Setting up food premises and registering operations

The food premises must comply with the food legislation. When planning your operations, please contact Food Control well in advance before starting the construction or renovation work.

Porvoo Environmental Health Services has compiled instructions to support the planning of premises. The instructions include structural requirements that are applied to all food sector operators equally, complemented with the interpretations of Porvoo Environmental Health Services regarding the intention of the legislation. Mark elements such as the operations, preparation and storage equipment and fixtures and water points on the floor plan.

When planning the premises, you also need to contact the building control services and the rescue department.

You will need a permit for building projects and large-scale renovation projects: a building permit, or, at the minimum, an action permit applied for by the property owner. The local building control authorities grant the permits.

In any matters regarding the environment, you should contact the Environmental Inspector.

Before you start new operations or change existing operations substantially, please contact Porvoo Environmental Health Services.

Please submit a written notification to Porvoo Environmental Health Services about setting up food premises, changing operators, or pausing or ceasing the operations.

You should also submit a notification if you plan to change your operations substantially. Substantial changes include changes to the food premise structures, equipment or operations, such as expanding the sales, storage, kitchen or customer areas, beginning food preparation, reducing the kitchen operations, or making significant changes to the fixtures.

Please contact the health inspector in good time to receive instructions needed for the changes.

Please attach the floor plan and list of fixtures of the food premises to the notification of starting or changing operations.

The notifications must be delivered to Environmental Health Services at least four weeks before starting the operations or substantially changing operations.

You do not need to submit a notification of food premises if the food operations are small-scale and take place in the same premises as other food operations and the risks are low in terms of food safety. Low-risk food includes pre-packaged products that keep in room temperature.