Registering as a Food Business Operator (FBO)
It is a legal requirement to register your food business with Environmental Health under the Food (Registration Of Premises) (Jersey) Order 2001. Businesses must register 28 days prior to trading.
Food registration form
You must register if you provide food to the public for profit or non-profit including:
- Cafes
- Takeaways
- Catering businesses run from home,
- Tourist accommodation if food is included
- Mobile catering
- Temporary businesses, for example pop up restaurants
- Outside catering
- Hedge veg boxes if you provide more than non-prepared fruit and vegetables
- Nurseries
- Schools
- Care homes
- Charities including food banks, accommodation providers and those that hold regular food fundraising events
- Food suppliers that act as distributers, even if you don't hold the stock
This is a non-exhaustive list and if you only provide food occasionally you may not need to register.
Contact us if you're not sure if you should register.
By registering you can access the guidance, support and visits provided by our team. This can help you reduce the risk of making someone ill from the food you provide.
Giving back to the community with food safety in mind
Eat Safe inspections
How often we inspect your business depends on its level of risk and compliance. We might visit you every six months or we could visit your business once every three years.
Every registered food business in Jersey gets an Eat Safe inspection and star rating, based on compliance with the Jersey food law and the Food Standards Agency's Food Safety Code of Practice. After your business has been inspected you will be given your Eat Safe star rating. You can use this in promotional material and we can provide you with advice and guidance on actions you can take to maintain or improve your rating.
Displaying an Eat Safe star rating
You are required by law to publicly display your star rating at any entrance used by your customers.
You can also undertake an audit of your own business using the Food Safety Checklist to help you identify areas of improvement.
The Eat Safe Food Safety Checklist
How the Eat Safe food safety and hygiene scheme works
Search for food safety and hygiene ratings (Eat Safe)
Email Environmental Health to get an Eat Safe logo
Disagreeing with your inspection results or telling us about improvements
You can contact us about the efforts you have made to improve or address matters raised during your inspection. This information can then be published on the website alongside your star rating.
You can also request a re-inspection if you've carried out improvements but you'll need wait until three months after your last inspection before you can request another one. You must provide details of the improvements made, including supporting evidence where appropriate.
If you're unhappy with your inspection results, you can appeal.
Food hygiene legislation and best practice
Your Eat Safe rating is based on The Food Safety (Jersey) Law 1966 which deals with many aspects of food hygiene, including:
- unfit food
- poor practices
- licensing
- labelling
- temperature control
- safety
- imported foods
Food Safety (Jersey) Law 1966 on Jersey Law website
Industry guides to good hygiene practice on FSA website
Outdoor event catering standards
We inspect outdoor catering events to ensure the vehicles, kiosks and stalls comply with the law.
Outdoor catering presents more opportunities for things to go wrong, so particular attention and planning needs to be paid to food hygiene.
Food Hygiene and Event Catering Guide
Condemnation certificates for unfit food
If your business has food that's not fit to be eaten or sold (eg your freezer breaks down and the food defrosts) your insurance company may need a food condemnation certificate.
Contact Environmental Health if you need a food condemnation certificate. There is a charge for this service, which doesn't include collection or disposal of the food.
The current fee is £71.25
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