Approval of food premises as an establishment

If your food premises handles foodstuffs of animal origin before delivering them for retail, you must apply for approval for your premises from the Vantaa Environment Centre. An application must also be submitted for substantial changes to the establishment’s operations.

Introduction

An establishment refers to food premises where products of animal origin are handled and the food product is sold to other food premises, not directly to the consumer. The storage of foodstuffs of animal origin also falls under establishment operations if the foodstuffs are delivered to approved food premises.

If you are planning to set up an establishment, please contact the city veterinarians.

You must apply for approval for the establishment in good time before the start of operations o…r a substantial change. Operations cannot begin before approval has been granted. The application is submitted to the food safety authority of the municipality in which the establishment is located. In Vantaa, this is the Environment Centre.

Sites applying for approval will be inspected before the start of operations. After the inspection, the authority will make a decision on the approval of the food premises. The decision will be made within 60 days of the commencement of proceedings, unless the scope of the matter, incompleteness of the application or other specific reason requires a longer processing time. The authority may impose conditions as part of its decision in order to prevent health risks.

Establishment application

Institutional application compliant with the Food Act (542070e)(pdf, 514.19 KB)

Complete all the required sections of the application form carefully and attach the requested documents to the application. The application must contain the information required by Section 5 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s decree 318/2021.
The application shall be submitted with all the necessary appendices either by email to kirjaamo@vantaa.fi or to the address: Kirjaamo, PL 8801, 01030 Vantaan kaupunki.
A fee for processing the application will be charged in accordance with the Vantaa Department of Food and Environmental Health’s tariff.

Further information

Finnish Food Authority Further information about the approval of food premises that handle foodstuffs of animal origin, that is, establishments, can be found on the Finnish Food Authority’s website. Regulation No. 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council Regulation No. 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council Regulation on the specific hygiene rules pertaining to foodstuffs of animal origin. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's decree on foodstuff hygiene 318/2021

More information

Department of Food and Environmental Health

ymparistoterveys@vantaa.fi

The city veterinarians primarily process establishment applications.

Food inspectors only process warehouse applications.