Small scale farmers on the Sunshine Coast can now legally slaughter animals on their farms and sell the meat as the meat inspection regulation has recently changed.
The first meat is expected to be available in March or April.
Farmers who want to slaughter their own animals have to obtain a license, have to have experience with slaughter, take a course, complete a food safety plan, and have to be inspected. The first course started in Sechelt on Feb.1.
There are two types of licenses. Farmers with an E-license can sell the meat of up to 10 cows, 80 sheep, 1,800 chickens or four hogs a year directly to consumers. It is also known as a 'farm gate license'. These farmers are only allowed to slaughter their own animals.
Farmers with a class D license are allowed to slaughter up to 25 cows, 200 sheep, 4,500 chickens or 100 hogs a year. These animals can be from other farms as well.
Restaurants, butcher shops and meat departments of supermarkets within the Sunshine Coast Regional District, Town of Gibsons and District of Sechelt are legally allowed to sell the meat, but it must bear a label with the name of the farm and state that the meat can only be sold locally.
Supermarkets on the Sunshine Coast and the Butcher's Block Meat Market in Sechelt said this week they were not aware of the change in the regulation and therefore could not comment on to whether they were going to sell the meat.
However, Neil Clayton, manager of Clayton's Heritage Market in Sechelt said he would consider it.
"Our primary concerns are quality and safety. If these issues are addressed, I don't see why we wouldn't sell it," said Clayton.
The meat can also be sold at farmer's markets as long as it is frozen.
This new regulation is definitely a step in the right direction for animal welfare, said Alyssa Bell-Stoneman, the farm animal welfare co-ordinator with the SPCA.
'The animals no longer have to be transported to Vancouver to be slaughtered; they can stay in their own environment," she said. "And the person who slaughters them, is not in a rush because he has to slaughter so many animals per hour.
"In this new program, there is no on-site inspection of the actual slaughter, but the farmers are required to write down how they will ensure humane slaughter when they apply for their licenses. Humane slaughter is also part of the course they are required to take, and there will be follow-up courses on the topic."
See more about the new regulations at www.health.gov.bc.ca/protect/meat-regulation/.
