Markets & events

How to sell at farmers’ markets on Vancouver Island

At a BC farmers’ market, lower-risk home-made foods need no health approval; higher-risk foods must come from an approved kitchen with a Letter of Confirmation; frozen meat and fish need licences and a letter too. The market must have a market manager, and most markets set their own insurance and vendor rules.

A change is coming

A new guideline for selling at farmers’ markets — proposed, no date set; it may not happen. What changes

Only want the steps that apply to you?

Answer a few yes-or-no questions and this list trims to your business. Build your checklist

What you need, in order

8 steps. Each links to its own page, with the forms and the rule behind it.

1
The “not inspected” sign at your market table
Market guideline
For home-made food
Home-made food at a market needs a sign the customer can see saying it was made in a kitchen that isn’t inspected. The 2020 guideline’s wording is “This food has been prepared in a kitchen that is not inspected by a regulatory authority”; equivalent wording is accepted.
2
pH or water-activity test from an accredited lab
A commercial food-testing laboratory
For foods with a pH condition
Proves a jam, pickle, salsa or other conditional food is lower-risk — usually pH 4.6 or below, or water activity 0.85 or below; an uncooked fresh-tomato salsa needs pH 4.2 or below. Your market manager or Island Health can ask you to prove it; when Island Health requires a test, use a commercial lab. Your own meter is fine while you develop a recipe and for routine quality checks. Re-test when the recipe changes.
3
Letter of Confirmation for higher-risk food at markets
Island Health
For higher-risk foods
Before selling a higher-risk food at a farmers’ market — for example anything from an approved kitchen that needs refrigeration, frozen meat or fish, dairy, or a shelf-stable higher-risk food such as a nut butter, flavoured oil or ferment — the health authority reviews the product and issues a letter. It covers in-person market sales only.
Time:
Apply at least 30 days before the market; plan on about 14 days to process.
4
Federal food labels
CFIA and Health Canada rules
Prepackaged food needs a common name, net quantity, ingredients and allergens, your name and a physical address (a website doesn’t count), a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less, a Nutrition Facts table, a front-of-pack “High in” symbol if it is high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium, and English and French — English-only is allowed for food sold only in the municipality where it’s made and its neighbours. Selling only at markets yourself removes the Nutrition Facts table and the front-of-pack symbol, unless the label makes a nutrition claim. There is no exemption for online sales, and a product may not be advertised online without a proper label.
5
MarketSafe
BC FOODSAFE Secretariat
OptionalRecommended; some markets require it
Food safety for farmers’ market, farm-gate and small-producer vendors. Not required by law and not equivalent to FOODSAFE Level 1, but some markets require it.
Cost:
$55 online.
6
Vendor liability insurance
Your insurer — most markets set a requirement
Each farmers’ market sets its own insurance rules, and many require vendors to carry their own liability insurance naming the market — sometimes also the business association, city and regional district — as an additional insured; BCAFM’s group insurance for markets does not cover vendors. James Bay Market requires $2 million for all food vendors, the only 2026 amount found (Oaklands Sunset Market’s 2025 handbook asked $1 million of food service vendors). BCAFM’s daily-rate vendor insurance through Duuo ends on November 30, 2026, with no replacement named yet; its annual group rate through Western Financial Group comes with the $75 BCAFM Vendor Membership and starts at $175 (the same page also says $160).
7
Temporary Food Service Permit
Island Health
Only for cooking or sampling higher-risk food on site
To prepare and serve food at a fair, festival or other event — including sampling or cooking higher-risk food at a market. Home-prepared food is not allowed.
Cost:
No permit fee if you operate 14 days or fewer in a fiscal year (April–March); a $50 administration fee for applications received less than 14 days before the event.
Time:
Apply at least 14 days ahead. Covers at most 14 days per calendar year.
8
Municipal business licence
Your municipality
Some markets hold one licence for all vendors
Business licences are issued by each municipality, and every one of the twelve checked requires one — home-based food businesses included. Fees differ: most charge about $100 a year for a home-based licence, Nanaimo $165, and Oak Bay $100 to $200 by type under new rules reported adopted in September 2026; Courtenay’s rises from $75 to $150 in 2027. Langford and Colwood charge once, and the licence then carries on. Mobile businesses can share one licence across municipalities — the Greater Victoria Inter-Municipal licence or the Vancouver Island Inter-Community licence ($170 on top of the local licence under the newest bylaws) — but the updated Inter-Community bylaw several municipalities have adopted excludes food trucks, carts and trailers — it starts once all participating municipalities have adopted it — and North Cowichan’s mobile food licence cannot be used intermunicipally.

What you can make at home to sell

At a farmers’ market, in person, with a sign saying your kitchen isn’t inspected. Anything else needs a kitchen approved by Island Health.

Can be made at home for a market (24)

Needs an approved kitchen (34)

Ask Island Health first (28)

Rules where you are

Business licences, zoning and home-business rules differ by municipality.

When you’re ready to sell

Selling on Local Pass

Your regulars see you once a week. On the Island Food Market they can order from you between markets.

For food from your farm or a commercial kitchen; home-kitchen food stays at the market table.

Your own storefront
A storefront on the Island Food Market, with every product on its own page, built to be found on Google.
Your units
Each product carries its own unit and price — by the dozen, the loaf, the bunch or the pound.
Delivery, shipping and pickup
Local Pass drivers or your own delivery, plus shipping and pickup points with their own hours.

How selling on Local Pass works No subscription — a fee on each sale.

Local Pass is a platform that connects Island businesses and customers through its app and website — it is not a regulator. Every seller is responsible for the permits, licences and labels their food needs, and this guide is here to help you work out which ones.