Can I sell vinegar pickles in BC?

Made in your home kitchen

• At a farmers’ market

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

  Yes, if

  It is lower-risk only when it meets the conditions below; then you can make it at home for a farmers’ market.

  • It is vinegar-based and tests at pH 4.6 or below.
  • Sold in person at a market that has a market manager.
  • A sign at your table says the food was made in a kitchen that is not inspected by a health authority.
  • Packaged and labelled: the food’s common name, ingredients and allergens, net quantity, your name and a physical address, and a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less (doughnuts excepted). French is also needed unless you sell only in your own municipality and the ones next to it. A Nutrition Facts table isn’t needed while you sell it only at markets yourself and make no nutrition or health claim.

• At a festival or event

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

  No

  Island Health does not allow home-prepared food at fairs, festivals or other events; food prepared ahead must come from an approved kitchen. Markets with a market manager — farmers’ markets, craft and Christmas markets — are the exception.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  No

  The home-kitchen allowance covers farmers’ markets only. The guideline says it “does not mean you can sell this food from home”.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  No

  The home-kitchen allowance covers selling at a farmers’ market, not online orders or delivery. Selling any other way needs a kitchen approved by the health authority, and BC requires that kitchen to be separate from your living quarters. Make it in a kitchen approved by Island Health — your own, or rented time in a shared kitchen with your own approval. Taking an order ahead that the customer collects at your market stall isn’t addressed by the guideline — ask your market manager.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  No

  The home-kitchen allowance covers farmers’ markets only; the guideline says it “does not automatically confer approval for sale at retail/commercial food stores”. Selling to a shop, café or restaurant needs a kitchen approved by the health authority, and a home kitchen can’t be one.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  No

  Food made in a home kitchen may only be sold at farmers’ markets in BC.

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

  Lower-risk food from an approved kitchen can be sold at a farmers’ market without applying to the health authority — as long as it meets the conditions that keep it lower-risk.

  • It is vinegar-based and tests at pH 4.6 or below.
  • Otherwise it counts as higher-risk and needs Island Health’s review before a market.
  • Packaged and labelled: the food’s common name, ingredients and allergens, net quantity, your name and a physical address, and a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less (doughnuts excepted). French is also needed unless you sell only in your own municipality and the ones next to it. A Nutrition Facts table isn’t needed while you sell it only at markets yourself and make no nutrition or health claim.

• At a festival or event

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

  Yes, if

  Sealed, packaged food from an approved kitchen needs no permit at an event — Island Health calls that a product booth. Serving, sampling or portioning it there does.

  • Sold prepackaged and labelled, with no open food or samples. The event coordinator lists your booth and confirms your kitchen’s approval; some coordinators still ask every vendor for Island Health’s application form.
  • Serving, sampling or portioning at the event needs a Temporary Food Service Permit from Island Health — apply at least 14 days ahead; it covers up to 14 days a year.
  • 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 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.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Yes, if

  An approved kitchen can sell from its own premises.

  • Your kitchen holds Island Health’s approval to operate — or an operating permit, if you serve food for immediate eating (restaurant, take-out, catering).
  • Your food safety plan and sanitation plan, approved by Island Health, cover the foods you sell and how you store and transport them.
  • You sell from the approved premises. Selling from your home instead is limited to prepackaged food that doesn’t need refrigeration.
  • Packaged food carries a label: its common name, net quantity, your name and address, and, if it keeps 90 days or less, the packing date and how long it keeps. Food made and packed where you sell it needs no Nutrition Facts table.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Yes, if

  An approved kitchen can sell online and deliver — BC’s rules cover how food is handled, stored and transported, not which way the order arrives.

  • Your kitchen holds Island Health’s approval to operate — or an operating permit, if you serve food for immediate eating (restaurant, take-out, catering).
  • Your food safety plan and sanitation plan, approved by Island Health, cover the foods you sell and how you store and transport them.
  • 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 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.
  • CFIA hasn’t said how the one-language rule for local food applies to deliveries — check before relying on it.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  Yes, if

  Shops and restaurants may buy from an approved kitchen.

  • Your kitchen holds Island Health’s approval to operate.
  • 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 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.
  • Food you sell to a café or restaurant to cook with or serve needs no Nutrition Facts table.

• 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 licence 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 date 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 pickles & canned vegetables, or every food, A to Z.

Businesses that sell it