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Rules for Quebec · Last updated September 9, 2026

Quebec home-based food rules: what to check before selling

Quebec is the province that actually requires a permit. Cooking at home to sell means a MAPAQ permit, food safety manager training, and a monthly cap on what a residential kitchen may handle.

Make a Quebec label 
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Key takeaways
  • A MAPAQ restaurant or retail permit is required, posted where customers can see it.
  • Food safety manager training, direct sales only, and a monthly volume cap on a residential kitchen.
  • Everything on the product and its packaging must be in French.

What Quebec actually decides

Most Canadian provinces handle home baking with guidance and a local phone call. Quebec requires a permit. Cooking at home to sell means a MAPAQ restaurant or retail permit, food safety manager training, direct sales to the person eating the food, and a cap on how much a residential kitchen may handle each month. The permit is posted where customers can see it, and the permit number does not go on the label.

Quebec prescribes no home kitchen notice, so there is no sentence to print. The permit is what stands in for that reassurance, which is a different model from the disclaimer-based approach used across the border.

The language rule is not a formality and it is stricter than most people expect. Everything written on the product, its packaging and anything that comes with it must be in French. Another language may appear, but it can never stand out more than the French or be easier to read. That constrains layout, not just wording.

The federal rules still apply underneath: product name, ingredients, allergens, net quantity in metric, your name with city and province, and a best before date. No Nutrition Facts table is needed when you sell what you made yourself at a farmers market, a craft fair or a roadside stand.

The short version

what the rule is calledHome-based food guidance
when an inspector comesRoutine
annual sales limitNo cap

What you can sell in Quebec

Straight from the official record. Read these as categories rather than a menu, because one recipe can cross the line on its own: a filling that needs refrigeration, a pH that needs testing, or a process that needs an authority to sign it off.

  • Food made under a MAPAQ restaurant or retail permit, sold directly to the person eating it
  • Low-risk baking within the monthly volume a residential kitchen may handle
  • Jams, jellies and preserves

What is outside the rule

If your product is on this list, the answer is not "ask nicely". It is a different licence, a different kitchen, or both.

  • Anything made without the MAPAQ permit
  • Anything above the monthly volume cap for a residential kitchen
  • Sales that are not direct to the person eating the food
Up nextWhere you are allowed to sell it

Where you are allowed to sell it

The researched record lists direct sales, farmers markets, online orders, delivery.

One channel being open does not open the rest. Shipping, delivery and wholesale each turn on the product and where it is going, so check the route you actually plan to use.

Paperwork, training and inspections

The researched record does not list a general permit for this tier. The label record does not establish a province-wide permit. Check your local public health unit and municipality.

No training is recorded as universally required. Training varies by product and local authority. Confirm it before selling.

Routine is what the record says about inspections. Confirm what that means for your product and your local authority, because the two can differ.

Kitchen rules people miss

None of these fit on a label, which is exactly why they get skipped. Read them before the first batch, not after.

  • Cooking at home to sell requires a MAPAQ restaurant or retail permit, plus food safety manager training.
  • Sales are direct to the person eating the food, and a residential kitchen has a cap on how much it may handle each month.
  • The permit is posted where customers can see it. The permit number does not go on the label.
  • Everything written on the product, its packaging and anything that comes with it must be in French. Another language may appear but never more prominently.
  • The federal label rules apply underneath, and no Nutrition Facts table is needed for your own market sales.

What belongs on a Quebec label

Ministere de l’Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l’Alimentation du Quebec (MAPAQ), checked September 9, 2026

  1. 01Product name
  2. 02Ingredients by weight
  3. 03Allergens
  4. 04Metric net quantity
  5. 05Name and city
  6. 06Best before date
  7. 07Phone or email
  8. 08French first, English allowed
  9. No permit number. Required text at least 1.6 mm tall, the federal minimum, which is about 4.5 point. A Nutrition Facts table is usually not required for food you make and sell yourself; confirm it before you print.
Make a Quebec label

Start this weekend

In this order, so the label is the last thing you check and not the first thing you guess.

  1. Apply for the MAPAQ permit before anything else. This is the province that genuinely requires one.
  2. Do the food safety manager training. It comes with the permit, not instead of it.
  3. Design the label in French first. Another language may appear but never more prominently.
  4. Post the permit where customers can see it. It does not go on the label.
  5. Ask MAPAQ about the monthly volume cap for a residential kitchen before you scale a plan.

Nearby places

Nearby guides

Neighboring provinces and states look similar until the one difference that matters. Worth a read if you sell across a border, or if someone on the other side gave you advice.

Pairs well with

Keep going

ToolCottage food label makerTurn your recipe, allergens and required statement into a printable label.GuideCottage food business guideThe wider framework: product, kitchen, sales channel, label and local checks.GuideCottage food label requirementsEvery field a cottage food label needs, in the order to check them before you print.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Details were checked against public sources on September 9, 2026. Confirm current prices, policies, or provider instructions before relying on them.

Is this the whole Quebec rule?

No, and you should not treat it as one. This is the official source read carefully on September 9, 2026 and put in one place. Your city, your county, the market you sell at and your own product can each add a layer this page does not know about. Ministere de l’Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l’Alimentation du Quebec (MAPAQ) is the authority, not us.

Can I just use the label maker and skip this?

The label maker opens with the fields this jurisdiction requires, so it will get the sticker right. What it cannot do is tell you whether the recipe is allowed, whether your kitchen qualifies, or whether you can sell through the channel you had in mind. A correct label on a product you are not allowed to sell is still a problem.

Does the right label make me compliant?

No. The label is the last step and the most visible one, which is why it gets all the attention. The recipe, the kitchen, the training, the registration and the sales route all sit upstream of it, and any one of them can be the thing that is actually wrong.

More cottage food laws

Cottage food laws

Selling somewhere else too?

The rule changes with the kitchen, the product and the sales route. Pick another place to compare.

Free label maker

Rule in front of you? Make the label.

The label maker opens with these requirements already loaded. Build it, then read the finished sticker back against the official source before you print a full sheet.

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