Start a Food Business in Ontario (Permits, Safety)

01

Choose your food and your business model

In simple words

Some foods are easy to keep safe, like cookies and bread, because germs don't grow on them quickly. Other foods, like chicken or cream cakes, need the fridge and careful cooking. What you sell decides which rules you follow.

Key facts

In Ontario, home-based food businesses (for example private chefs and farmers' market vendors) are allowed to sell food in keeping with the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and the Food Premises Regulation (O. Reg. 493/17).
Changes that took effect January 1, 2020 made it easier to sell low-risk, home-prepared foods.
Low-risk foods are generally non-hazardous and don't require time and temperature control. Ontario's Ministry of Health examples include:
most breads and buns (without meat, cream filling, etc.)
most baked goods (with no custard)
chocolate, hard candies and brittles; fudge and toffees
granola, trail mix, nuts and seeds
cakes with icing that doesn't need refrigeration, brownies, muffins and cookies
coffee beans and tea leaves
Higher-risk foods (for example cooked meats, dairy-based desserts, cream fillings, cooked rice dishes) need temperature control and usually more requirements, such as a commercial or shared kitchen.
Common models: home-based low-risk baking, renting a commercial kitchen, catering, farmers' markets, pop-ups and food trucks. Each has its own permits; ask your public health unit and municipality before you spend money.

Step by step

List the 3 products you want to sell.
Compare each with the Ministry of Health's low-risk examples (breads, baked goods without custard, cookies, granola, candy, coffee beans, tea).
Write "low-risk" or "higher-risk" next to each.
If a product is higher-risk (cooked meat, dairy desserts, cream fillings, cooked rice), write down where you could make it, such as a rented commercial kitchen.
Choose your model: home-based low-risk baking, rented kitchen, catering, market, pop-up or food truck.
Check: each product has a risk label and a place to make it.

LESSON 01Choose your food and your business model

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:15

Voice

Read the video script

[Host in a kitchen holding a tray of cookies] "Before you print a single label, answer one question: is my food low-risk or higher-risk?"
[Text on screen: Low-risk = no time and temperature control needed] "Low-risk foods don't need a fridge to stay safe. Think bread, cookies, brownies, granola, hard candy."
[Screen: a cream cake and a tray of chicken] "Cream cakes, cooked meats and rice dishes are a different story. More rules, often a commercial kitchen."
[Host] "Since January 1, 2020, Ontario has made it easier to sell low-risk food made at home. But you still have to follow the rules."

Try it now

List the 3 products you want to sell. Next to each, write "low-risk" or "higher-risk" using the Ministry's examples. If any are higher-risk, write down where you could cook them (commercial kitchen, rented space).

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Start a Food Business in Ontario (Permits, Safety)" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Choose your food and your business model".

What the lesson teaches:
- In Ontario, home-based food businesses (for example private chefs and farmers' market vendors) are allowed to sell food in keeping with the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and the Food Premises Regulation (O. Reg. 493/17).
- Changes that took effect January 1, 2020 made it easier to sell low-risk, home-prepared foods.
- Low-risk foods are generally non-hazardous and don't require time and temperature control. Ontario's Ministry of Health examples include:
- most breads and buns (without meat, cream filling, etc.)
- most baked goods (with no custard)
- chocolate, hard candies and brittles; fudge and toffees
- granola, trail mix, nuts and seeds

The exercise I'm working on:
List the 3 products you want to sell. Next to each, write "low-risk" or "higher-risk" using the Ministry's examples. If any are higher-risk, write down where you could cook them (commercial kitchen, rented space).

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
4. This is for learning only. Remind me to check with a licensed professional before I make a real decision about my own money, health or legal situation.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Choose your food and your business model" from the course "Start a Food Business in Ontario (Permits, Safety)".

Here's what the lesson says:
Some foods are easy to keep safe, like cookies and bread, because germs don't grow on them quickly. Other foods, like chicken or cream cakes, need the fridge and careful cooking. What you sell decides which rules you follow.

The activity:
List the 3 products you want to sell. Next to each, write "low-risk" or "higher-risk" using the Ministry's examples. If any are higher-risk, write down where you could cook them (commercial kitchen, rented space).

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Keep it general and educational. This is not advice for a real situation.

Open Claude

Sources

Ontario Ministry of Health, A Guide to Starting a Home-based Food Business (November 2021): www.ontario.ca/files/2024-03/moh-guide-to-starting-home-based-food-bus
Ontario Regulation 493/17, Food Premises: www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/170493

My notes

I learned this

02