Food Safety Records in Italy: Laws, ASL Inspections and Allergens

Italian food safety records explained: the law, ASL and NAS inspections, HACCP, allergens, the records inspectors ask for and how digital records help.

2026-10-31 · Chef Hygiene

Do food businesses in Italy need food safety records? Yes. Every food business must have self-check procedures (autocontrollo) based on HACCP principles, and not having them, or not applying them correctly, is fined under D.Lgs. 193/2007. The local health authority (ASL) inspects, through its food hygiene service (SIAN), and the Carabinieri NAS can inspect too. Italy has no public hygiene rating or sticker. This page explains the Italian 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. Where the law sets no number and a number comes from regional or health-authority guidance, we say so. Many rules in Italy are set by the region, so check with your own ASL as well.

## Contents

The law: what every Italian 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 Italy
How Chef Hygiene helps
A fair price, on purpose
Less paper
FAQ
Official sources

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

The main laws. EU Regulation 852/2004 on food hygiene, with the Italian penalty rules in D.Lgs. 193/2007, and D.Lgs. 231/2017 for allergens. Official controls follow EU Regulation 2017/625 and D.Lgs. 27/2021.
Notify the ASL before you open. A new food business notifies the ASL through the town's one-stop desk for businesses, the SUAP (Regulation 852/2004, art. 6; Impresa in un giorno). Not notifying the ASL for registration can be fined €1,500 to €9,000 (D.Lgs. 193/2007, art. 6). Forms differ by region, so ask your SUAP which one to use.
Self-check (HACCP) procedures. You must put in place and keep permanent procedures based on HACCP principles, with records that fit the size of the business (Regulation 852/2004, art. 5). Having none, or not applying them correctly, is fined €1,000 to €6,000 (D.Lgs. 193/2007, art. 6). Breaking the general hygiene rules of Annex II can be fined €500 to €3,000.
Bad state of preservation. Selling food in a bad state of preservation is a crime (Law 283/1962, art. 5, kept in force by D.Lgs. 27/2021).
Temperatures: mostly guidance. The law sets few numbers. Check with your ASL and region:
Quick-frozen food: -18°C or colder in every part of the product, with short rises of up to 3°C in transport and display (D.Lgs. 110/1992, art. 4). This is law.
Chilled food: Italian and EU law do not give one number for restaurants. Health authorities use a cold chain of 4°C (AUSL Bologna) or 0 to 4°C (ATS Brianza). Older national rules on this are disputed since 2021, so ask your ASL.
Hot food: 60 to 65°C, and not below 60°C when served (Regione Veneto, 2021). This is regional guidance.
Cooking and reheating: no law sets a core temperature. Regione Veneto gives 75°C in the centre as an example for cooking and at least 70°C for reheating. ATS Brianza says 75°C for reheating.
Cooling: the law only says to cool food as quickly as possible. Regione Veneto (2021) says, with a blast chiller, 10°C in the centre within 2 hours, then 4°C within 2 more hours.
Deliveries: suppliers must keep meat at 7°C or colder, offal 3°C, poultry 4°C, mince 2°C and meat preparations 4°C (Regulation 853/2004).
Staff training. Italian national law sets no hygiene certificate, number of hours or renewal. The business must make sure staff are supervised and instructed or trained for their work, and that whoever runs the HACCP procedures is trained in HACCP (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II). Each region sets its own rules.
The old health booklet (libretto sanitario) ended nationally in March 2021 (D.Lgs. 27/2021, art. 18).
Lombardy: the business trains its own staff, with no hours set (regional law LR 33/2009, art. 126).
Emilia-Romagna: since 26 July 2025 there is no regional course. The business decides how to train its staff.
Tuscany (DGR 540/2024): everyone does a 2-hour Module A. Cooks, pizza makers, bakers and bartenders (level 2) add a 4-hour Module B. Owners and HACCP managers add an 8-hour Module C. Level 2 staff and managers do a refresher of at least 3 hours every 5 years.
We checked only these three regions. For others, ask your ASL or region.
Staff who are ill. Anyone with a disease that can pass through food, infected wounds, skin infections, sores or diarrhoea must not handle food if there is any chance of contamination, and must tell the business at once (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II). We found no extra Italian national rule on this.
Allergens. For food that is not prepacked and is served by restaurants and other mass caterers, the 14 EU allergens must be shown (D.Lgs. 231/2017, art. 19). The information is linked to each dish and given before it is served. Choose one way:
Put it on the menu, in a register, on a sign or in another system kept well in view. A digital system is allowed, but the same information must also be in written documents that the inspector and the guest can easily find.
Or put a notice on the menu, register or sign that tells guests to ask staff. The written allergen documents must then be easy to find for the inspector and the guest.
The information must be in Italian, clear and readable (art. 19(10)). Other languages may be added.
Allergen fines (D.Lgs. 231/2017, art. 23). No allergen information: €3,000 to €24,000. Information given in the wrong way: €1,000 to €8,000. Formal faults only: €500 to €4,000.

## 2. Who inspects you, and how often

The ASL. The local health authority (ASL, Azienda Sanitaria Locale) inspects restaurants through its food hygiene service, the SIAN. The ASL veterinary services cover food of animal origin. The ASL has other names in some regions: ATS in Lombardy, ULSS in Veneto and ASP in Sicily.
The Carabinieri NAS. The NAS is a health unit of the Carabinieri that works for the Ministry of Health. It can inspect food businesses and tells the ASL what it finds (Carabinieri).
How often. Visits are based on risk (Regulation 2017/625). We could not confirm an official fixed visit schedule for restaurants, so we do not give one.
What can happen. The ASL can order the business to stop all or part of its activity (Regulation 2017/625, art. 138). Fines are in section 1.

## 3. No public rating

No rating or sticker. Italy has no public hygiene rating, star scheme or window sticker for restaurants. We found no national scheme.
Results are not published per business. You do not have to display your last inspection report.
What this means for you. There is no score to improve, but an inspector can still fine you or stop your activity. Good records show the ASL that your system works every day.

## 4. The records inspectors ask for

The law asks for records that fit your business. Guidance from health authorities points to these:

Temperature logs for fridges, freezers, cooking, hot holding and cooling.
Cleaning logs and pest control reports.
Supplier and batch records for traceability.
Staff training records.
Your HACCP documents: the hazards you found, the critical points, how you check them and what you do when a check fails.
Allergen information for every dish, in writing, in Italian.

How long to keep them. No national keeping period exists. EU law says "an appropriate period" (Regulation 852/2004, art. 5). In Tuscany, a business that runs its own staff courses keeps the course papers at least 10 years (DGR 540/2024).

## 5. Where businesses go wrong

No HACCP procedures, or a plan on paper that staff do not follow. Both can be fined.
Gaps. Days with no checks written down.
No action recorded. A fridge reading that is too warm with nothing written about what was done.
Training not shown. Staff were trained, but nothing proves it.
Allergens only by word of mouth. The law asks for written allergen information that the inspector and guests can easily find, even if you use the "ask staff" notice.
Allergen information not in Italian.
Not notifying the ASL through the SUAP before opening.

## 6. By type of business

The EU rules are the same for every food business, but the records you keep depend on what you do. We found no official Italian rule that treats these types differently, except the Tuscany training modules.

Restaurant: daily checks, cooking, hot-holding and cooling records, deliveries, cleaning, and written allergen information for every dish.
Takeaway: the same as a restaurant. The allergen rule in art. 19 applies to mass caterers serving food that is not prepacked.
Café: fridges and displays, cleaning, and written allergen information for sandwiches, pastries and salads.
Bakery / cake shop: allergen records for every product, display temperatures for cream cakes, and labels for goods you pack.
Dessert shop: fridge and freezer temperatures for desserts and ice cream, and allergens for toppings and sauces.
Pub / bar / club: records for any food you serve. In Tuscany, bartenders are in the level 2 group that takes Module B.
Community hall / venue: if you serve food as a business, notify the ASL through the SUAP; keep temperature and cleaning records for each event. We could not confirm special rules for occasional events, so ask your ASL.
Corner shop / grocery: fridge and freezer checks and delivery checks. We could not confirm the rule for food you pack yourself, so ask your ASL.
School / nursery kitchen: temperature and cleaning records, and careful allergen records for every child.
Caterer / food van: notify the ASL through the SUAP, and keep temperature records during transport and at the event. We could not confirm separate rules for vans, so ask your ASL.
Home kitchen business: we could not confirm an Italian rule for home kitchens. Ask your SUAP and ASL before you start.

## 7. Why digital records help in Italy

Accepted in the EU. The European Commission's guidance on HACCP flexibility (notice 2022/C 355/01) supports records in the form that suits the business. We found no separate Italian page that says the same, so ask your ASL if you are unsure.
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.
Ready for the ASL. You can show everything at once, instead of looking for folders.
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 Italian rules and the guidance of regions and health authorities. 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 quick-frozen food at -18°C or colder.
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. Italy has no rating, so it shows what an ASL inspector may raise.
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. The app works in Italian, and staff can use it in their own language.

## 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. Staff are unlimited, there is no contract, and there is a 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 Italy?

Yes. You need self-check (autocontrollo) procedures based on HACCP principles, with records that fit your business (Regulation 852/2004, art. 5). Having none is fined €1,000 to €6,000 (D.Lgs. 193/2007).

### Who inspects restaurants in Italy?

The local health authority (ASL) through its food hygiene service (SIAN). The Carabinieri NAS can also inspect and tells the ASL what it finds.

### Do I have to tell the ASL before I open?

Yes. You notify the ASL through the town's SUAP desk before opening. Not notifying can be fined €1,500 to €9,000.

### Is there a hygiene rating in Italy?

No. There is no public rating or sticker, and results are not published per business.

### What can the ASL do after an inspection?

It can order the business to stop all or part of its activity. Fines are set in D.Lgs. 193/2007, for example €500 to €3,000 for breaking the general hygiene rules.

### Are digital food safety records accepted?

EU guidance supports records in a form that suits the business. We found no separate Italian page that says so directly, so ask your ASL if you are unsure.

### How long must I keep my records?

No national period exists. EU law says "an appropriate period". In Tuscany, course papers from your own staff training are kept at least 10 years.

### What temperature must my fridge be?

Italian law gives no single number for restaurants. Health authorities use 4°C (AUSL Bologna) or 0 to 4°C (ATS Brianza). This is guidance. Quick-frozen food at -18°C or colder is law.

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

Regione Veneto guidance (2021): 60 to 65°C, and not below 60°C when served.

### What temperature should I cook or reheat food to?

No law sets a number. Regione Veneto gives 75°C in the centre for cooking as an example and at least 70°C for reheating. ATS Brianza says 75°C for reheating.

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

No national law requires one, and the old health booklet ended in March 2021. Each region sets its own training rules; for example, Tuscany has Modules A, B and C.

### What allergen information do I need?

For each dish, the allergens shown before it is served, on the menu, a register, a sign or a digital system, in Italian. Or a notice telling guests to ask staff, with written allergen documents that are easy to find (D.Lgs. 231/2017, art. 19).

### What are the fines for allergen mistakes?

No allergen information: €3,000 to €24,000. Information given in the wrong way: €1,000 to €8,000. Formal faults only: €500 to €4,000 (art. 23).

### Can staff work when they are ill?

Not if they have diarrhoea, infected wounds, skin infections or a disease that can pass through food, and there is a chance of contamination (Regulation 852/2004).

### Do I need to register a food van or home business?

You notify the ASL through the SUAP like any other food business. We could not confirm separate Italian rules for vans or home kitchens, so ask your SUAP and ASL.

### Does the app work in Italian?

Yes. The app works in Italian, and in 39 other languages for your staff.

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

€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 Italian food safety records ready for every inspection:

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