Zulassung von Lebensmittelbetrieben beantragen

If you want to open a meat, poultry or dairy farm or other businesses that handle products of animal origin or sprouts, you may need EU approval. You can find out more here.

If you want to place products of animal origin or sprouts on the market, you may need an authorisation before starting your activity.

If you run a business that belongs to the following categories (not exhaustive), you need a licence for the corresponding activity:

• Meat:
  • Slaughterhouses
  • Cutting plants
  • Establishment producing minced meat, meat preparations or meat products
  • Mechanically separated meat manufacturers
  • Meat processing plants
  • Wildlife processing plants
• Live bivalve molluscs:
  • Dispatch Centers
  • Cleaning centers
• Fishing concessions:
  • Freezer and factory ships
  • Crab trawler
  • Establishments producing fishery products
• Milk and milk products:
  • Establishments producing heat-treated milk and milk products from raw milk
  • Establishments producing dairy products from dairy products that have already been processed (e.g. butter from pasteurised cream, cheese made from pasteurised milk or milk powder)
  • Milk collection points
• Egg products
  • Egg pre-treatment plants
  • Egg cracking farms
  • Egg processing plant
  • Egg cooking establishments
  • Egg packing stations
• Frogs' legs and snails
  • Establishments that prepare and/or process frogs' legs and snails
• Rendered animal fats and greaves
  • Companies that collect, store or process the raw materials
• Stomach and bladders
  • Establishments that treat bladders, intestines and stomachs
• Gelatine
  • Establishments producing edible gelatine
• Collagen
  • Establishments producing collagen
• Germination
  • Farms producing sprouts
• Cold storage facilities that store food of animal origin in a cool or frozen place
• Kitchens and commercial kitchens that do not deliver food directly to the end consumer
• establishments in which the said products are rewrapped, whether or not this activity is carried out in conjunction with other activities such as cutting or cutting

If you only carry out primary production, transport activities, store products (the storage of which does not require temperature control) or carry out certain retail activities in your establishment, you do NOT need to be licensed as a food establishment. This also applies if you fall under the concept of retail trade and the supply of food of animal origin is a secondary activity (a maximum of one third of the  production volume is sold to other retailers) at local level (radius ≤ 100 km).

• Operating mirror (A + B each)
• Confirmation of business registration
• Information from the Federal Central Register
• Information from the Central Trade Register
• Up-to-date floor plan of your business premises, taking into account all premises. A clear identification of all rooms on the plan and their use (by numbers or keywords), for example by means of a legend and the drawing of the respective doors or gates
• Machine set-up plan as well as routing of the personnel and description of the production flow (integration into the floor plan is possible here)
• Keyword-like description of the production processes, taking into account the production categories and numbered premises

• Registration of the business
• If necessary, required approval according to the Federal Immission Control Act
• Registration as a food company at your responsible veterinary office in the district/independent city

For the approval procedure and the necessary approval checks in the company, fees are charged according to the time spent. In addition, expenses for travel to and from the airport (mileage allowance) will be charged.

To initiate the admission procedure, please fill out the corresponding online application. Once you have submitted the application and all documents have been submitted in full, an operational inspection will be carried out by the veterinarians of the State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) in cooperation with representatives of the municipal food control offices. If necessary, the admission will be granted directly as part of the admission control, initially orally.

If deficiencies are found in the operation inspected by LAVES, no approval is granted or a temporary approval for three months is granted. This is followed by a further check.

If deficiencies are still found, approval for a limited period of three months may be granted for the last time.

After a further operational inspection, the application is either rejected (deficiencies are still present) or an indefinite approval notice is issued.

Confirmation of receipt will be sent within 2 weeks of receipt of the application. After receipt of the complete application documents, the admission check is usually carried out at short notice after consultation with the applicant.

You need to be licensed as a food company before you start working. Only after receipt are you allowed to pursue your activity.

• EU approval of food establishments Issue
• Establishments wishing to place food of animal origin on the market may require approval
• This includes slaughterhouses, meat, milk, egg and fish processing companies, as well as companies producing sprouts
• Responsible in Lower Saxony:State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES)

State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES)

State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES)

Forms available: Yes (company mirror)

Written form required: Yes

Informal application possible: Yes

Personal appearance required: No