Food and feed hygiene for farmers and growers

Food hygiene regulations apply to all farmers and growers. The laws you should be aware of are:

• Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs
• The Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991
• The Food Hygiene Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006
• Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 on food law and European Food Safety Authority regulation

For more information, see the Food Standards Agency's guidance on general food law.

Food Hygiene

Food hygiene legislation applies to farmers, growers and other primary producers as part of the 'farm to fork' approach to food safety.

If you are a farmer or grower, you need to follow good hygiene practices and manage your operations in a way that controls food safety problems. If your business produces dairy or egg products, Regulation 853/2004 lays down specific rules on the hygiene of foodstuffs that apply to these sectors.

You must also continue to comply with other rules, for example, on veterinary medicines and pesticides. If you are a primary producer, you are not required to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.

Primary producers must also be registered with the competent authority which is the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland.