Can I sell whole grains, flour & dry cereal in BC?

Grown or raised on your farm

• At a farmers’ market

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

  Yes, if

  It is on the guideline’s list of lower-risk foodsLower-risk foodFood that keeps safely at room temperature because it is too dry, too sugary or too acidic for bacteria to grow — bread, cookies, most jams, hard candy. It is the only kind a home kitchen may make for sale, and only for a farmers’ market.All terms in the glossary.

  • Sold in person at a market with a market managerMarket managerThe person in charge of a farmers’ market. They apply to Island Health for the market, keep the list of vendors and their foods, and check each vendor follows the provincial guideline. Without one, home-made food can’t be sold there.All terms in the glossary.
  • PrepackagedPrepackagedSealed in its package before it reaches the customer, the way it will be sold. Prepackaged food must carry the federal food label.All terms in the glossary and labelled: the common name, net quantity, your name and address.

• At a festival or event

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

  Yes, if

  Sealed, packaged food that doesn’t need refrigeration needs no permit at an event — Island Health calls that a product booth.

  • Prepackaged and labelled: the common name, net quantity, your name and address; no open food or samples.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Ask first

  A farm stand selling only whole produce and prepackaged food that doesn’t need refrigeration is outside BC’s 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 Regulation. Whether cleaning, milling or bagging grain on the farm needs Island Health’s approval isn’t spelled out — ask Island Health.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Ask first

  A farm stand selling only whole produce and prepackaged food that doesn’t need refrigeration is outside BC’s Food Premises Regulation. Whether cleaning, milling or bagging grain on the farm needs Island Health’s approval isn’t spelled out — ask Island Health.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  Ask first

  A farm stand selling only whole produce and prepackaged food that doesn’t need refrigeration is outside BC’s Food Premises Regulation. Whether cleaning, milling or bagging grain on the farm needs Island Health’s approval isn’t spelled out — ask Island Health.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  Yes, if

  Food made or packed in BC for customers in another province comes under federal rules as well as BC’s.

  • 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 — not needed by a restaurant, caterer or similar business sending food straight to its customers. For a bakery or maker shipping to a customer, CFIA’s own guidance is unclear; use its licensing tool or ask CFIA.
  • Packaged food carries the full federal label in English and French: 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 Nutrition Facts table, and a front-of-pack “High in” symbol where it applies.
  • Tax: you must register for GST/HST once your taxable sales (zero-rated groceries included) pass $30,000 over four quarters. A registered seller charges the delivery province’s rate — 13% HST in Ontario, for example — on taxable foods: candy, chocolate, chips and snacks, and sweet baked goods sold in packs of fewer than six. Most groceries (bread, jam, flour, produce) are zero-rated everywhere.

How it’s classified

More in grains, dried fruit, tea, coffee & noodles, or every food, A to Z.

Businesses that sell it