Fruit, vegetables & microgreens
Can I sell microgreens (live, in their growing medium) in BC?
Whole, uncut fruit and vegetables are lower-risk. Once they are cut, sprouted or juiced they need a fridge and become higher-risk — and that includes cut microgreens.
A new guideline would change this
Grown or raised on your farm
At a farmers’ market
A market with a market manager — farmers’ markets, Christmas markets, craft fairs
Yes, ifIt is on the guideline’s list of lower-risk foods.
- Sold in person at a market with a market manager.
- Prepackaged 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, ifLive microgreens still in their growing medium are whole fresh vegetables, and premises that sell only whole fresh produce are outside BC’s Food Premises Regulation.
- Uncut, still in the growing medium — cut microgreens need refrigeration and an approved facility.
From your door, shop or farm gate
Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it
Yes, ifLive microgreens still in their growing medium are whole fresh vegetables, and premises that sell only whole fresh produce are outside BC’s Food Premises Regulation.
- Uncut, still in the growing medium — cut microgreens need refrigeration and an approved facility.
Online, with pickup or delivery
Orders taken online, by message or by phone
Yes, ifLive microgreens still in their growing medium are whole fresh vegetables, and premises that sell only whole fresh produce are outside BC’s Food Premises Regulation.
- Uncut, still in the growing medium — cut microgreens need refrigeration and an approved facility.
To shops, cafés & restaurants
Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store
Ask firstThe market guideline covers selling this at a farmers’ market. How BC’s food rules apply to selling it anywhere else isn’t spelled out — ask Island Health.
To customers outside BC
Shipping or selling across a provincial border
Yes, ifFresh fruit and vegetables sent to another province come under federal produce rules — lighter on labels than made food, stricter on grades.
- A Safe Food for Canadians licence if you pack and label it in a facility; growing, harvesting, sorting and trimming need none.
- Graded and labelled with the grade, in standard container sizes. Blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, cantaloupes, crabapples and field rhubarb need no grade.
- Label: the common name, net quantity, your name and address, in English and French. No Nutrition Facts table, ingredient list or best-before date.
- 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.
- A written preventive control plan once your food sales pass $100,000.
The rules behind these answers
Sources
- Guideline for the Sale of Foods at Temporary Food Markets(p. 8 · Appendix I, Lower Risk Foods)BC Centre for Disease Control · August 2020 revision
- Planning Guide for Temporary Events and Food Markets(p. 1 · Temporary Food Markets)Island Health · Revision date April 2026
- Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, SOR/2018-108(s. 214)Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2025-09-19)
- Food Premises Regulation, B.C. Reg. 210/99(s. 2(e))Province of British Columbia (BC Laws) · Current to September 22, 2026 (last amended October 27, 2025)
- Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, SOR/2018-108(s. 306 — grading for interprovincial trade)Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2025-09-19)
- Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, SOR/2018-108(s. 7(2))Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2025-09-19)
- Food business activities that require a licence under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations(Sections 3.2 and 5)Canadian Food Inspection Agency · Date modified 2024-11-20
- Food and Drug Regulations, C.R.C., c. 870(B.01.401(2)–(3), (7))Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2026-06-17)
- Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, SOR/2018-108(s. 87)Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2025-09-19)
- Excise Tax Act, Schedule VI, Part III (Basic Groceries) and s. 148 (small supplier)(s. 148 and Schedule VI, Part III)Government of Canada (Justice Laws) · Current to 2026-09-03 (last amended 2026-06-18)
How it’s classified
In force — 2020 guideline
Sources
- Guideline for the Sale of Foods at Temporary Food Markets(p. 8 · Appendix I, Lower Risk Foods)BC Centre for Disease Control · August 2020 revision
Proposed — 2026 draft
- Uncut, still in the growing medium.
Sources
- Guideline for the Sale of Foods at Temporary Food Markets in British Columbia (draft)(p. 22 · Appendix I, Lower Risk Foods)BC Centre for Disease Control · 2026 draftDraft
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