Changes slated to farm gate sales regulations in British Columbia

The New Democratic Party recently presented an amendment to the Food Safety Act (Bill M 205 - 2009), which, if passed, would have allowed for the sale of locally produced meat to local consumers at the farm gate, by exempting farm gate sellers from the licensing requirements of the Meat Inspection Regulation. 

Unfortunately, this bill, as presented, is unlikely to be debated in the legislature since it was brought forward just before the session ended. Even without the debate, this bill has had an impact.  There is now the very real possibility that the Liberals will bring forward their own amendments to the Meat Inspection Regulation in the next session (the Throne Speech is scheduled for February).

The changes will only happen if Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly hear from their constituents. We need to send a loud and clear message, demanding changes to the regulation. Our goal is to have each MLA receive at least 25-50 emails. We encourage you to send the following email to your MLA and cc the Minister of Agriculture, Steve Thomson, and the Minister of Healthy Living and Sport, Ida Chong. Attached is a list of MLAs with the key ridings highlighted in red.


Dear Honourable ________

I fully support an amendment to the Meat Inspection Regulation exempting farm gate sellers from current licensing requirements.

At the very least, the amendment should modify the level of inspection so as to keep small scale processing and production financially viable.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOUR LOCAL FARMERS, FOOD SECURITY ADVOCATES, AND FOOD SYSTEM SUPPORTERS! If you are willing to act as a contact in your area and coordinate the dispersal of this message, please reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it             Thank you!