Raw drinking milk is banned in Quebec, but it is the only province allowing raw milk cheese aged under 60 days and has Canada's largest artisan sector.
Quebec sits apart from the rest of Canada on raw dairy. Fluid raw milk is prohibited here on the same federal basis as everywhere else, but Quebec is the only province to have opened a legal route for raw milk cheeses that fall outside the national 60 day aging rule, and it has built a substantial artisanal sector on that opening.
Dairy is governed by the Food Products Act and the Regulation respecting food (P-29, r. 1), administered by the Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ). Every dairy product sold or distributed in Quebec must come from a dairy plant licensed by MAPAQ. Selling unpasteurized drinking milk to consumers is not permitted, and there is no herdshare or farm-direct exemption.
In 2008 Quebec amended its rules to allow the manufacture and sale of raw milk cheeses ripened for less than 60 days, a category prohibited under the federal cheese standards and unavailable in every other province. Section 11.6 of the Regulation respecting food sets the conditions, which apply to dairy plant operators preparing soft and semi-soft cheeses from unpasteurized milk and marketing them without the 60 day ripening period at 2°C or above. The trade-off is a materially stricter control regime, including monthly milk quality testing and veterinary inspection of the producing herds.
The framework sits in tension with the federal standard and has not been challenged by Health Canada. Quebec consequently produces short-ripened raw milk cheeses, including well known soft and semi-soft varieties from Île aux Grues and the Îles de la Madeleine, that cannot legally be replicated elsewhere in Canada.
There is no legal source of raw drinking milk in Quebec. The province is, however, the best place in Canada to buy raw milk cheese, offering both the aged styles legal nationwide and short-ripened raw milk cheeses available nowhere else in the country, sold through cheesemongers, farm shops and specialty grocers. For the national picture, see the Canada raw milk laws overview.
Official government documents and legal resources for Quebec
Quebec regulation under the Food Products Act governing dairy plant licensing and food standards. Section 11.6 sets the conditions under which raw milk cheeses ripened less than 60 days may be manufactured and sold, a category permitted nowhere else in Canada.
View Official Resource →The federal provision prohibiting the sale of unpasteurized milk nationwide since 1991. Subsection (2) exempts cheese, and food sold for further processing in order to pasteurize it.
View Official Resource →
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