Are Microgreens Covered by the FDA Produce Safety Rule?

Yes, microgreens are covered produce. But most small growers are under the cutoff, and the cutoff is not the number almost everyone publishes.

If you have read anywhere that the threshold is $25,000, that figure is real but it is the 2011 benchmark written into the regulation. It is adjusted for inflation every year. For 2026 the operative number is $34,324, published in FDA's inflation adjusted cut-offs table, and a grower using the old figure could conclude they are regulated when they are not.

This page is the federal layer. Your state adds its own licensing on top, and that is where most growers actually get tripped up, so read your state page too.

The threshold, stated properly

21 CFR 112.4(a) says the rule does not apply to a farm whose average annual monetary value of produce sold over the previous three years is "$25,000 or less, on a rolling basis, adjusted for inflation."

That last clause is the part that gets dropped. FDA publishes the adjusted figures using GDP price deflators, and they move every year.

Source for every figure in that table: FDA, FSMA inflation adjusted cut-offs. Checked 6 August 2026.

So: average your produce sales for 2023, 2024 and 2025. If that average is at or below $34,324, the Produce Safety Rule does not apply to your farm.

Two details that decide borderline cases. Donated produce does not count, because there is no sale. And the calculation counts all your produce sales, not only sales of microgreens or only sales of covered produce. Both points come from FDA's FSMA FAQ.

Not covered, excluded, and qualified exemption are three different things

These get used interchangeably online and they mean different things with different consequences.

The qualified exemption has two tests and you must meet both, measured over the previous three years:

1. Average annual sales of all food under $500,000 in 2011 dollars. Inflation adjusted, the current figure is $686,476.
2. Sales directly to qualified end users must exceed sales to everyone else combined.

A qualified end user is the consumer, or a restaurant or retail food establishment in your state or within 275 miles of your farm. That distance is fixed in the rule and does not adjust.

Worth knowing: FDA can withdraw a qualified exemption if it becomes necessary to protect public health, following the notice procedures in Sections 112.201 to 112.213, and a farm can appeal.

The exclusion categories are separate again, and the "rarely consumed raw" list is published as a fixed list. No microgreen appears on it, and a grower cannot infer an exclusion because the mature crop does.

The sprouts question, which matters more than it looks

Sprouts fall under Subpart M, which is materially stricter: seed sourcing and treatment controls, environmental monitoring, and pathogen testing of spent irrigation water or the sprouts themselves. It exists because sprouts are grown warm, moist and nutrient rich, and have been repeatedly tied to outbreaks. FDA sets this out in its produce safety guidance.

FDA states directly that microgreens are not sprouts, so Subpart M does not apply to them. The wording is explicit: because microgreens are not sprouts, they are not subject to Subpart M. Microgreens are grown in soil or substrate, harvested above it, and reach the true leaf stage. Sprouts are germinated seeds, usually harvested while the seed leaves are still undeveloped, before true leaves emerge. See FDA's guidance and its sprout-specific guidance.

Here is the part growers need to sit with: the classification follows the crop and the practice, not what you call it on the label.

What compliance actually involves

If you are over the cutoff and not qualified exempt, this is the shape of it.

Pre-harvest agricultural water is the live deadline. The phase-in runs April 7 2025 for large farms, April 6 2026 for small farms, and April 5 2027 for very small farms, which is the bracket most microgreens growers who are covered at all will sit in. Dates from FDA's pre-harvest agricultural water rule.

The core compliance dates for everything else have already passed: January 2018, 2019 and 2020 depending on farm size, per the Produce Safety Rule.

Who inspects, and who to ask

Both FDA and your state. FDA administers the rule, but farm inspections are generally carried out by state agencies funded under FDA's State Produce Safety Implementation Cooperative Agreement. They are applying the same federal rule, not a different one.

Before any of that, there is the On-Farm Readiness Review: a voluntary, free, educational visit run by NASDA and state partners that walks your practices and records against the rule with no inspection and no enforcement attached. If you are anywhere near covered, it is the cheapest thing available to you.

For a technical question, FDA runs the FSMA Technical Assistance Network, and the Produce Safety Network takes email at ProduceSafetyNetwork@fda.hhs.gov. But understand what that gets you: FDA describes it as technical assistance, not a binding ruling on your farm.

For an answer that actually governs your operation, ask your state's Produce Safety Program, the agency that would inspect you, and keep their written response.

What USDA does and does not do here

USDA does not regulate microgreen food safety. That is FDA, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the FDA and USDA memorandum of understanding sets out where the line sits. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service handles meat, poultry and processed eggs.

Two USDA things do matter, and neither is a food safety rule:

• National Organic Program certification governs whether you can market as organic. Operations selling $5,000 or less annually in organic products are exempt from having to certify, though they still have to follow organic production standards and cannot use the USDA organic seal.
• GAP and GHP audits are voluntary. USDA says so, and FDA says explicitly that a USDA audit is not a substitute for FDA or state inspection. If a buyer demands one, that is a commercial requirement, not a legal one. Plenty of growers are told otherwise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I sell about $20,000 of microgreens a year. Am I covered? A: No. That is below the $34,324 rolling average, so the Produce Safety Rule does not apply to your farm. You still cannot sell adulterated food, and your state licensing rules still apply independently of this.

Q: Does the $34,324 include my other vegetables? A: Yes. The test counts all produce sales, not just microgreens and not just covered produce. It does not count animal feed or processed foods sold through a farm market.

Q: I give a lot away to a food bank. Does that count against me? A: No. Donated produce has no sale value and does not count. But produce sold to a nonprofit or public institution at any price is a sale and does count.

Q: My microgreens are hydroponic. Does that make them sprouts? A: Not by itself. What matters is whether the crop reaches the true leaf stage and how it is harvested. Hydroponically grown sprouts are under Subpart M even cut without roots, so the growing method matters most when the crop is genuinely sprout-stage.

Q: Do I need a GAP audit to sell to a grocery store? A: Not legally. USDA's audit program is voluntary. A grocery buyer may require one contractually, which is common, but it is their requirement and not a federal rule.

Final thoughts

The federal picture for most microgreens growers is simpler than it looks: you are almost certainly under the cutoff, so the Produce Safety Rule does not apply to you, and the sprout rules do not apply to microgreens at all.

What that leaves is your state, and that is genuinely where the complexity lives. Cottage food law usually does not cover microgreens even though a lot of sites say it does, and what you actually need varies enormously between states. Start with your own state's rules.

If something on this page does not match what your state agency told you, tell me and I will check it. A page that is wrong about a rule is worse than no page.

Sources

Every claim above traces to one of these. All checked 6 August 2026.