There's No Free Trade in Cheese Trade

It makes sense. There are many things that can go wrong in cheese making, and everyone, including the cheese maker and the government, wants to ensure that products are made safely. As someone who eats cheese, I'm glad these safeguards are in place.

We have an odd dual system, however. When you start your dairy or cheese-making business, you can get a federal licence that is valid across Canada or a Provincial licence that is valid only in your province. The inspection process for both licences has slightly different criteria, but both are strict, with building and setup requirements and hygiene standards that must be met.

If you are a small maker, you might start with a Provincial license, thinking that selling within your province is as large as you are likely to get. What if that isn't the case? What if your cheeses are amazing and demand grows? You can't legally ship outside your home province, and neither can anyone else, like a distributor if you have one.

Sounds like the next step might be to apply for federal inspection and change your classification. Well, to do that, you would have to make quite a few renovations to your cheese-making setup. Are the changes necessary for safety? Not from what I understand. Just a different government body demanding different things from small businesses.

So now, you are at an impasse. You can't grow organically to sell in another province; you would have to commit to selling outside your province. Would the renovations and requirements for the Federal licenses be worthwhile? That's a big and costly decision to make.

I was just in Montreal for a food show, and I visited lots of nice people in cheese stores throughout the city. In their showcases, there were lots of cheeses that we can't buy in BC, because they are made in Québec by makers with a provincial license. There are cheeses like that in almost every province. I feel ripped off. We want to be able to buy everything made by Canadian cheese makers! 

It seems to me that if we have agreed that cheeses licensed to sell in BC are safe for people in BC to eat, then should they not also be safe for people in Nova Scotia to eat? Why do we have to make it so complicated for artisans in our country to grow and improve their business?

I realize ours is a big country in area, but our population isn't that huge. We should be able to transport goods between provinces without issue. We should all be able to share our beautiful Canadian-made products, whether that is cheese, wine or cured meats.

It's time for federal and provincial representatives to come together to make life simpler for our cheesemakers and other artisans. One set of standards is more than enough!