Starting a New business? Here’s how!
Det er dit ansvar
Du skal først udfylde blanketter
Behandling af din ansøgning
Beskriv hvad der sker i din virksomhed
Tegninger af bygninger og lokaler
Krav til dine lokaler
Særlige krav, hvis du selv fremstiller fødevarer
Dit egenkontrolprogram
Uddannelse i hygiejne
Hvis du selv transporterer fødevarer
Næringsbasen og Næringsbrev
Andre myndigheders regler
When starting a food business, there are a number of important considerations prior to opening.
This applies to a new business as well as to an ongoing business you have purchased.
In some cases you may not be permitted to begin your business before the regional veterinary and
food control centre has paid a visit and authorized it.
In other cases the regional veterinary and food control centre needs only to register you and confirm
the information you have provided.
Therefore you must always contact the regional veterinary and food control centre prior to starting.
On this site you can see what things need to be in order prior to starting a new business.
You can read more about the requirements for different types of businesses at the sites dealing with:
Kiosk, supermarked, Slagter, bager, fiskehandler, Restaurant, café, Fabrik, Lager, handel and
Slagteri.
It is your responsibility
When starting a food business you must contact the regional veterinary and food control centre
prior to opening.
You must also contact the regional veterinary and food control centre before undertaking major
renovations and before making major changes in the types of foods you will produce and sell as
well as prior to making major changes in the layout of your business.
The regional veterinary and food control centre can provide guidance, but it is always your
responsibility to abide by the rules.
You can receive guidance regarding requirements for the layout and the running of your business
and about how the requirements apply to the products you wish to produce and sell.
But the regional veterinary and food control centre cannot tell you precisely what you must do.
It can be to your advantage to contact the regional veterinary and food control centre before
beginning to outfit your business or before making major changes in the types of products you
produce or sell. And if you change your activities – for example, you begin to transport food
products yourself – you must also contact the regional veterinary and food control centre before you
start.
As a business, it is your responsibility that your foodstuffs are safe.
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You must begin by filling out the forms
You may not start your business before it has been registered or authorized by the regional
veterinary and food control centre.
You must therefore fill out a special form. The same form is to be used for both registration and
authorization.
You must submit a description of the procedures in your business, together with the form.
You must also submit floor plans for the premises you use. This does not, however, apply to all
businesses.
And you must have a self-regulation program that also must be submitted together with the form.
Read more about floor plans, descriptions of the procedures in your business and about self-
regulation programs in the next section.
The form must be sent to your local regional veterinary and food control centre.
You must also fill out special forms if you
- deal in organic products
- import products with meat, fish eggs or milk from abroad
- label your beef as having special qualities, e.g. of a particular race or bred in a particular fashion
The regional veterinary and food control centre will look at your form and your descriptions and
will decide whether you will be registered or authorized. You may be contacted if an inspector
needs additional information in order to process your application.
Download Blanket til registrering, autorisation af fødevarevirksomhed. The special forms for
organic foods, for labeling of beef and for import are available via links in the form.
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Processing your application
If your business only requires registration, you can begin as soon as you have received confirmation
from the regional veterinary and food control centre. An inspection may not be necessary before
you begin.
If your business needs authorization you can make an appointment for an inspection once the
regional veterinary and food control centre has received your form, including floor plans,
descriptions and self-regulation program.
An inspector will examine your business and speaks with you.
If the inspector decides that your business complies with the rules, you will receive an
authorization.
If the inspector finds that your business does not comply with the rules, you will be informed, and
you will receive instructions regarding the rules.
It is up to you to find solutions so that your business complies with the rules.
It may be, for example, that there is insufficient space for all the various types of products you have
planned. You may choose, for example, to rebuild or to cut down on the number of products.
You may first begin your business only after you have obtained a written authorization.
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Describe the procedures in your business
You must submit a description of your activities together with the form.
It must be a description of what enters the business, what you do with it and how you sell it.
The most straightforward example is a kiosk or a supermarket, which receives pre-packaged goods
that are placed in stock and are gradually moved onto shelves and into refrigerated counters.
Another example is a warehouse, which receives pre-packaged goods that are stockpiled and
gradually shipped out to other businesses.
Yet another example could be a pizzeria or other type of eatery. Here you must describe what you
make yourself and what you purchase ready made - for example whether you make tomato sauce
and meat filling yourself, and whether you make your own salads.
Or yet again, a bakery. Here you must also describe what you make yourself and what you purchase
ready made. And the manner in which the various work procedures are arranged.
Your description must indicate, among other things, how you ensure that your products are
maintained separately and do not contaminate each other. For example in a delicatessen department,
how you prevent contact between sandwiches and dirt from vegetables or between raw meat fluids
and salad ingredients. Or in a restaurant, how you prevent dishwashing water from being sprayed
onto food.
You can describe what occurs in the various parts of the premises or which procedures take place at
different times. For example, all vegetables are cleaned during the morning, and afterwards tables,
cutting boards and knives are thoroughly cleaned prior to starting food preparation.
An industrial description can be the manner in which a salad factory prevents soil bacteria from
vegetables from contaminating the final mayonnaise salad.
The description must also include the flow of products through the business. Both how you ensure
that this occurs easily and smoothly and how you ensure that the paths of raw materials and finished
products do not cross, thus avoiding contamination.
Shops and restaurants must also say whether they sell to both consumers and other businesses.
If you transport foodstuffs yourself, this must also be included in the description of your activities.
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Floor plans of buildings and premises
You must submit floor plans of your business together with your application for authorization.
Floor plans are not required if your business is a kiosk or a supermarket in which you exclusively
sell pre-packaged foodstuffs from other businesses.
They are also not required if you exclusively transport and store pre-packaged foodstuffs that do not
require refrigeration or freezing.
Floor plans are not required for businesses that trade exclusively via the Internet or exclusively deal
in management of the sale of foodstuffs (office environments).
Floor plans must include all the premises utilised by your business.
The floor plans must indicate how the premises are situated in relation to each other.
You may draw the floor plans yourself.
The drawing must indicate what takes place in the various areas.
For example, whether there is/are
- Service area
- Slicing room
- Dish/pot washing area
- Staff toilets
- Bakery
- Pizza oven
- Stock room
- Retail shop
- Refrigeration room
- Freezer room
- Smokehouse
- Packing room
You must also indicate on the drawing where the various machines and equipment are located. If
there is not sufficient room on the drawing you must include a written description.
For example, this can be the location of a
- Food mixer
- Washbasin
- Oven
- Exhaust
- Conveyor belt
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Requirements for your premises
Your business must be laid out so that cleaning is easy and there is sufficient space. The premises
must match the goods – both with regard to storage, transportation and possible production.
You must have sufficient space to store the goods – in refrigerators, counters, refrigeration room
and stock room. And for example, space for refuse, cleaning materials and new packaging.
Floors and walls must be unbroken and smooth and able to be cleaned with soap and water.
Tables and shelves must also be smooth and able to withstand water.
Ceilings must be smooth so they can be wiped. It must be possible to clean ceilings in production
premises with soap and water.
Premises must be arranged so that dirt and condensation do not accumulate in the corners.
Your exhaust system must be easy to clean.
Your machines must also be easy to clean – also their surroundings.
There must not be openings at doors, windows, vents or exhausts that enable pests such as mice,
rats or insects to enter.
Your business must have a place for employees to hang their overcoats and premises where they
can take a break. There must also be a staff toilet in which there must be a washbasin with hot
water, soap and disposable towels.
Toilets must not open directly into rooms in which foodstuffs are stocked, transported or produced.
There must be an entrance area with a door that closes by itself.
Read more in the leaflet OM indretning af restauranter, supermarkeder og lignende
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Special requirements if you produce foodstuffs yourself
Businesses that prepare meals or produce foodstuffs must comply with special requirements. This
includes factories and other production facilities as well as shops and restaurants.
In factories and other manufacturing facilities, production and packaging premises must be
equipped with a sufficient number of sinks exclusively designated for hand washing. All
washbasins must be provided with hot water, soap and disposable towels.
Shops and restaurants that prepare food – or heat and serve food prepared elsewhere - must always
have at least one washbasin in the kitchen exclusively designated for hand washing.
If your kitchen is large, more than one hand sink may be required. And a hand sink in the customer
area may also be required so that you and your staff can wash their hands during work. All
washbasins must be provided with hot water, soap and disposable towels.
Besides hand sinks, shops and restaurants must have a sufficient number of washbasins for cleaning
foodstuffs and equipment.
You can have one washbasin for rinsing and another for washing. Alternatively, you can have one
sink for rinsing and a dishwasher with sufficiently hot water.
You must also have a sink for cleaning vegetables. And if you prepare whole chickens, turkeys,
ducks or other meat you must also have a sink for that.
Shops and restaurants may consider multiple uses for the same sink, provided it is cleaned
thoroughly between the different activities. You must have strict procedures for the order in which
you perform the different tasks and for when and how the sink is to be cleaned. The procedures
must be described in your self-regulation program.
All hand sinks and washbasins must be connected to the sewage network.
Customers must not have access to the areas in which food is prepared.
You may not sell food prepared in a private kitchen. Your food may not be stored or transported by
private individuals. All your merchandise must come from a registered or authorized business. And
you may not store your own or your employees’ private food on your business premises.
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Your self-regulation program
You must have a plan for how you regularly ensure that your business complies with the rules. This
is called self-regulation, and such a plan is called a self-regulation program
In the self-regulation program you must describe how you and your employees can ensure that
nothing goes wrong during a workday and describe what you must do, if something nevertheless
does go wrong.
In your self-regulation program you would describe for example how you keep raw materials
separate from finished materials. And how often and in which manner the various areas of your
business are cleaned.
The self-regulation program deals with both foodstuffs and with cleaning, machines and premises.
The program must be simply written, so that all employees can understand it and are not in doubt as
to what is to be done.
Read more about Egenkontrol
Download the leaflet OM egenkontrol i kiosker, supermarkeder og hos købmænd
Download the leaflet OM egenkontrol i supermarkeder med fremstilling af fødevarer
Download the leaflet OM egenkontrol i restauranter, pizzariaer, cafeer og lignende
Download the leaflet OM egenkontrol i engrosvirksomheder
Download Skabelon til egenkontrolprogram for virksomheder uden tilvirkning
Download Eks. på egenkontrolprogram for en fødevarevirksomhed med begrænset tilvirkning og
varesortiment
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Hygiene education
All persons involved in preparing food in a business must have the necessary hygiene education.
Everyone will thus know how food is to be prepared so that people do not get ill from it.
There are various requirements for hygiene education, depending upon which products are
produced and which businesses are involved.
Read more about Hygiejneuddannelsen
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If you transport foodstuffs yourself
Good hygiene and proper temperatures must be maintained during transport of foodstuffs.
Whether you pick up your raw materials yourself or you deliver them, the products must be
maintained at the correct temperature. And you must be able to clean with soap and water the area
in which the products are kept during transport – even if they are pre-packaged products that can be
maintained at room temperature.
For example, merchandise may not be placed on the passenger seat in a car or in the felt-lined boot
of a car.
Merchandise must be protected from contamination while in transit. For example, it is not permitted
to transport merchandise together with something that can contaminate it, such as dirt, on the back
of an open vehicle.
Transportation of foodstuffs must be accounted for in your registration or authorization. The
regional veterinary and food control centre must therefore have information regarding this before
you begin. You must describe the types and the amounts of foodstuffs involved, as well as the
method of transportation.
There are special requirements regarding transportation of merchandise across borders.
Download the leaflet OM transport af fødevarer i engrosleddet
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Business Registry Database (Næringsbasen) and business license
If you operate a food business you must have a business license prior to starting the business. This
applies to food stores, including catering, to wholesale food businesses and to restaurants.
If you operate a food shop or a wholesale food business, you must begin by taking a business test
(næringsprøve). Following this you will be registered in the Business Registry (Næringsbasen) in
order to obtain a business license.
If you operate a restaurant, you must be issued a business license by the local police (in
Copenhagen by the municipality), and you must be registered in the Business Registry.
These regulations are under the authority of The Danish Commerce and Companies Agency
(Erhvervs- og Selskabsstyrelsen). If you wish to know more about the Business Registry and the
business license, go to www.naeringsbasen.dk. Here you can read, among other things, about what
the business test includes and how one is registered in the Business Registry.
If you have questions regarding the Business Registry you may contact the The Danish Commerce
and Companies Agency (Erhvervs- og Selskabsstyrelsen) at naeringsret@eogs.dk or by telephone at
72 20 00 35.
Rules of other authorities
Other authorities also have requirements regarding your business.
This could apply for example to customs, the municipality and The Danish Working Environment
Authority (Arbejdstilsynet).
The regional veterinary and food control centre is not familiar with these requirements. You must
therefore enquire at the various authorities.
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Contact
Kontoret for mikrobiologisk fødevaresikkerhed, hygiejne og zoonosebekæmpelse,
mailto:4.kontor@fvst.dk
Guidlines no. 9355 af 1. juni 2007 om fødevarehygiejne.