Food Safety and Local Food
Safe food handling practices and procedures for local foods are required at every stage of food production to minimize food safety risks and prevent harm to consumers.
Food Safety Regulatory Pathways for Selling Local Food
Anyone who wants to market their local food products needs to meet applicable regulations depending where the food products will be sold.
- Manitoba Health is responsible for overseeing local food products that are sold only at farmers’ markets or at temporary markets. Refer to the external link to Farmers' Market Guidelines for additional information.
- Manitoba Agriculture is responsible for overseeing food processing for retail distribution. Refer to Food Safety Inspection for additional information.
Consumer Food Safety Tips When Buying Local at Farmers’ Markets
If you are a consumer, these are some questions that you could consider to help you assess food safety at a farmers’ market or local produce stand:
- Is the farmers’ market booth or local produce stand clean and tidy?
- Are hot foods kept and stored hot for sale?
- Are cold foods kept and stored cold for sale?
- If food samples are provided, are they pre-portioned to minimize customer handling?
- Are packaged processed foods properly labeled? Refer to the external link to the Farmers' Market Guidelines for additional information.
The diagram below shows some food safety tips for consumers at the Farmer’s Market.
Caption: A diagram of a farmers’ market showing two stands with produce and food displayed. A person stands behind each stand, while a customer stands in front holding produce in one hand and a basket of food items in the other. Icons indicate food safety tips for consumers at the farmers’ market, including keeping a tidy stand, hygenic sampling, perishable food stored cold or frozen, hot sample held at 60 degree celsius or higher, covering food samples, bringing insulated bags for perishable food, only handling food you intend to purchase, providing basic labelling on packaged food, and ensuring food is raised above the ground.
Useful Links
- On Farm Food Safety
- Manitoba Health
- Agri-Processing Food Safety
- Provincial Food Processing Facilities
- Provincial Abattoirs
- Direct Marketing your Food Products
- Eid-al-Adha at Manitoba's Permitted Abattoirs
- Food Safety for Consumers
Contact
If you have any questions or would like this information in an alternate format, email us at localfood@gov.mb.ca.
