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 Provincial Processing and Distribution 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.
Alternative text: 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. A few zoomed icons indicate food safety tips for consumers at the farmers’ market.
