Some food establishments handling, preparing, or producing products of animal origin must be approved by us.
Legislation
The requirements regarding approved premises are set out in the regulations below and are enforced within all EU member states to ensure consistency of standards.
Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 Hygiene Rules for Food of Animal Origin
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 Hygiene of Foodstuffs
Which premises need to be approved?
All food premises making, preparing or handling food products of animal origin are required to be approved unless they are exempted. If your food business supplies food of animal origin to the final consumer, i.e. the person who eats the food product, then they are exempt from approval.
In addition there may be an exemption available depending on the extent to which the business wishes to supply food of animal origin to other businesses. Some businesses are exempted based on supplying other retailers on a marginal, localised and restricted basis.
Marginal is interpreted as a small part of your establishment’s business usually up to a quarter of the business in terms of food or less than 2 tonnes in terms of meat.
Localised is interpreted as meaning sales within the supplying establishments own county plus the greater of either the neighbouring county or counties or 30 miles from the boundary of the supplying establishments county.
Restricted is interpreted as concerning only certain types of products being made or establishments being supplied.
The question of whether a business is exempt is complicated and will depend on actual business arrangements. If you have any doubts about whether these exemptions apply to your business, please contact the food team using the contact details below.
What do I need to do?
Approved premises must be able to demonstrate that procedures are in place to manage food safety and that these procedures are based upon hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles.
How do I apply?
Firstly, you should contact the Food Safety Team for an informal discussion into your intended business/process. You may also benefit from a pre application visit prior to any further action to assess your suitability for approval and give guidance on any works or practices which may be needed to obtain approval.
To apply for approval, you must complete the application form below and return to the postal or email address indicated along with the information listed.
- HACCP Plan
- Scale layout plan
- Details of waste collection and disposal arrangements
- Details of water supply quality testing arrangements/location of outlets
- Plan of drainage layout
- Details of cleaning arrangements
- Arrangements for product testing (shelf life/microbiological/water) and details of laboratory used
- Pest control arrangements
- Arrangements for monitoring staff health
- Staff hygiene training
- Details of how the identification mark will be applied to the product, packaging or wrapping
- Specification of all plant and refrigeration machinery
- Traceability and emergency withdrawal plan
Determination of the application will require a site visit and an officer will contact you following receipt of the completed application in order to arrange this. Food businesses must not commence any business activity which requires approval, unless they have received conditional or full approval for the proposed activity from the council. To commence business without approval is an offence for which the business may be prosecuted.
Refusal of approval
In the event of your application being refused you will be notified of the reasons in writing and the matters necessary to satisfy approval requirements. You will also be advised of your right of appeal to the Magistrates Court.
What happens when my business is approved?
Once your business is approved the Council will issue your business with a unique approval number which makes up part of the standard identification mark which must be applied to your products and documentation. This is in the form of an oval mark containing a unique approval number which ensures that the products are traceable back to your company.