Starting a food business from home in Ireland

1. Register before you start

By law, every food business must be registered before it starts operating, even from home. Most home businesses notify the HSE using the National Environmental Health Service online form, giving details such as the type of business, your contact details, the premises and your start date. Your business gets a reference number on the food business register. See registering a food business in Ireland for who registers with whom.

2. Check your kitchen is suitable

The FSAI advises contacting your local HSE environmental health office as early as possible to check your home is suitable for what you plan to do. Think about:

• Enough space to keep business food apart from family food, and room to store ingredients and finished products.
• Fridge space and a working fridge temperature of 5 °C or below.
• A wash-hand basin or a way to wash hands properly. See handwashing and personal hygiene.
• Pets, children and laundry kept out of the kitchen while you work.

3. Foods of animal origin

If you process meat, poultry, eggs, fish or unpasteurised milk, extra hygiene rules may apply and some businesses need approval. The FSAI notes that not every activity can be approved in a home kitchen, so check before you invest.

4. Write your food safety plan

Every food business needs a food safety management system based on HACCP principles. For a small home business it can be short: what you make, what could go wrong, how you control it and what you check. See how to write a HACCP plan and our free HACCP plan template.

5. Training, allergens and labels

• Get trained in food hygiene to suit what you do. See training requirements.
• Know which of the 14 allergens are in everything you sell, and tell customers.
• Prepacked food needs a full label. Ask the FSAI or your EHO if you are unsure what applies.

6. Keep records from day one

Fridge temperatures, cooking and cooling, deliveries and cleaning: keep a record from your first day. Our free HACCP templates cover the basics, and Hygivo keeps them on your phone, from one location upwards.

See the FSAI’s guidance on starting a food business at home and the HSE’s notification page. 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.