Food hygiene law for farmers and growers
An introduction to food safety and hygiene legislation that applies to farmers and growers.
Food hygiene regulations apply to all farmers and growers. The laws you should be aware of are:
Under current operating arrangements for Northern Ireland, feed products produced in NI or placed on the NI market will continue to follow EU rules.
For more information, see the Food Standards Agency's guidance on .
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.