Hygiene rules in restaurants and food shops

Verified 12 March 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Do you handle food in your professional activity? They explain the strict hygiene rules that you must follow.

Layout of premises

You must arrange your premises in accordance with the following practices:

  • Separate dirty work areas (diving, rubbish bins) and clean areas (preparation and storage)
  • Arrange the premises in such a way as to facilitate regular maintenance
  • Do not have to walk through kitchens or shops to get to the trash bin
  • Provide sanitary facilities for the staff and sanitary facilities for the clients
  • Sanitary facilities must not overlook rooms where food is cooked or stored
  • Store cleaning products separately (closet, room)
  • In case of changing rooms, locate them near the employees' workstation

Please note

If at least 25 employees have lunch at the workplace, a catering room must be made available to them, with tables and seats in sufficient quantity, tap of drinking water and fridge.

Hardware

Equipment obligations are as follows:

  • A grease tray is required.
  • The equipment must bear the PSECA or Food Hygiene Notice of Compliance.
  • We must favor stainless steel or enamel utensils and equipment.
  • Drying hands with disposable paper (dishcloths are microbe sources) should be preferred.
  • Bins should be closed with a lid and open with a pedal.

Warning  

Utensils and equipment made of raw wood are prohibited.

Equipment

Your store must have the following equipment:

  • Ventilation system that does not mix clean and dirty air
  • Toilets with toilet and toilet bowl, washbasin and soap
  • In the kitchen, different sinks for hands and vegetables
  • Washbasins with non-manual control (with presence detector or control by leg or foot)
  • Hand dryers with either forced air or disposable paper
  • Floor syphon for draining washing water
  • Sufficient lighting
  • Cold room with thermometer and temperature control
  • Locker room for employees if the work requires a specific outfit

Please note

Rationalization activities should be carried out regularly.

Rules for the use of equipment

The following hardware practices must be followed:

  • Wash worktops and utensils at each shift at the end of the day
  • Do not place food on the floor
  • Do not place personal objects on workplanes (example: phone)
  • Use clamps for serving bulk food to customers

Compulsory food hygiene training in commercial catering

Training in food hygiene rules is obligatory in commercial restaurants.

All it takes isonly one of the people of the institution has completed the training.

Training lasts 14 hours minimum. It must have a minimum of 2 hours in-person for each 7-hour sequence. This presence is indispensable in particular for the handling of material.

Its cost varies between €200 and €500 (according to market prices).

There is no expiry date for this training or a requirement for renewal.

Warning  

This training must not be confused with HACCP training, which is covered by the European regulations known as the hygiene package.

Establishments covered by this training obligation

The commercial catering establishments concerned by this obligation are:

  • Traditional catering: catering activity with table service
  • Cafeterias and other self-service restaurants: a cafeteria is a place where there is little or no service at the table. The consumer generally uses self-service, using individual trays
  • Fast food and take-away: A restaurant that sells food and beverages in disposable containers at the counter, which can be consumed on site or taken away. These foods and beverages can also be offered for immediate delivery by motorized or non-motorized vehicle, in store or on sale and market (including food-truck and pickup truck).

FYI  

Most diplomas in the cooking and catering sector automatically includes this training.

Activities not covered by the food hygiene training obligation in commercial catering

The activities and establishments may dispense with to conduct this training:

  • Hotel serving only breakfast
  • Caterer
  • Processor radius for large and medium-sized areas
  • Meat lovers (butchers, cooked meats, bakers, pastry cooks, fishmongers) offering cooked dishes, sandwiches, salads
  • 'Hot spot' in shops with a few 'stand-up' tables
  • "Chef" preparing meals at the home of private individuals
  • A host table that meets all of the following conditions:
    • Complements the hosting activity
    • Offers a single menu and a quality cuisine composed of local ingredients
    • Meal service at the family table
    • Offers a capacity limited to that of the accommodation

If these criteria are not all met, then it is a restaurant (and not a table d'hote) that must comply with the obligation of training "food hygiene in a commercial restaurant".

FYI  

This training is optional for a professional who can justify at least 3 years of activity in the food sector as a manager or operator.

Where to find a training organization?

It is issued by an organization approved by the Ministry of Agriculture.

A list of training organizations registered in a region can be found on the Regional Directorate for Food, Agriculture and Forestry :

You can also find the list of organizations providing this training in your region on the agricultural education professionals website, chlorofil.fr.

HACCP training and the "hygiene package"

Persons handling food must be supervised and provided with food hygiene instructions and/or training appropriate to their professional activity.

This training is often called HACCP training.

This obligation is established by the European regulation on food hygiene known as the "hygiene package".

It is aimed at the entire agri-food sector.

The name HACCP means in English Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. It is a method of preventing and identifying hazards related to food hygiene practices.

Any person handling food must have received such training.

HACCP training may be provided either by a training organization or by the institution itself.

It shall not be subject to any requirement as to content or duration.

FYI  

A company may itself organize training in good hygiene practices for its employees (through the dissemination of instructions, exchanges of practices, etc.). The use of an external service provider is not mandatory.

To help you, it is recommended to consult a Good Hygiene Practice Guide (GBPH), validated by the Ministry responsible for agriculture, in force in your sector of activity. It is produced by professionals in your industry.

Consult a guide of good hygiene practices (GBPH)

France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) can help you find a service provider who does this training:

Where to find my HACCP food hygiene training

Hygiene of personnel

Anyone who comes into contact with food should follow the following practices:

  • Wearing clean clothes
  • Wear a cap
  • Wear gloves when preparing or serving food
  • Throwing away and changing gloves often
  • Se wash hands is mandatory in the following cases:
    • Return to work
    • Exit from the toilets
    • After handling the waste
    • After handling raw materials
    • Before handling dairy products (mayonnaise, butter, cheese, fresh cream, etc.)

Warning  

An employee sick person (flu or gastroenteritis) or wounded with a wound is not allowed to handle food.

Sufficient drinking water must be supplied.

Non-potable water must not be connected to, or able to flow back into, drinking water systems.

Ice which comes into contact with foodstuffs must be made from drinking water.

If ice is intended to refrigerate (whole) seafood, it must be made from clean water.

Water vapor used to cook food must come from clean water.

Chain of hot and cold

The cold chain (storage between 0° and 3°) must never be broken.

The temperature in refrigerators and cold rooms must be continuously monitored.

Respect for the hot chain is also required: for cooking, food must reach rapidly 63°. This temperature must be kept stable during cooking.

Cooling must be done as quickly as possible to reach the temperature of 3°.

After cooling, food should be refrigerated as soon as possible.

Raw materials and processed products must be stored in different refrigerators.

Packaging

Packaging materials must be disinfected.

Raw materials must be kept in airtight containers.

Freezing

The following practices are forbidden :

  • Refreeze a product that has already been thawed once
  • Thaw a product in the open air (thaw it in the fridge)
  • Freeze raw material, leftovers (in restoration), pre-packaged products to be stored at positive temperature

Please note

Products coming directly from the slaughterhouse and fresh fishery products may be frozen.

He is prohibits the destruction of unsold food. They need to be valued. The regulations are explained in the unsold order sheet.

Food waste should be sorted at source as bio-waste.

FYI  

The companies of catering and food businesses are subject to the general rules on the company waste management.

Food waste should not accumulate.

Bins must be emptied very regularly.

They must have a lid and open with a pedal.

They should be washed regularly.

The local garbage cans must be self-employed the rest of the store.

Staff should not cross the kitchens or service room to the garbage room.

Personnel must wear suitable equipment (boots safety, gloves) to get there.

Please note

Butchers must use a renderer to dispose of waste from meat preparation, frying oil must be collected by an approved body.

You have to make a statement for any activity manipulative food of animal origin intended for consumers.

This obligation applies to traders who sell or remit directly food to consumers.

It must be sent to the departmental directorate responsible for the protection of populations (DDPP).

It has to be done front the opening of the establishment.

This declaration is mandatory to allow the DDPP's Hygiene and Food Safety department to schedule the health check visits.

You can make this declaration either online or by post.

Online

Online declaration of food of animal origin

Who shall I contact
By mail

The form must be downloaded, printed and completed.

Declaration on the handling of food of animal origin (paper form)

It must be sent to the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations.

Please note

If the activity consists of selling animal food to other professionals, you must to apply for approval.

When?

The 1re health inspection shall take place after the opening of the establishment.

The hotel has been warned of 1re visit.

The following checks are scheduled either at regular intervals or unannounced.

How?

In the case of a health check, you must be able to show all the documents following:

  • Cleaning, deratization and disinfection (record with date of the interventions and signature of the professional)
  • Product receipt forms
  • Temperature record sheets (reserves, refrigerators, time/temperature pairs for cooking and cooling)
  • Maintenance sheets for hoods and extractors
  • Control sheets for frying oils
  • Staff training and information documents
  • Certificate of suitability of the staff, issued during visits to occupational medicine
  • Microbiological Analysis Reports
  • Maintenance Product Data Sheets
  • Vendor contact information
  • Customer contact information in case of delivery to a company
  • Product Non-Conformity Record Sheets
  • Problem Correction Action Sheets (What, When, How?)

Warning  

In the event of an infringement of the hygiene rules found during a check, the penalties range from the warning (minor infringement), to the report and the closure of the establishment (endangering the health of consumers).

The consumer can report a hygiene problem to the fraud prevention.

The company is defendant and can fix the problem before any health check.

Official guides are drawn up by the operators of a professional branch and are validated by the State.

He is recommended to consult the official guide to hygiene practices (GBPH) corresponding to your professional branch.

Indeed, specific rules and derogations may apply to specific sectors.

You can access it for free online:

Consult a guide of good hygiene practices (GBPH)

Who can help me?

The public service accompanying companies

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