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Selling home baking in Quebec
Home food businesses generally require a MAPAQ permit and food-safety training.
The lay of the land
- ✓Quebec has no low-risk exemption: selling any transformed food — bread and cookies included — requires a MAPAQ permit before your first sale. Only fresh, untransformed garden produce is permit-free.
- ✓The permit explicitly allows a home kitchen, with conditions — at most 100 kg of food handled per month, direct-to-consumer sales only (no stores, no wholesale), and the kitchen can't be doing family cooking at the same time it's producing for sale.
- ✓The permit you'll likely need is a “préparation générale” permit (restauration or vente au détail — MAPAQ confirms the exact category when you apply). Budget about $367/year plus a $144 first-time file-opening fee, and 2–6 weeks of processing.
- ✓Training is mandatory: the “Gestionnaire d'établissement alimentaire” hygiene-and-food-safety attestation — a 12-hour course with an exam, valid for life.
- ✓French comes first: the Charter of the French Language applies to your labels, packaging and marketing. And check your municipality's zoning before you apply.
The rules, by name
Loi sur les produits alimentaires (Food Products Act, P-29)
The law MAPAQ's food permits come from.
Permis de restauration et de vente au détail — “préparation générale”
The permit family for preparing and selling food, home kitchens included. Current fees are published on Québec.ca and indexed annually.
“Don et vente d'aliments frais ou cuisinés à la maison” (Québec.ca)
The province's plain-language page for selling home-cooked food — the 100 kg/month rule and home-kitchen conditions live here. Search the exact title.
Charte de la langue française
Labels, packaging and accompanying documents must be in French — with French at least as prominent as any other language.
What goes on your label
- ✓The federal basics apply: common name, full ingredient list in descending order, allergens called out.
- ✓Everything in French — product labels, packaging and marketing. A bilingual label is fine; the French can't be less prominent.
- ✓Your permit must be displayed where customers can see it — wherever you sell.
- ✓Your business name, contact info and a made-on date round out a label an inspector will smile at.
Who to contact
MAPAQ directly — they issue the permits and will confirm which category your bakery fits. Your municipality is the other call, for home-business zoning.
Copy-paste starter for your email:
“Hi, I'm planning to prepare and sell [items] from my home kitchen. Can you confirm which MAPAQ permit I need, what food-safety training is required, and what the conditions are for a home-based preparation permit? Thank you.”
Quick answers
Can I legally bake from my home kitchen?
Yes — with a MAPAQ permit. The home-kitchen conditions: no more than 100 kg of food handled per month, sell only directly to consumers, and don't use the kitchen for personal cooking during production. Above 100 kg/month you need a dedicated space.
How much does it cost to get started?
About $367/year for a préparation générale permit, plus a $144 file-opening fee the first time, plus the training course (fees set by the trainer). Fees are indexed — Québec.ca has current numbers.
Is the hygiene training really mandatory?
Yes. As a solo baker you take the 12-hour “Gestionnaire d'établissement alimentaire” course and pass the exam (the MAPAQ hygiene guide is allowed during the test). The attestation is valid for life.
Can I sell online with porch pickup?
Direct-to-consumer is exactly what the home-kitchen permit requires — pre-orders with pickup fit the model. What's prohibited is wholesale: no selling through grocery stores, cafés or other intermediaries.
Do my Instagram posts need to be in French?
Quebec's language rules cover commercial publications, and since 2025 they're stricter about product labelling and trademarks. Post in French (or bilingually, French first) and label in French — it's also just how you win Québécois customers.
Official sources
Last reviewed August 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at hello@ourcakewalk.com and we'll fix it.
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