Can I sell milk, cheese, yogurt, butter & ice cream in BC?

Made in a licensed dairy plant

• At a farmers’ market

  A market with a market manager — farmers’ markets, Christmas markets, craft fairs

  Yes, if

  Yes, once Island Health has reviewed it. Outside the café and prepared-mix exceptions, every dairy product sold in BC must be made in a licensed dairy plant, and at a market it’s a higher-risk foodHigher-risk foodFood that bacteria can grow in, or produce toxins in, unless it is kept cold or hot — meat, fish, dairy, eggs, cut fruit, most cooked meals. The law calls it “potentially hazardous food”. It must come from an approved kitchen, never a home one.All terms in the glossary that must stay at 4°C or colder. Dairy made anywhere else — including an approved kitchenApproved kitchenA kitchen Island Health has approved to make food for sale: its plans were approved before it was built, and it holds an operating permit or approval. A home kitchen is not one, unless it is a separate kitchen that went through the same approval.All terms in the glossary — can’t be sold packaged at a market.

  • Made in a licensed dairy plant.
  • If you run the dairy plant, bring a copy of its licence; otherwise a Letter of ConfirmationLetter of Confirmation (LOC)Island Health’s written OK to sell a higher-risk food at a farmers’ market. It confirms each product was made in an approved kitchen, and you carry it at your table.All terms in the glossary from Island Health — apply at least 30 days ahead.
  • Kept at 4°C or colder.

• At a festival or event

  Fairs, festivals, sports events, fundraisers — anything that is not a market

  Ask first

  Maybe — Island Health decides booth by booth. At fairs and festivals, food that needs refrigeration must come from an approved premises and be kept at 4°C or colder; a booth that only hands it over sealed, as packed, is a “product booth”, while cutting, cooking or offering samples needs a Temporary Food Service PermitTemporary food service permitIsland Health’s permit to cook or serve food at a fair, festival or other event, or to cook or sample higher-risk food at a market. Apply at least 14 days ahead.All terms in the glossary. Ask Island Health before you book (event applications are due 14 days ahead) — or sell at a farmers’ market, where the rules are written down.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Yes, if

  Yes. The Milk Industry Act says every dairy product sold in BC must be pasteurised and made in a licensed dairy plant — once it is, it can be sold from your farm or shop like other approved food. The one unpasteurised exception is cheese aged at least 60 days.

  • Made in a licensed plant, from milk produced on a certified dairy farm.
  • Raw-milk cheese only if kept at 2°C or warmer for at least 60 days from the start of making.
  • Kept at 4°C or colder.
  • Packaged food carries the federal label: its common name, ingredients and allergens, net quantity, your name and a physical address, a best-before dateDurable life (best-before date)How long an unopened food keeps its quality when stored properly. Packaged food that keeps 90 days or less must show a best-before date.All terms in the glossary if it keeps 90 days or less, a lot code, a Nutrition Facts table, and a front-of-pack “High in” symbol if it is high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium. French is also needed unless it is sold only in your own municipality and the ones next to it.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Yes, if

  Yes, with pickup or delivery anywhere in BC. Licensed-plant dairy sells like other approved packaged food; what matters is keeping it at 4°C or colder all the way to the customer.

  • Made in a licensed dairy plant.
  • Kept at 4°C or colder, in transit too.
  • Packaged food carries the federal label: its common name, ingredients and allergens, net quantity, your name and a physical address, a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less, a lot code, a Nutrition Facts table, and a front-of-pack “High in” symbol if it is high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium. French is also needed unless it is sold only in your own municipality and the ones next to it.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  Yes, if

  Yes. A licensed dairy plant is an approved source, so shops, cafés and restaurants can buy from it.

  • Made in a licensed dairy plant.
  • Kept at 4°C or colder in transit.
  • Packaged food carries the federal label: its common name, ingredients and allergens, net quantity, your name and a physical address, a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less, a lot code, a Nutrition Facts table, and a front-of-pack “High in” symbol if it is high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium. French is also needed unless it is sold only in your own municipality and the ones next to it.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  Yes, if

  Only with a federal licence. A BC dairy plant licence covers sales inside BC; making dairy products for customers in another province needs a Safe Food for Canadians licenceSafe Food for Canadians licence (SFC licence)CFIA’s licence for making, processing, packing or labelling food that goes to another province, and for importing food. Food made and sold only in BC doesn’t need one.All terms in the glossary from CFIA.

  • A Safe Food for Canadians licence to process or manufacture dairy products.

Made in a kitchen approved by Island Health

• At a farmers’ market

  A market with a market manager — farmers’ markets, Christmas markets, craft fairs

  Yes, if

  Yes, if you serve it on the spot. The restaurant exception applies to any food service booth that makes dairy treats from licensed milk and serves them for immediate eating, and soft-serve from a licensed plant’s mix is exempt too. Packaged dairy for customers to take home must come from a licensed dairy plant.

  • A Temporary Food Service Permit (or your mobile unit’s permit), applied for at least 14 days ahead.
  • Licensed milk or mix.
  • Made at the booth, or in your own kitchen and brought over without being sold.
  • Served to eat now.

• At a festival or event

  Fairs, festivals, sports events, fundraisers — anything that is not a market

  Yes, if

  Yes, if you serve it on the spot. The restaurant exception applies to any food service booth that makes dairy treats from licensed milk and serves them for immediate eating, and soft-serve from a licensed plant’s mix is exempt too. Packaged dairy for customers to take home must come from a licensed dairy plant.

  • A Temporary Food Service Permit (or your mobile unit’s permit), applied for at least 14 days ahead.
  • Licensed milk or mix.
  • Made at the booth, or in your own kitchen and brought over without being sold.
  • Served to eat now.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Yes, if

  Yes, if you serve it to be eaten now. A restaurant or café that makes ice cream, yogurt, paneer or other dairy from licensed milk isn’t treated as a dairy plant, as long as it hands the product straight to customers for immediate eating, here or to go. Tubs for the home freezer probably aren’t “immediate eating”, and anything packed for another shop is excluded — make those in a licensed dairy plant.

  • Milk ingredients from a licensed dairy plant.
  • Made in this kitchen, or in another kitchen you run and moved here without being sold.
  • Served directly to customers to eat now, on or off your premises.
  • Not packaged for sale by another shop.
  • Your kitchen holds its Island Health operating permitOperating permitIsland Health’s permit to run a restaurant, café, food truck or other food service business. You get it after the pre-opening inspection, pay its fee each year, and post it where customers can see it.All terms in the glossary.
  • Soft-serve made only by running a licensed plant’s prepared mix through your freezer is exempt on its own.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Yes, if

  Yes, for takeout and delivery of food to be eaten now. The restaurant exception covers dairy served directly to customers for immediate eating, on or off your premises. Pints or tubs sold for the freezer probably don’t qualify — ask Island Health, or have them made in a licensed dairy plant.

  • Milk ingredients from a licensed dairy plant.
  • Served directly to customers to eat now.
  • Not packaged for sale by another shop.
  • Your kitchen holds its Island Health operating permit.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  No

  No. The restaurant exception stops at dairy “packaged in a manner that would make them suitable for … wholesale or retail from another food premisesFood premisesIn BC law, any place where food for the public is sold, prepared, packaged, stored, served or transported — a restaurant, a food truck, a bakery, a warehouse. The Food Premises Regulation sets the rules for all of them, with a few exceptions.All terms in the glossary” — that must be made in a licensed dairy plant. To supply shops or cafés, make it in a licensed dairy plant, your own or one that makes it for you.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  No

  No. Dairy made under the restaurant exception may only be served for immediate eating, and dairy for customers in another province must be made by a federally licensed processor. Use a dairy plant that holds a Safe Food for Canadians licence.

Milk from your own cows, goats or sheep

There is no farm-gate exemption for milk, the way there is for eggs. Milk from your own animals can be sold — at the farm gate or anywhere else — only from a certified dairy farm, and only once it has been pasteurised in a licensed dairy plant.

• Cow’s milk: selling any needs quota from the BC Milk Marketing Board — there is no small-herd exemption. The small-farm route is the board’s Cottage Industry Program: a small quota to process your own cows’ milk in your own licensed dairy plant on the farm, into products the board approves. On Vancouver Island that means cheese, yogurt and other made products; bottled milk is allowed only in remote regions, and the Island isn’t one.
• Goat and sheep milk: no quota, but the same rules apply — a certified dairy farm, and pasteurising in a licensed dairy plant before any sale.
• Raw (unpasteurised) milk can’t be sold from any animal, including through a herd or cow share. Cheese made in a licensed plant and aged at least 60 days is the one unpasteurised exception.

How it’s classified

More in dairy & egg dishes, or every food, A to Z.