Food safety for food trucks and mobile catering

Registering

• Notify the HSE before you start trading.
• Use the HSE office for the area where the van or stall is normally kept.
• Once registered, you can trade anywhere in the country. Carry confirmation of your registration.
• Trading at a market? Each stall operator must notify individually, unless the HSE has agreed another arrangement.
• Tell the HSE about changes, including a new owner.
• Any base or home kitchen where you prepare food must be notified too.

More detail in registering a food business.

The van itself

• Purpose-built or properly converted, with the driving area separated from the food area.
• Smooth, easy-to-clean surfaces and a hard, easy-to-clean floor.
• A canopy over cooking appliances.
• All food prepared in the van, or in a premises registered or approved for that.
• A suitable power source, sited so it can’t contaminate food.

Water

• Running hot and cold potable (drinking-quality) water for handwashing where exposed high-risk food is handled, and for washing equipment and preparing food.
• Mains water where possible. Tanks must be food-grade and drain fully.
• Label stored water “potable water only”, and clean and disinfect containers regularly.
• Ice that touches food must be made from potable water.
• Waste water goes to a covered container marked “waste water”, never onto the ground.

Handwashing

• A wash-hand basin with running hot and cold, or warm, water where exposed high-risk food is handled.
• Enough water for the whole of trading: at least a 20-litre container is recommended.
• Soap and paper towels.
• Alcohol gels and wipes only work on clean hands. They are not a substitute where hands get soiled.

Temperatures on the move

• Chilled food at 5 °C or below, including in transport.
• Frozen food at −18 °C or below.
• Cook to a core of 75 °C, or an equivalent such as 70 °C for 2 minutes.
• Reheat to 70 °C at the core, and hot hold at 63 °C or above.
• Cool boxes are fine only if they hold the temperature. Bring spare ice packs in warm weather.
• Plan cold storage for travel, set-up and pack-up, not just trading hours.
• Carry a probe thermometer.

Records

• You need procedures based on HACCP. The FSAI Safe Catering pack is one practical way to do this.
• Monitoring records should be with you at the stall when trading.
• Keep supplier records (name, address, product, date) so food can be traced. Invoices and receipts can do this.
• Food handlers, including seasonal and part-time staff, must be trained or supervised in food hygiene.

Records on a phone travel with the van. See Hygivo for takeaways and food trucks, or start with our free printable templates.

See the FSAI’s Guidance Note No. 16: Food Stalls. This is general information, not advice for your business. Your food safety management system (HACCP plan) and FSAI guidance are the reference. Hygivo is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FSAI.