh produce, and that's the category microgreens fall into when they're harvested with one cut and sold with the leaves intact. Three things change the picture:

Why we say "confirm". MDARD's inspector for our area wrote that "the initial harvest cut does not require licensing," and Michigan's produce-safety program says the same: growers need no nursery or specialty license to grow, harvest and sell microgreens, and only processing beyond the first cut needs an MDARD license. MSU's Product Center page on microgreens, herbs and edible flowers reads it more strictly, saying cut product sold commercially needs a license unless the leaves stay intact when de-stemmed. Rules are applied by the inspector who covers your county, case by case. So before you sell: call MDARD at 800-292-3939, ask for your area's food inspector, describe exactly how you harvest and pack, and keep the answer by email.

Blends. Many growers sell a "salad mix" or "spicy mix" of several varieties. The cleanest way to do that without a processing question is to grow the mix in one tray (seed the varieties together) and cut it once. Mixing after harvest is the step that can count as processing.

Washing. Most microgreens growers don't wash after harvest; the greens are cut clean and dry, and water shortens shelf life. If you do wash, ask your inspector whether that changes your answer.

Sprouts are not microgreens

Sprouts are seeds germinated in water for a few days and eaten whole: seed, root and shoot. The warm, wet conditions that sprout a seed also grow bacteria, which is why sprouts have caused repeated outbreaks and have their own section of the federal Produce Safety Rule, with required pathogen testing. Microgreens are grown in a medium under light for one to three weeks and cut above it, so only stems and leaves are sold, and the risk is far lower.

Keep the two apart in how you grow, label and talk about them. If you grow sprouts, or a crop like pea shoots sold roots-on, ask MDARD which rules apply before you sell.

The FDA Produce Safety Rule

Microgreens are "covered produce" under the federal Produce Safety Rule, which MDARD inspects in Michigan. Most small growers are exempt or qualified-exempt:

• Not covered: farms averaging under about $33,000 a year in produce sales over the previous three years (the 2022 to 2024 inflation-adjusted figure; FDA updates it each spring).
• Qualified exemption: farms averaging under about $666,000 in total food sales whose sales go mostly to consumers, or to restaurants and stores in Michigan or within 275 miles. You must put your farm's name and full address on the label or at the point of sale, and keep records showing you qualify.
• Fully covered: everyone else. Water testing, worker training, records.

If you're under the first threshold, nothing is required, but a buyer can still ask how you grow. The practices below are what they'll want to hear.

Food safety that buyers notice

Chefs and market managers buy from growers who can answer these:

• Seed. Buy from a supplier that sells seed for sprouting or microgreens, which is tested for pathogens, not garden packets. Keep the lot numbers.
• Water. Use municipal water, or test a well for generic E. coli at least once a year and keep the result.
• Trays and surfaces. Wash and sanitize trays between crops. Don't reuse growing media.
• Harvest. Clean, sharp tools, sanitized between varieties. Hands washed, hair tied, no one harvesting while ill.
• Cold chain. Into the fridge within an hour of cutting, held at 34 to 40°F, and delivered cold. Microgreens last 7 to 10 days cold and dry, and a day or two warm and wet.
• Label. Variety, your farm name and address, the harvest date. Add "keep refrigerated".

Selling to restaurants

Restaurants are the natural first customer: they order the same thing every week, year-round, and microgreens go on plates at every price point. What they want:

• A fixed weekly delivery day, within a day of cutting.
• Consistency. The same size, color and flavor each week. Chefs forgive a missed week more than a changed product.
• Dry greens in a vented container, 4 ounces to a pound, not a tray of soil. Many growers deliver live trays to high-end kitchens that want to cut to order; ask.
• A short list. Three to five reliable varieties (pea, sunflower, radish, broccoli, a spicy mix) beat fifteen.
• Price by the ounce or pound, with an invoice or a standing order they don't have to think about.

Our guide to selling to restaurants in Michigan covers finding accounts, pricing, and delivery terms.

Pricing

Microgreens sell by weight, and they're light, so think per ounce:

These are round, illustrative numbers. Price from your own costs: seed, media, trays, electricity for lights, packaging, and your time. A 10-by-20 tray yields roughly 6 to 12 ounces depending on the variety, so a $5 clamshell times three to six per tray is the arithmetic that matters.

Where to sell

• Farmers markets. Year-round indoor markets suit microgreens. Bring a cooler; a display tray of live greens sells the clamshells beside it.
• Restaurants and cafés. Weekly standing orders, as above.
• Online, with delivery or pickup. Microgreens are one of the few crops a farm can sell every week of the year, which makes online ordering with a weekly pickup or delivery day work well.
• Grocers and co-ops. Possible, but they take a bigger margin, need UPCs and insurance, and may ask for a GAP audit. Later.

This is general information, not legal advice. Inspectors judge each operation on its own facts. Call MDARD at 800-292-3939 before you sell, and keep the answer.

How Chivle handles microgreens

Microgreens list on Chivle like any produce, with no compliance hold. You set the price per clamshell, ounce, or tray, buyers nearby and restaurants can set up a standing weekly order, and you're paid at checkout. Because microgreens are year-round, they're one of the first products we're bringing on in Michigan this winter.

The first 50 Michigan farms join as Founding Growers, with zero platform fees on their first $50,000 in sales, for up to a year. Read more about selling direct in Michigan.