Can I sell meat from my own farm in Ontario?

In Ontario, selling meat from animals you raised is tightly controlled. O. Reg. 31/05 (Meat), made under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001, says no person shall sell a farm slaughtered carcass, part of one, or a farm slaughtered product. The regulation defines a farm slaughtered carcass as the carcass of a food animal slaughtered on the producer’s premises that has been approved to enter, and delivered to, a meat plant; section 3(1), below, separately bars selling meat not slaughtered at a licensed plant. This page covers Ontario only. Farmers elsewhere must check their own province’s rules.

What meat for sale must satisfy

Section 3(1) of the regulation says no person shall sell, transport, deliver or distribute a carcass, part or meat product from a food animal unless it meets listed conditions. They include that the animal was slaughtered at a licensed plant, either one licensed in Ontario or an establishment federally licensed under the Safe Food for Canadians Act. The meat must also be stamped with an inspection legend or labelled as the regulation requires. Subsection (2) exempts meat imported in accordance with the federal Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations, and the section has other exceptions, so read it before relying on this summary.

The family exception

Section 3(6) and (7) of the regulation let a producer distribute meat from an animal the producer owned and raised on the producer’s premises in limited cases. Among the conditions, the animal must be slaughtered for consumption by the producer or the producer’s immediate family. The meat must not be removed from the producer’s premises, and must be consumed only by the producer or immediate family there. This is not a route to selling to customers.

Licensing and where the meat can go

Section 4(1) of the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 says no person shall carry on a licensed activity, or operate premises where one is carried on, without a licence under that Act. Ontario’s Meat Inspection Program page says provincially licensed abattoirs can sell meat only within Ontario. Sending meat to another province is covered by section 10 of the federal Safe Food for Canadians Act, which prohibits sending or conveying a prescribed food commodity from one province to another unless the person is authorized by a registration, a licence or both, as provided for in the regulations.

If you are buying or selling a farm

A buyer or seller can ask which plant processes the animals and whether it holds the licence the rules require. For the business side of a processing operation, see buying a meat processing business in Canada.