Running a food van in the UK

A food van can trade at a market on Saturday and a festival the next week. Its owner carries the same food rules to every pitch.

Register before you trade

Anyone running a food business in England, Wales or Northern Ireland registers it with the local authority. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says this includes businesses trading from a mobile unit, a stall or a van.

You must register at least 28 days before you start trading. Registration is free, and the council cannot refuse it.

In Scotland, Food Standards Scotland publishes its own checklist and registration guidance for new food businesses.

Food hygiene ratings

A food safety officer from the council inspects food businesses to check that they follow food hygiene law. The FSA lists takeaways, food vans and stalls among the places that get a rating.

The officer looks at how you handle food, the condition of the van and how you keep food safe over time. Ratings run from 5, where hygiene standards are very good, to 0, where urgent improvement is required.

In Wales and Northern Ireland, businesses must display their rating by law. In England, the FSA encourages businesses to display it.

Keeping food safe

Every food business needs food safety management procedures. Owners must use Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) procedures, or a system based on them such as Safer Food, Better Business.

The FSA names four main areas of good food hygiene, which it calls the 4Cs:

Owners need to show that they are adequately trained in food hygiene. The FSA recommends a food hygiene qualification for anyone starting a food business.

Allergens

Food law names 14 allergens. If you sell food that is not prepacked, you must give allergen information for every item that contains any of them.

You can write it on a menu or a chalkboard. You can also give it verbally, with a written notice in clear view telling customers how to ask. The FSA advises written information, backed by a conversation with the customer.

Trading in the street

In England and Wales, the council can tell you whether you need a street trading licence. You apply to the council for the area where you want to trade, and tell it where and when.

The council can refuse a licence, or grant one for fewer days and times than you asked for. Some areas have a waiting list. GOV.UK says a trader working without a licence can be fined up to £1,000.

Gas on board

Mobile catering units such as burger vans usually run on LPG from cylinders, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says. Only a Gas Safe registered business or engineer can install or repair the gas appliances in a mobile catering unit.

HSE treats an annual inspection as a reasonable minimum, with repairs as needed. You can ask an engineer to show their Gas Safe ID card and then check it with Gas Safe Register.

HSE's guidance says the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 require a van with LPG appliances to be adequately ventilated. It adds that pilot lights should stay unlit while the van is moving.

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