Raul - just some feedback on your post. Copackers are busy. They will copack for you, deal with the state, make your product to spec and with the consistency you need, but they won't hold your hand. Without knowing who you spoke to (not important) I will play devil's advocate and advise that consulting fees are what they are. And the more you know, the less the copacker has to educate/work with you. I'm not saying they're not trying to rip you off, I'm just saying they probably aren't.
The more you educate yourself about the process, ingredient selection, have your recipes in gram weight for easy scaling, understand costs, minimum batch sizes, sourcing, etc, the better off you will be in working with a copacker.
Some of your post is confusing to me. It's not the FDA that must approve your product, it's the state process authority - you can contact your local health dept and they will happily provide guidance. Bear in mind they're not consultants either and they will not hold your hand. But you can get a call with a lead health inspector and they will answer your questions. Be prepared and use that call to the fullest effect - ask about label requirements, ask about whether you need a nutrition panel for your scale of operation or not (think about how many bottles you'll make/sell) - ask about pH and all that.
The more you know there, the better position you're in all around, regardless of whether you are in a co-pack situation or not.
That was how I started and the county inspectors were most helpful. It's a great place to start, and while the follow up from you will be homework of reading through extremely dry pdf's on the ca.gov website (or wherever they steer you) at least you'll have that guidance.
The copacker is going to charge you for services rendered, whether that's educating/working with you on the process of creating a food product, or actually manufacturing that food product. If you take care of the former without them, they'll be a better value in handling the latter. And from experience I can say that they will be more willing to work with a new start-up if you sound like you know what you're doing.
I would also advise you to consider scale. Copackers are big - they want big customers and they often have big kettles. They will want a big minimum size batch. If you're planning on going "all in" on salsa, copacker might well be best for you. If you're instead going to dip your toes in the water or it's intended as a side business while you work full time, or you want to start small and work your way up, look into renting commercial kitchen space.
There are a couple of options - 1. commercial kitchen, shared space, under the guidance of a certified kitchen manager/licensed canner (for hot pack or shelf-stable product). 2. restaurant space you can rent in the off-hours.
Advantages & disadvantages of both. The former is great because they'll likely have refrigeration space (fresh salsa) or storage space (jarred salsa) for rent to hold your product while it awaits inspection by the county/state inspector. The latter is great because it's likely cheaper and more flexible on when and how many minimum hours you can rent it. But with the latter you will need to become that CKM because there will be no one supervising - that education takes time & some cost. In either case your product may or may not be subject to inspection/sequestration/release process. You'll need to talk to the PA about that.
But that's all wagon ahead of the horse stuff. 1st step is to contact your county health dept and have a conversation - you'll learn more and more targeted "next steps" from that conversation than you would from reading 100 threads on here. Not that the threads aren't great - but why focus on a million details when you're looking for a few first steps? DBA, business license, process. Those should be your priorities.
And as a last bit of advice, stop selling illegal sauce. The fines could be crippling, and you're putting people's health at risk. Cover your ass - do not sell an illegal food product to anyone, even if they're a friend or family or a family friend. You can be shut down permanently in the best case and you can kill someone with botulism in the worst case. Regardless the case, get legal, get insured, and sell not a single drop until then. That is the best advice I can give you at this moment.
good luck in your endeavor!
. I have a tendency to get caught up in the marketing part because I just find it so fun and interesting (my parents say I used to do my own thing during TV shows, then I shushed everyone and focused when the commercials came on... quoting along the way). Make no mistake though, I'm pumping out multiple versions of a limited number of sauces and copiously documenting ingredients. I'm always scanning for friends and family to provide feedback. Gonna have to do a forum give-away real soon. 
Raul
