Food business licence

Where this applies

This record is scoped to Hong Kong SAR China. Scope is part of the claim: a rule that binds one part of a country does not bind the whole of it, and this library states the scope its sources state.

Instrument

Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X), under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)

Who it binds

Food premises operators — restaurants, bakeries, cold stores, factory canteens, food factories, fresh provision shops, siu mei/lo mei shops, composite food shops and more

What it requires

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) issues a licence only to food premises meeting prescribed statutory safety and hygiene standards; several licence types can now be applied for and issued as an e-Licence/e-Permit. A Frozen Confection Factory Licence (Frozen Confections Regulation, Cap. 132AC) and a Milk Factory Licence (Milk Regulation, Cap. 132AQ) sit under their own regulations within the same framework.

Related records and requirements

• Food retail licence (Singapore) — Operating a food retail business in Singapore — restaurants, catering, coffeeshops, canteens, food courts, stalls, butchers and mobile vehicles — without an SFA licence is an offence.
• Food business license (China) — A food production, sales or catering business in mainland China must obtain a license, except agricultural-product sellers and packaged-food-only retailers, who file a simpler registration instead.
• Food business licence or notification (Japan) — The 32 sector types named in Japan's Food Sanitation Act Enforcement Order require a prefectural governor's licence before a food business may operate.