Selling fish and seafood you catch in BC

1. 1

   Fisher vendor licence

   BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food

   Lets a commercial fisher sell their own catch straight off the boat, or to licensed shops and restaurants. It does not cover farmers’ markets or roadside sales.

   Cost:

   $30.

2. 2

   Seafood processor licence

   BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food

   If you process or pack fish for sale

   Needed to process fish — fillet, smoke, can, freeze or pack it — for sale, unless the processing is part of a restaurant or shop with a 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 permit. Also exempt: a commercial fisher who only bleeds, heads, guts, ices, freezes or packs their own catch at sea; a business with a federal processing licence; a freshwater fish farm; and processing a sport fisher’s catch that goes back only to them.

3. 3

   Letter of Confirmation for higher-risk food at markets

   Island Health

   For selling frozen fish at markets

   Before you sell a higher-risk foodHigher-risk foodFood that bacteria can grow in, or produce toxins in, unless it is kept cold or hot — meat, fish, dairy, eggs, cut fruit, most cooked meals. The law calls it “potentially hazardous food”. It must come from an approved kitchen, never a home one.All terms in the glossary at a farmers’ market — for example anything from an approved kitchenApproved kitchenA kitchen Island Health has approved to make food for sale: its plans were approved before it was built, and it holds an operating permit or approval. A home kitchen is not one, unless it is a separate kitchen that went through the same approval.All terms in the glossary 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 each product and confirms it in writing. If you run the kitchen it comes from, your own permit does instead.

   Time:

   Apply at least 30 days before the market; plan on about 14 days to process.

4. 4

   Federal food labels

   CFIA and Health Canada rules

   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 food needs a common name, net quantity, ingredients and allergens, your name and a physical address (a website doesn’t count), 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 lot code or other identifier that tells batches apart, 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. 5

   Safe Food for Canadians licence

   Canadian Food Inspection Agency

   Only if you sell to other provinces

   Needed to make, process, pack or label food that goes to another province, and to import food; a business that only exports needs one just to get a CFIA export certificate. Not needed for food made and sold only in BC, nor by a restaurant or caterer sending food straight to its customers.

   Time:

   Valid two years.

6. 6

   Registering your business name

   BC Registries

   Trading under your own name needs no registration. Any other name means reserving it and registering within 3 months of first using it; a partnership registers within 3 months of forming. Incorporating is the alternative, and only a corporation, co-op or society gets exclusive use of its name.

   Cost:

   Name request $30 (reserved 56 days); sole proprietorship or partnership registration $40; incorporation $350, then a $43.39 annual report.

What you can sell

More for farms

• Farmgate & Farmgate Plus licence
• Quota & flock limits
• Farm stands, u-pick & agritourism
• Abattoirs on the Island
• Coming up for farms