Starting a Food Business in the UK: The Complete Compliance Checklist for 2026

Before you make a single product

You've got the recipes. You've found your kitchen. You know there's a market for what you want to make. But between having a great food idea and actually trading legally, there's a compliance checklist that every new UK food business needs to work through.

This guide covers everything - from registering your business to getting your first food hygiene rating. It's written specifically for small producers: the solo baker working from a rented commercial kitchen, the craft brewer setting up their first unit, the meal prep business starting from a shared facility, the artisan cheesemaker scaling up from farmers' markets.

None of this is optional. All of it is achievable. And getting it right from day one saves you from expensive, stressful corrections later.

Step 1: Register your food business

You must register your food business with your local authority at least 28 days before you start trading. This is a legal requirement under EU Regulation 852/2004 (retained in UK law).

Who needs to register? Anyone who handles, prepares, stores, distributes, or sells food as a business. This includes home-based businesses, market stalls, food trucks, online sellers, and anyone producing food for sale.

How to register: Contact your local council's Environmental Health department or register online through the Food Standards Agency website. Registration is free and cannot be refused.

What you'll need to provide:

• Your name and business name
• The address where food will be handled
• The nature of your food business (what you'll be producing)
• Your planned start date

Important: Registration doesn't mean approval. It simply puts you on the local authority's radar for inspection. The EHO will likely visit within a few weeks of your start date.

Step 2: Ensure your premises are suitable

Your production premises must meet food hygiene requirements. If you're operating from a commercial kitchen, most of this should already be in place. If you're converting or fitting out a space, you'll need:

Layout and workflow

• Separate areas or procedures to prevent cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat food
• A logical workflow from goods-in through preparation, cooking, cooling, and packing to dispatch
• Adequate space for each activity

Surfaces and equipment

• Food contact surfaces that are smooth, washable, and non-toxic (stainless steel is the standard)
• Equipment in good repair and suitable for food use
• Adequate refrigeration for the volume of chilled/frozen products you'll handle

Facilities

• Hot and cold running water
• Handwashing basins separate from food preparation sinks, with soap and drying facilities
• Adequate ventilation to prevent condensation and remove cooking fumes
• Sufficient lighting for food preparation areas
• Appropriate waste facilities with covered bins

Pest control

• No evidence of pest activity
• Proofing against pest entry (sealed gaps, covered drains, insect screens if needed)
• A pest control contract or self-monitoring system

You don't need a purpose-built food factory. Many successful small producers operate from shared commercial kitchens, converted farm buildings, or rented industrial units. The key is that the space meets the hygiene requirements for the type of food you're producing.

Step 3: Implement food safety procedures based on HACCP

This is the one that catches most new producers off guard. UK law requires every food business to have food safety procedures based on the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

For many small businesses, this means one of two approaches:

Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) - the FSA's simplified food safety management system for caterers and retailers. It's based on HACCP principles but presented in plain English with a diary-style format. This is acceptable for restaurants, cafés, and simple food retail operations.

A formal HACCP plan - if you're manufacturing food products (anything that involves processing, cooking, preserving, or packing), you'll need a more formal HACCP plan. This is especially true if you're planning to pursue SALSA certification or supply to retailers.

A HACCP plan covers:

• Your products and ingredients
• Your production processes (as flow diagrams)
• Every potential hazard (biological, chemical, physical, allergen)
• The critical points where you must control those hazards
• How you monitor, what limits you set, and what you do when something goes wrong

If this sounds overwhelming, it doesn't have to be. Sage, the AI food safety expert built into FoodSafe, can build your HACCP plan through a conversation - walking you through the full 12-step methodology and producing a professional, audit-ready document. It takes hours, not weeks, and costs a fraction of a consultant.

Step 4: Set up daily record keeping

From your first day of trading, you need to keep records. These prove to EHOs, auditors, and (if the worst happens) courts that you were following safe practices.

Essential daily records:

• Temperature records - fridge, freezer, and cooking temperatures checked and recorded at regular intervals
• Cleaning records - evidence that your cleaning schedule is being followed
• Delivery records - temperature checks and condition assessments for all incoming food deliveries

Regular records:

• Pest control records - monitoring logs or contractor visit reports
• Equipment maintenance records - calibration of thermometers, servicing of equipment
• Training records - certificates, refresher dates, induction records for new staff
• Supplier records - approved supplier list, certifications, delivery specifications

The format doesn't matter as much as the consistency. Paper records are legally acceptable. Digital records are more practical - they're timestamped, searchable, always accessible, and can't be lost or damaged.

FoodSafe's digital record-keeping system comes with 24 pre-built record sheet templates covering all of these. Temperature checks take under a minute on your phone. Everything is timestamped and stored in the cloud, ready for inspection day.

Step 5: Understand allergen requirements

Allergen management is a legal requirement under the Food Information Regulations 2014 and Natasha's Law (which came into force in October 2021).

The 14 declarable allergens in the UK: Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, and sulphur dioxide.

What you must do:

For prepacked food (sealed before sale): full ingredient list with allergens emphasised (bold, italics, or underlined).

For prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) - food packed on the same premises where it's sold (e.g., a bakery wrapping sandwiches for a display counter): this is Natasha's Law territory. You must provide a full ingredient list with allergens emphasised on the label.

For loose/non-prepacked food: allergen information must be available when requested, either verbally (with a sign directing customers to ask) or in writing.

Practical steps:

• Create allergen information for every raw material (check supplier specifications)
• Build an allergen matrix for every product you make
• Train all staff on allergen awareness
• Implement controls to prevent cross-contamination (separate utensils, dedicated preparation areas, cleaning between allergen changeovers)
• Document everything

FoodSafe's allergen management feature tracks all 14 UK allergens across every product and recipe, generating allergen matrices automatically.

Step 6: Set up traceability

UK food law requires you to be able to identify your suppliers and your customers - the "one step back, one step forward" principle.

What this means in practice:

• For every ingredient: know which supplier it came from, the batch number, the delivery date
• For every finished product: know which raw material batches went into it
• For every sale to a business customer: know who received which products and when
• Be able to perform a mock recall - if you discovered a problem with a batch of flour, could you identify every product you made with it, and every customer who received those products?

This doesn't have to be complex. A simple system that links incoming ingredients to outgoing products is sufficient for most small producers.

FoodSafe's traceability system tracks ingredients from supplier to finished product, with full lot tracking and supplier management. If you ever need to recall a product, you can identify affected batches in minutes.

Step 7: Get your team trained

The law requires food handlers to receive training "commensurate with their work activity." In practice, this means:

Level 2 Food Hygiene - the minimum for anyone who handles, prepares, or serves open food. Available online for around £20-30 per person. Takes a few hours to complete.

Level 3 Food Safety - recommended for managers and supervisors who oversee HACCP and day-to-day food safety operations.

Allergen awareness training - essential for all food handlers, especially since Natasha's Law.

HACCP awareness - useful for anyone involved in monitoring CCPs or maintaining your food safety system.

Keep records of all training: who completed it, when, the certificate number, and when the refresher is due. Best practice is to refresh training every 2-3 years.

Step 8: Get appropriate insurance

While not strictly a food safety compliance requirement, insurance is essential:

Public liability insurance - covers you if a customer is harmed by your product. Most retailers won't work with you without at least £5 million of cover.

Product liability insurance - specifically covers claims arising from food products you've manufactured.

Employers' liability insurance - legally required if you have any employees (even part-time).

Business premises insurance - covers your equipment, stock, and production space.

Shop around, but don't cut corners. A single food safety incident without adequate insurance could end your business.

Step 9: Prepare for your first EHO inspection

After you register, an Environmental Health Officer will visit your premises. This could happen within days or weeks of you starting to trade. The visit may be unannounced.

What they'll look at:

• Hygienic food handling - how food is prepared, cooked, cooled, stored, and served
• Physical condition of the premises - cleanliness, layout, equipment condition, ventilation, pest control
• Food safety management - your HACCP plan or SFBB pack, your records, your training documentation

What they'll give you: A food hygiene rating from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good). In Wales and Northern Ireland, you must display this rating. In England, it's voluntary but strongly recommended - customers look for it, and a missing rating raises suspicion.

How to get a 5-star rating: There's no secret formula. Maintain clean, well-organised premises. Keep consistent, accurate records. Have a documented food safety management system. Demonstrate that you understand and follow your own procedures. Show the EHO that food safety is part of your daily routine, not something you scrambled to prepare for their visit.

One of our users, Anthony at That Green Life, received two hours' notice before an EHO inspection. He pulled up his records on FoodSafe, generated his audit pack, and walked the inspector through a fully digital compliance system. The result? A 5-star rating.

Step 10: Consider certification

Once your business is established and your food safety systems are running smoothly, you may want to pursue formal certification:

SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) - the leading certification for small UK food producers. Many retailers require SALSA before they'll consider listing your products. The audit is annual and costs from around £545.

BRCGS (Brand Reputation through Compliance) - the next step up from SALSA, typically required for supplying major national retailers. More complex and more expensive, but builds on the systems you've already established.

Neither is legally required. But if your ambition is to supply retailers, food service companies, or institutional buyers, certification will likely be necessary.

The checklist summary

Here's your complete compliance checklist in order of priority:

Before you start trading:

• Register with your local authority (28 days before)
• Ensure premises meet hygiene requirements
• Implement HACCP-based food safety procedures
• Train all food handlers (Level 2 minimum)
• Set up allergen management systems
• Arrange food business insurance
• Set up a traceability system

From day one:

• Record temperatures daily (fridges, freezers, cooking)
• Follow and record your cleaning schedule
• Check and record delivery temperatures
• Maintain allergen information for all products
• Keep training records current

Within the first few months:

• Prepare for your first EHO inspection
• Consider SALSA certification
• Review and update your HACCP plan as your business evolves
• Conduct your first internal audit

Ongoing:

• Maintain consistent daily records
• Monitor supplier certifications
• Refresh staff training every 2-3 years
• Review your HACCP plan whenever products or processes change
• Prepare for annual audits (if certified)

Starting a food business is exciting. The compliance side doesn't have to be the thing that keeps you up at night. Get the basics right from day one, maintain them consistently, and you'll pass inspections, earn certifications, and build a business that's as safe as it is successful.

Food safety compliance, handled.