Notification of food business activities

Food serving points include restaurants, cafés, fast food kiosks, commercial kitchens and catering services. Food is prepared, heated or plated, and the customer usually eats the food immediately at the premises.

The retail of food means selling food to consumers. The food is often produced elsewhere and is not necessarily meant to be eaten immediately. Retail outlets include shops and kiosks.

A mobile food establishment can either be a food serving point or a retail outlet. A notification must be submitted to the authorities when you start a mobile food establishment.

The operator must keep a copy of the approval decision or the certificate of notification and the own-check plan in the mobile food establishment.

However, the notification is not required if:

• The operator is a primary producer who has filed a notification of primary production. 

• The activity is a low-risk activity and cannot be considered as business. For instance, if a private individual or an organisation occasionally sells baked goods, they don’t need to file a notification. 

The food control authorities must be notified of the arrival of a mobile food establishment in Vantaa at least 4 working days before selling any products.

The authorities must be notified of bakeries and other commercial food production facilities preparing products of non-animal origin, such as biscuits, confectionery and soft drinks. Food production facilities that produce food of animal origin must apply for an approval.

The authorities must be notified of premises where food of non-animal origin, such as vegetables, berries, fruit or sweets, is handled or packed. Packaging activities may be included in the notification regarding food preparation and sales activities.

The authorities must be notified of the storage of food. If foodstuffs of animal origin requiring refrigeration are stored, the storage facility must be approved as a storage facility.

The authorities must be notified of professional transport activities. However, the transport activities may also be included in the notification regarding on-site food operations and the related own-check plan. In this case, a separate notification is not required.

Vehicles intended for international transport of foodstuffs requiring refrigeration must have an ATP certificate. In addition, a notification must be submitted to the transport company’s domicile or the municipality where the company operates.

Tests and inspections of special equipment used for ATP transport are carried out by Agrifood Research Finland (MTT) and some seasonal control posts approved by the Finnish Food Authority.

Food contact material operators must file a notification of their premises and contact material activities. Food contact material operators include manufacturers of contact materials, importers, distributors and wholesalers. 

The notification must be filed with the control authority of the municipality where the premises are located. If the operator has activities in several municipalities, the notification is sent to the authority of each municipality.

If a food business operator prepares or has food supplements prepared or imports food supplements, they must notify the Finnish Food Authority of the food supplements they place on the market (Food supplement notification). In addition, the operator must register their food business activities in accordance with section 10 of the Food Act (297/2021) no later than four weeks before the commencement of operations or before a substantial change in the operations. The suspension or termination of operations must also be notified to the authorities without delay.

The operator responsible for placing the food supplement on the market should submit a food supplement notification, at the latest, when the product is placed on the market.

A notification is also required when the characteristic ingredients in a product’s composition are changed. Regarding a food supplement’s exit from the market, no notification is required.

Under the Food Act (297/2021), an operator importing foodstuffs must notify the food control authority of the commencement, suspension or termination of operations as well as of significant changes in the operations. Pursuant to section 11 of the Food Act, approved food establishments must notify the control authority of any import activities.

Operators importing foodstuffs of animal origin into Finland from other EU Member States or approved non-EU countries are responsible for the safety of their products and compliance with the legal requirements. This activity is referred to as intra-EU trade of foodstuffs of animal origin. The Finnish Food Authority must be notified of intra-EU trade of foodstuffs of animal origin, and the notification must also be sent to City of Vantaa to the email address:sisamarkkinatuonti@vantaa.fi.

Environmental health notifications are submitted primarily through the Finnish Food Auhtority's Ilppa service. For instructions and information on how to make a notification, see the Ilppa service's help page. The information will be transferred electronically from Ilppa to the Environmental Health Services for processing.

The operator will receive a certificate of registration of the activities once the information has been stored in the centralised ERP and information management system of the Environmental Health Services.

The operator will be charged a processing fee in accordance with the price list approved by the City of Vantaa.

If you can't use Ilppa, you can also use the pdf-form to make your environmental health notifications.

A notification of commencement of activities isn’t required in the case of low-risk food activities which

• are carried out in the same premises as the operator's other business operations, for instance, selling candy at a cash desk or serving coffee at a hair salon
• the operator is a private person who, for example, occasionally bakes pastries and sell them at a market
• the activity cannot be considered as a business activity because it is, for example, a bake sale fund-raiser for a church, school or sports club.

When planning the food premises, you must contact the building control authority to ensure that the intended use of the building corresponds to the activities, the ventilation equipment and ducts are sufficient for the planned activities and that the number of customer seats is in accordance with the building permit. The Rescue Services of Central Uusimaa provides advice on matters related to fire protection and emergency access roads. The premises must also have a sufficient number of water points.

Even if a food business has previously operated in the premises, the suitability of the premises must be verified because the previous activities may have been different, or they may not have been in line with the requirements.

The food premises will be inspected within 1, 3 or 6 months of the start of operations, depending on the type of activities.

After the first inspection, regular inspections are carried out to monitor the food activities in accordance with the control plan. Depending on the nature and scope of the activities, inspections may be carried out every few years or even several times per year.

If the inspection reveals that the operator’s matters aren’t in order, a follow-up inspection will be carried out after an agreed deadline.