Food Businesses

Registering a Food Business

If you are planning to start a new business that involves the sale of food you must register your business with the Council at least 28 days before opening. The registration is a simple online process using the Gov.uk website. There is no cost to register a food business.

Register your business here

 

You need to tell the council about your food business premises 28 days before starting up. Premises include the ones you use for storing, selling, distributing or preparing food.

If you have premises in more than one local authority area, you must register with each authority.

You should register a mobile food vehicle with the local authority whose district you store your van in overnight.

Food businesses include:

• restaurants
• hotels
• cafes
• shops
• supermarkets
• staff canteens
• warehouses
• guest houses
• market and other stalls
• ice cream vans

Approval

Most food businesses will only need registration. If you are operating a business producing and/or supplying products of animal origin to other food businesses, you may need to apply for EC approval to use your establishment for that purpose.

Products of animal origin include meat products, fishery products, minced meat, meat preparations etc.

• If you cook meat pies in your premises and only sell them to members of the public you will not require approval
• If you cook meat pies and only sell them to other businesses such as restaurants, shops etc, then you would require approval
• If you cook meat pies and supply members of the public and food businesses, you may require approval. If approval is required, you will have to adhere to additional requirements with regard to structure, layout, health marking etc. This is a complicated area of food law and each case needs to be looked at individually. Please contact us to discuss your operation if you think approval may be required.

Other useful information

Food Safety Management

Food Safety Management or HACCP is what you do to manage how food is produced in your business. You might be asked to put together a “food safety management system” and keep up to date records relating to your procedures.

Find more information on the Food Standards Agency's 'Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)' page

You also need to make sure the food you produce will be safe to eat at the end of its allocated shelf life to prevent harmful food poisoning bacteria being present and causing any illness to the consumer.

Find more information on the GOV.UK website to download the Ready to eat foods: microbiological safety assessment guidelines.

Allergens / Nutritional Information

It is a legal requirement to know what food allergens are present in the food you produce and sell. This information is required to be available to the consumer whether the food is sold loose or pre-packed for sale.

Find more information on the Food Standards Agency's 'Labelling and allergens' page.

Depending on the size of your business you may need to apply nutritional information to the packaging. Likewise, if you are making any nutritional claims relating to your products you will need to provide nutritional information to support these claims.

Find more information on the Food Standards Agency's 'Nutrition labelling' page.

Most food products are required to carry a date mark. This may be a “Use by” or “Best Before” date. 

To determine what type of date mark your food will require visit the Wrap website's 'Food date labelling and storage advice' section.

Packaging your products is important. Products are required to be fully labelled with a number of details to ensure you meet your legal requirements.

Find more information on the Food Standards Agency's 'Packaging and labelling' page.

Useful Links

Food Standards Agency

GOV.UK