Approval of food premises

Some food establishments handling, preparing, or producing products from animals must be approved by us. Find out if you need approval and apply online.

Examples include:

  • Meat and meat product plants (such as beef, pork, poultry, lamb, rabbit)
  • Meat processing plants
  • Meat preparation plants
  • Minced meat processing operations and mechanically separated meat processing plants
  • Certain cold stores
  • Premises dealing with live bi-valve molluscs, such as mussels and oysters
  • Premises dealing with fishery products
  • Premises dealing with milk and milk products
  • Premises dealing with eggs
  • Premises dealing with frogs legs and snails
  • Certain wholesale markets

Exemptions

You do not need to be approved if you sell direct to the public or retailers like caterers, pubs and restaurants, as long as:

  • food is less than 25 per cent of your trade
  • you do not handle any wild game meat products
  • you do not sell food outside the county your business is registered in

Notification of changes

Once premises approval has been given, it is a legal requirement for food business operators to ensure we are kept updated in writing with changes to business activities.

We must:

  • be kept informed of changes to the business name
  • ownership of the business
  • scope of the premises
  • product lines

You should also let us know if the premises close down.

How to apply

Apply online for food premises approval via the UK Government website