In Florida, you can purchase several different types of alcoholic food products. These foods can be jello shots, ice cream, popsicles and any other solid food containing alcohol. However, since these foods aren’t liquids, they don’t fall under the category of alcoholic beverages, and thus Florida law regulates them differently than regular alcoholic drinks.
Florida law forbids adulterated foods
The Florida Beverage Law only applies to alcoholic drinks in a liquid state. Since alcoholic food products are solids, they fall under the same regulations that govern food safety and purity.
Florida law defines adulterated foods as foods that contain substances that could be harmful. It’s against the law to sell adulterated foods. Under certain circumstances, alcoholic food products might qualify as adulterated food, and thus you cannot sell them.
If a product contains less than 0.5% alcohol by volume derived from flavoring extracts, then it is not adulterated, and the law does not apply to it. If the product contains up to 5% alcohol by volume, it could qualify as adulterated unless all of the following exceptions apply:
- It’s not sold to people under 21 years old;
- It’s properly labeled;
- It’s in a solid state at the time of sale; and
- It’s sold by someone with proper licenses to sell alcohol, or by the manufacturer.
The takeaway
What this means is that an alcoholic food product, such as alcohol-infused “poptails,” do not count as adulterated under Florida law unless they’re sold to a minor, the manufacture didn’t label them correctly or someone without a license sells them.
Since most alcoholic food products are not cooked, the amount of alcohol in the final product depends upon the amount of alcohol used in the manufacturing process. If you are considering marketing an alcoholic food product, it is important to ensure that your product’s alcohol content remains below 5% in order to avoid violating the law.