Find out if you need food establishment approval

If your business undertakes any actions which are considered to be of higher risk, then legally you need to seek approval before you are allowed to operate.

Apply for food premises approval

Activities considered to be higher risk are if you sell most, or all, of your food on to other businesses such as retailers, cafes, restaurants, pubs (so not directly to the final consumer) and/or if you produce products of animal origin, which are defined as:

• minced meat and meat preparations
• meat products
• live bivalve molluscs
• fishery products
• raw milk and dairy products
• eggs and egg products
• frogs and snails
• rendered animal fats and greaves
• gelatine; collagen  
• using stand-alone cold and/or freezer stores

Note that approval law can be complex, this is not an exhaustive list and there are exemptions.

It is an offence to supply food from an establishment that requires but does not have approval. The law requiring approval is found in Assimilated Regulation (EC) 853/2004.

Please contact us if you think the business you want to run may need approval or you are thinking of changing the way you operate before you spend money on equipment or premises, or make the application.

Further information, together with a list of approved establishments, is kept on the Food Standards Agency website.