Food label and sign maker for farmers’ markets

For food you make and sell yourself at a farmers’ market. Fill in the form, check the preview, and print a sheet of labels on standard sticker paper — or the table sign. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Your label

The name people know it by. Jam, jelly and marmalade have recipe standards behind the name.

Order by weight before mixing. Spices and herbs may go last as “spices” or “herbs”. One ingredient? No list needed.

Allergens in it

Printed as a “Contains” line that must name every one — including any already in the ingredients. Sulphites count when added at 10 ppm or more.

Common allergens

Tree nuts — tick each one

Gluten and sulphites

Only for something that may get in by accident — never for an ingredient you add.

The food alone, without the jar or bag. These labels print it 5 mm tall — enough for a jar; a package whose main face is bigger than about 16 × 16 cm needs 6.4 mm.

At least your city and province; a street address is better. Not a website or phone.

Printed the official way: year, month code, day — “26 OC 15”.

Needed when it must be kept somewhere other than room temperature.

Anything that tells your batches apart — the day you made it works.

Preview

  • Add the food’s common name — what people call it, like “Strawberry jam”.
  • Add the net quantity — weigh or measure the contents without the jar or bag.
  • Add your name and at least your city and province. A website or phone number doesn’t count.
  • Add a batch code, such as the date you made it, so a batch can be traced if there is a problem.

Food name

Your name, City, BC

Print at 100% (“Actual size”), not “Fit to page”. Put the label on the side or top, never only the bottom.

The table sign

BC’s market guideline recommends a sign, clearly visible at your table, saying your food was made in a kitchen that isn’t inspected — and Island Health holds markets to that guideline. This is its suggested wording; similar wording is fine.

What goes on the label, and why

Selling PrepackagedSealed 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 food you made yourself at a farmers’ market means one less thing: no Nutrition Facts table and no front-of-pack “High in” symbol — unless the label or your advertising makes a nutrition or health claim. The rest of the federal label still applies:

  1. 1. The food’s common name

    What people call it — “Strawberry jam”, “Sourdough bread” — on the main face of the package.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  2. 2. Ingredients, heaviest first

    Headed “Ingredients:” in bold, each one capitalised and separated by commas, in order of weight before mixing. Spices and herbs may go last as “spices” or “herbs”. A one-ingredient food needs no list.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  3. 3. Allergens, gluten and sulphites

    Name them in the ingredients or in a bold “Contains:” line right after the list. If you use “Contains:”, it must name every one, even those already in the list. Tree nuts are named one by one, and fish and shellfish by species. “May contain:” is optional and only for accidental traces.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  4. 4. Net quantity

    The food alone, in grams or millilitres — kilograms or litres from 1,000. The numbers are bold, and their minimum height grows with the package: 3.2 mm on a typical jam jar, 6.4 mm once the main face is over 258 cm² (about 16 × 16 cm), more on bigger packages.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  5. 5. Your name and where you are

    At least your city and province. A website, email or phone number doesn’t count.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  6. 6. A best-before date, if it keeps 90 days or less

    Written as year, month code, day — “26 OC 15” — after “Best before”. Add how to store it if that isn’t room temperature. You decide how long your food keeps.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  7. 7. A batch (lot) code

    Anything that tells one batch from another, such as the date you made it. The federal traceability rules ask for it on food sold to the public, and ask sellers to keep records of where their food came from for two years — a batch log with each code and where you bought the ingredients is the simple way to keep them.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  8. 8. English and French — unless you sell locally

    Everything goes in both languages, unless you sell only in your own municipality and the ones next to it. Your name and address can be in one language either way.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

  9. 9. Type big enough to read

    At least 1.6 mm tall (measured on a lower-case “o”), on the side or top of the package — never only the bottom.

    Where this comes from

    Sources

The maker lays out what you type; it can’t check that your food may be sold from a home kitchen. Check that on Can I sell it?, and see federal food labels for food sold any other way.
Where the exemptions come from

Sources

Where the sign comes from

Sources

Last checked 8 October 2026. We check this guide regularly against Island Health, provincial and municipal sources, but regulations and laws change often and we can’t guarantee it is complete or current. Confirm with Island Health and your municipality before you apply, build or sell.

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