Food Safety Records in Estonia: Laws, PTA Inspections and Own-Check

Estonian food safety records: the law, PTA inspections, own-check plan, the records inspectors ask for, common failures and how digital records help.

2026-10-31 · Chef Hygiene

Do food businesses in Estonia need food safety records? Yes. Every food business in Estonia needs a written own-check plan (omakontrolliplaan) based on HACCP, and the Agriculture and Food Board (PTA) can ask to see it at any visit. Estonia has no public hygiene rating, sticker or score. Visits are risk-based and not announced. This page explains the Estonian rules, what inspectors look for, where businesses go wrong, and how digital records help.

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Every fact below comes from an official source, linked in the text and at the end. Estonian law sets no kitchen temperatures, so the numbers on this page come from the PTA's own catering guide, and we say so each time. Where we could not confirm something, we say that too.

## Contents

The law: what every Estonian food business must do
Who inspects you, and how often
No public rating
The records inspectors ask for
Where businesses go wrong
By type of business
Why digital records help in Estonia
How Chef Hygiene helps
A fair price, on purpose
Less paper
FAQ
Official sources

## 1. The law: what every Estonian food business must do

The main laws. The Food Act (Toiduseadus) and EU Regulation 852/2004 on food hygiene. Food Act § 26 sends hygiene rules to the EU regulations (Food Act, Riigi Teataja).
Send a business activity notice first. Before you start, you send a business activity notice (majandustegevusteade) to the PTA. You may start after sending it, and the PTA inspects afterwards. A normal restaurant needs no licence. Licences are for things like school, hospital and care-home canteens, and for making animal-origin food for other firms. The notice is made in the Ministry's online portal, which also covers private-home activity (PTA). The notice and application are free.
A written own-check plan. The Food Act (§ 34) and Regulation 852/2004 (Article 5) require a written plan based on HACCP principles. The PTA publishes a catering own-check guide with a model plan (PTA catering own-check guide).
Temperatures: guidance, not law. Estonian law sets no numbers for fridges, hot holding, cooling, cooking or reheating. Your own-check plan is the legal duty. The PTA guide gives these as examples in its model plan:
Chilled food: 2 to 6°C. The maker's label range wins.
Frozen food: -18°C or colder. Quick-frozen food must be at -18°C (EU Regulation 37/2005).
Cooking: meat at 75°C or more at the core, measured for 2 minutes.
Hot holding: not below 63°C and not longer than 2 hours. Hot food sent out of the kitchen stays at 63°C or more.
Cooling: 5°C or colder after 2 hours.
Reheating: 75°C or more at the core.
Deep-fry oil: below 175°C.
Thermometer check: in iced water it should read -1 to +1°C, and in boiling water 99 to 101°C.
Fridge checks: the model plan uses twice a day as its example.
Staff training plan. You need a written training plan with aims, volume, frequency and procedure. Staff get regular training that fits the job, and their knowledge is assessed (Food Act § 29). There is no state certificate, set number of hours or renewal period, so keep a training log.
Health certificate. Staff who handle food or drinking water, or clean food rooms, need a health certificate (tervisetõend) from a family doctor or occupational doctor before the first day. Keep it for the length of the job plus 1 year (Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Act, § 13). There is no routine renewal. An employer may ask a new starter for a fresh check if the old certificate is more than 2 years old, and may send a worker for an extra check after its own risk assessment.
Staff who are ill. Staff with diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, sore throat with fever, infected skin sores, or discharge from the ear, eye or nose must stop food work and tell the manager (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II). The PTA guide says they return after 48 hours without symptoms.
Allergens. For food that is not prepacked, the buyer must get information on the main allergen ingredients at the point of sale, orally or in writing, before buying. This includes food served in catering places, schools and hospitals (Ministry of Agriculture: allergens). From our notes on Regulation 24/2015 (§ 2): if the information is not in writing, an easy-to-see notice must say where to get it or to ask staff, and online or phone orders get the information before the order and at delivery. We could not re-read that regulation today, so please check it on Riigi Teataja.
Fire safety. The Fire Safety Act sets separate duties, such as service of extinguishers and fire alarms, and fire training for staff. A fire action plan and a yearly drill are required only where a fire report is required (restaurants with over 150 usual users or over 1,000 m²) (Fire Safety Act).

## 2. Who inspects you, and how often

The PTA. The Agriculture and Food Board (Põllumajandus- ja Toiduamet) is the one national food authority, with regional offices (Food Act § 47). It inspects restaurants, cafés, shops and caterers.
Risk-based and unannounced. The PTA says it checks every operator by risk, regularly and at a suitable frequency, and visits are normally not announced. We could not find a published number of months per risk class, so we do not give one.
What an inspector may check (Food Act § 49): premises, equipment, food and ingredients, cleaning, how food is handled, food information, staff hygiene and knowledge, your own-check plan and its results, and measuring devices.
After a visit. For small faults the PTA often gives an explanation and time to fix them. For serious faults it issues an order (ettekirjutus) or starts misdemeanour proceedings. Food that may be dangerous can be stopped by an order, and the public is told on the PTA website (Food Act § 49).
Closing a business. Food Act § 48 applies the measures of EU Regulation 2017/625 (Article 138), which include stopping or closing all or part of a business. We could not find a fixed number of days.
Fines. For running without the required notice, the Food Act allows fines up to EUR 2,400 for a person and EUR 3,200 for a company (Food Act, §§ 53¹ to 53⁶, read on Riigi Teataja in October 2026). Other breaches have their own caps in the same sections.

## 3. No public rating

No rating. Estonia has no public hygiene rating, sticker or score, and nothing has to be displayed in your window.
The aim is a visit with no faults. There is no star level to climb. What counts is that your system works every day and that you can show it.
What this means for you. Because nothing is scored in public, your own records are your best proof. Good records show an inspector that checks happen daily and that problems were put right.

## 4. The records inspectors ask for

The law asks for a written own-check plan and results that show it works. The PTA catering guide shows what that usually means:

Temperature sheets for fridges and freezers, cooking, hot holding, cooling and reheating.
Deliveries: chilled and frozen goods checked on arrival.
Cleaning and pest control records.
Thermometer checks in iced and boiling water.
Staff training log and the written training plan.
Health certificates for staff who handle food.
Allergen information for every dish that is not prepacked.
Corrective actions: what you did when a reading was out of range.
Test reports and audit sheets.

How long to keep them. The PTA guide says monitoring sheets are kept for 1 year, and test reports and audit sheets for at least 3 years. This is guidance. Health certificates are kept for the job plus 1 year, which is law.

## 5. Where businesses go wrong

Common record problems are easy to picture:

No written plan. The Food Act requires one.
Not sending the notice. Running without the required notice is a fineable breach.
Gaps. Days with no checks written down.
No action recorded. A fridge above its limit with nothing written about what was done.
Lost or damaged pages. Paper gets wet, greasy or thrown away.
Training not shown. Staff were trained, but there is no training plan or log.
No health certificate on file for a new starter.
Allergens not given before the sale. The information must reach the customer before they buy.

## 6. By type of business

The same food law applies to all food businesses, but the records you keep depend on what you do. We could not confirm from official pages which business types need a notice and which need a licence, apart from the points above, so ask the PTA about your case.

Restaurant: the notice to the PTA, your own-check plan, daily temperature checks, cooking and hot-holding records, cleaning, and allergen information for every dish.
Takeaway: the same as a restaurant, plus allergen information before the order and at delivery for phone and online orders.
Café: fridges and displays, cleaning, and allergen information for sandwiches, salads and cakes.
Bakery: allergen information for every product, display and fridge temperatures for cream cakes, and labels for goods you prepack.
Dessert shop: fridge and freezer temperatures for desserts and ice cream, and allergens for toppings and sauces.
Pub / bar / club: the same records as a restaurant for any food you serve. We found no separate official Estonian rule for bars.
Community hall / venue: if you serve food as a business, send the notice and keep temperature and cleaning records for each event.
Corner shop / grocery: the Ministry portal covers retail. Keep fridge and freezer checks, delivery checks, and allergen information for food you make or pack yourself.
School / nursery kitchen: school and similar canteens are on the PTA's licence list, so ask the PTA. Keep temperature and cleaning records, and careful allergen records.
Caterer / food van: send the notice and keep temperatures during transport and at the event. Hot food sent out of the kitchen stays at 63°C or more (PTA guide).
Home kitchen business: the PTA portal covers private-home activity. Send the notice like any other food business and keep the same kind of records.

## 7. Why digital records help in Estonia

No set paper format. The law requires a written plan and results, and we found no rule that records must be on paper. If you are unsure, ask the PTA.
No gaps go unnoticed. A missed check shows up the same day, not at the next inspection.
Problems come with their fix. When a reading is out of range, the record can ask what you did about it.
Nothing is lost. No wet, greasy or missing pages.
Ready for the inspector. Unannounced visits are normal, so you can show everything at once.
Every staff member can take part. Staff can record checks on a phone or tablet in their own language.

## 8. How Chef Hygiene helps

Chef Hygiene follows the Estonian rules and the PTA's guidance. What it does:

Daily checks for fridges, freezers, cooking, hot holding, cooling, cleaning and deliveries, with the time, the staff member's name and photos. Saved records cannot be changed; corrections are added as new records.
Your country's rules built in, such as the PTA guide numbers for chilled food, hot holding, cooking and reheating.
Food safety plan ("safe methods"). About 20 minutes: answer questions, check each method, sign it, set a review date and print it. Earlier versions are kept.
Ready for inspection? Checks your last 4 weeks of records the way an inspector would and shows how many are ready.
Inspector's visits log. Write down each visit: date, type and officer.
Practice inspection. A free walk round of about 10 minutes, with questions for your type of business and a "Put it right" list. It shows a likely result the Estonian way: no faults, or faults to put right.
Allergen chart and labels. Every dish against the 14 allergens, a staff view on the kitchen tablet, and labels for food prepacked for direct sale, with allergens in bold.
Staff training records.
Inspector pack. Print all your records as one pack, or share them by secure link.
40 languages. Staff can use the app in their own language, including Estonian.

## 9. A fair price, on purpose

Chef Hygiene costs €2.99 a month per site (€1.99 for bakeries, dessert shops and corner shops); the exact price is shown in your app store; unlimited staff, no contract, 14-day free trial.

We keep the price low on purpose. We want as many food businesses as possible, from a single food van to a busy restaurant, to keep good records and pass inspections.

## 10. Less paper

A paper diary means printed sheets every day. One daily sheet per kitchen is 365 sheets a year, before you count delivery forms, cleaning rotas and training records. Digital records mean no record books to buy and fewer printed forms to throw away. That is less paper and less waste, and nothing to store in a back office.

## 11. FAQ

### Do I legally need food safety records in Estonia?

Yes. The Food Act (§ 34) and Regulation 852/2004 require a written own-check plan based on HACCP, and you need results that show it is followed.

### Who inspects restaurants in Estonia?

The Agriculture and Food Board (PTA), the one national food authority, with regional offices.

### Do I need a licence to open a restaurant?

No. A normal restaurant needs a business activity notice (majandustegevusteade) to the PTA before you start, not a licence.

### Can I start before the PTA visits?

Yes. You may start after sending the notice, and the PTA inspects afterwards.

### Are inspections announced?

Normally not. They are risk-based and unannounced.

### Is there a hygiene rating in Estonia?

No. There is no public rating, sticker or score, and nothing has to be displayed.

### What happens after an inspection?

For small faults, usually an explanation and time to fix them. For serious faults, an order (ettekirjutus) or misdemeanour proceedings.

### Can the PTA close a business?

Food Act § 48 applies EU Regulation 2017/625 (Article 138), which includes stopping or closing a business. We found no fixed number of days.

### Does Estonian law set fridge temperatures?

No. The PTA catering guide gives 2 to 6°C for chilled food in its model plan, and the maker's label range wins.

### What temperature should hot food be kept at?

PTA guide: not below 63°C and not longer than 2 hours.

### What temperature should I cook food to?

PTA guide: meat at 75°C or more at the core, measured for 2 minutes.

### Are digital food safety records accepted?

The law asks for a written plan and results. We found no rule that they must be on paper. If unsure, ask the PTA.

### How long must I keep my records?

PTA guide: monitoring sheets 1 year, test reports and audit sheets at least 3 years. Health certificates: the job plus 1 year.

### Do my staff need a food hygiene certificate?

No state certificate is required. You need a written training plan, regular training that fits the job, and an assessment of staff knowledge (Food Act § 29).

### Do staff need a health certificate?

Yes. Staff who handle food or drinking water, or clean food rooms, need a health certificate (tervisetõend) before their first day. There is no routine renewal.

### Can staff work when they are ill?

Not with diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, infected skin sores and similar symptoms. The PTA guide says return after 48 hours without symptoms.

### What allergen information do I need?

For food that is not prepacked, tell the customer the main allergen ingredients before they buy, orally or in writing (Ministry of Agriculture).

### Does the allergen rule apply to online and phone orders?

From our notes on Regulation 24/2015: yes, give the information before the order and at delivery. Please check the current text on Riigi Teataja.

### Can I run a food business from my home?

The PTA portal covers private-home activity. Send the notice like any other food business.

### How much does Chef Hygiene cost in Estonia?

€2.99 a month per site (€1.99 for bakeries, dessert shops and corner shops); the exact price is shown in your app store; unlimited staff, no contract, 14-day free trial.

## 12. Official sources

Chef Hygiene keeps your Estonian food safety records ready for every inspection:

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

Get it from Microsoft

Use it in your browser