The owner of a North Park craft ice-cream shop is frustrated with a lack of answers after she was told to stop selling her products in retail shops despite more than a decade in the wholesale business.
As of Oct. 1, Autumn Maxwell, owner of Cold Comfort Ice Cream, is no longer selling pints of her ice cream in the more than 20 Greater Victoria stores that have stocked them. The change will affect about a quarter of her business, she said. “It’s frustrating. It makes me feel pretty powerless.”
She will continue to sell vegan ice cream in stores, as the products are dairy-free and unaffected by the regulations in question.
The end to wholesale for Maxwell came after Island Health contacted her this year to let her know that selling her products in retail stores does not comply with provincial legislation regulating dairy products.
Maxwell, who started Cold Comfort in 2010, said she wasn’t given a deadline to come into compliance.
The issue came to a head, however, when the health authority granted the business a permit to sell products at Rifflandia Music Festival this year, but warned Maxwell not to expect a permit for future events until she stopped selling wholesale.
Maxwell said she hasn’t been given an explanation for the rule.
“I would like to hear from somebody in the Ministry of Health or whoever is responsible for the Milk Industry Act, why, after 10 years of selling wholesale to local independent stores around Victoria with zero health issues, why, all of a sudden, is it not allowed?”
Businesses making ice cream for wholesale must meet food safety requirements and obtain a dairy plant licence through the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food said in a statement.
A 2019 exemption to the rule — intended to make it easier for small businesses, such as restaurants, to make and serve their own dairy products — allows businesses that are not licensed as a dairy plant to sell their own products if they’re for immediate consumption, or if they use dairy products from a licensed plant, the ministry said.
Cold Comfort is not licensed as a dairy plant and sells ice cream from its storefront and in more than 20 stores in Greater Victoria. Island Health said it has been working with Maxwell for several months to bring the business into compliance.
But to continue selling ice cream in stores, Maxwell said she would have to ditch her recipes that use locally sourced and organic products and instead add her own flavours to a pre-made mixture that comes from a licensed dairy plant.
That’s not something she’s willing to do.
“It’s someone else’s recipe. It would be a different product that I’m selling,” she said. “My business is so successful because it’s built on these recipes that I’ve made up over the years, and they’re all a little bit different. And they all have pretty basic but high-quality ingredients in them.”
Maxwell uses Avalon heavy whipping cream, the only organic option in B.C., and sources eggs from Lockwood Farms in Cobble Hill, where she says chickens are treated humanely.
While making custard to use for her ice cream, Maxwell heats the eggs beyond the temperature required to kill food-borne pathogens, essentially pasteurizing the eggs, she said.
She values where the ingredients come from and isn’t interested in using a pre-made mixture, Maxwell said.
Questions about the purpose of the rule, potential health risks and why the issue is only coming up now were referred by Island Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, which did not respond to questions from the Times Colonist.
Milk and dairy are considered high-risk products because they can harbour dangerous pathogens, and milk products rich in protein allow pathogens to multiply quickly, according to information provided by Island Health and attributed to the B.C. CDC.
Food-safety standards in restaurants and other small businesses are not as high as in a dairy plant. These smaller businesses are not required to have a food-recall plan in place or conduct regular pathogen testing, the statement said.
“Therefore, in order to protect public health, there are limits on either the ingredients within the products or the distribution of the products.”
While Maxwell has been selling wholesale for more than a decade, she ramped up that side of her business during the pandemic. Selling ice cream in retail stores helps her stay open through the winter, when business slows down, Maxwell said.
“Why is it safe in our store for immediate consumption, but not when it’s in a store down the street from us?”
She hopes customers will visit the North Park storefront, where she continues to sell ice-cream sandwiches, pints and other products.
An Ontario ice cream shop was similarly ordered to stop selling wholesale products last year. The Merry Dairy in Hintonburg was told by the province’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to suspend wholesale operations because it is not a licensed dairy plant, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
In a statement, B.C. Agriculture and Food Minister Pam Alexis suggested changes to the legislation are possible.
“While the rules around dairy processing have been in place for many years, I know that many people are big fans of small local ice cream shops. I am too,” Alexis said. “We will be taking a look at those rules to see if there are opportunities to make things easier for small businesses while continuing to maintain the high standards of quality and safety people expect.”
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