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Germany: for restaurants and takeaways

Ready for the food inspection. Every day.

In Germany the app follows the food hygiene law (LFGB, LMHV, IfSG), EU Regulation 852/2004 and the BfR’s guidance; the food control office of your district or city inspects.

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The Chef Hygiene app on a computer: the home screen of a kitchen with its daily checksThe Chef Hygiene app on a phone: the home screen of a kitchen with its daily checks

Germany: food hygiene rules

Inspection body
Food control office of the district or city (Lebensmittelüberwachung, also called Veterinär- und Lebensmittelüberwachungsamt)
Public rating
No
Languages in the app
Deutsch, English

Your inspection

Food control is a task of each federal state (Land). In practice the food control office of the district or city (Lebensmittelüberwachung) inspects restaurants. The federal office BVL only coordinates and does not inspect restaurants.

Visits are based on risk. As a rule they are not announced. The authority can order tests and ban sales until the results come in. EU law also lets it stop all or part of a business’s activities. Fines run up to €100,000, €50,000 or €20,000 depending on the rule broken, and serious cases can be crimes.

Hygiene rating

There is no hygiene rating, sticker or duty to display a result in any Land. When hygiene rules were broken badly or repeatedly and a fine of at least €350 is expected, the Land publishes the business name and the breach online for 6 months.

“Law” is a binding rule. “Official guidance” is not law, but inspectors expect it. “Chef Hygiene default” is a value the app checks against where no rule gives a number.

Temperatures

  • Official guidanceChef Hygiene checks fridges against 4°C as the aim and 7°C as the limit for chilled food and cold dishes. This follows BfR guidance and DIN 10508; German law sets no general fridge number for restaurants.
  • Official guidanceRaw meat, poultry, mince and fresh fish: 2°C or colder when the label says nothing (BfR guidance). DIN 10508 says fresh fish at 2°C or on melting ice.
  • LawA storage temperature on a product’s label always applies.
  • LawMince made in your kitchen (Tier-LMHV Annex 5): use meat at 7°C or colder, poultry at 4°C, offal at 3°C. If it is not served where it was made, wrap it at once and chill it to 2°C in the core (mince) or 4°C (meat preparations), or freeze it to −18°C.
  • LawFrozen food: −18°C or colder. A short rise of at most 3°C is allowed in transport and shop freezers (TLMV § 2, the law for quick-frozen food).
  • Chef Hygiene defaultChef Hygiene checks hot food against 65°C, the stricter value. The BfR advises 60°C or hotter at every point (2020) and no more than 3 hours; older DIN 10508 and many local sheets say 65°C.
  • Official guidanceCooling: from 65°C to 10°C within 2 hours (DIN 10508 and local food control sheets). EU law only says to cool food as quickly as possible.
  • Official guidanceCooking and reheating: 72°C in the centre for at least 2 minutes (BfR guidance, 2024). No German law sets this number.
  • LawDeliveries: suppliers must keep mince at 2°C or colder, poultry and meat preparations at 4°C, offal at 3°C, other meat at 7°C, and fresh fish near melting ice (Regulation 853/2004). Frozen food stays at −18°C; Chef Hygiene flags frozen deliveries above −15°C.

Staff, training and health

  • LawIfSG certificate: before the first day of food work, every worker needs a certificate from the health office (Gesundheitsamt) or a doctor it commissions. It must be no older than 3 months at the start and has no expiry date (IfSG § 43).
  • LawInstruction by the employer: after the start and then every 2 years, you instruct staff on work bans and the duty to report illness, and you document it. Keep the certificate and the last record (IfSG § 43). Employing someone without the certificate can cost up to €25,000.
  • LawAnyone who makes, handles or sells perishable food needs food hygiene training (LMHV § 4). The law sets no hours, certificate or renewal, but you must be able to show proof on request.
  • Official guidanceMunich’s food control office asks you to write down who was trained, when, on what topics and by whom, at hiring and at least once a year.
  • LawSick staff: nobody may work in a restaurant kitchen while ill with, or suspected of, typhoid, paratyphoid, cholera, shigellosis, salmonellosis, other infectious gastroenteritis or hepatitis A or E. The same applies with infected wounds or skin disease. Staff must tell the employer at once (IfSG §§ 42, 43).

Allergens

  • LawThe 14 EU allergens: cereals with gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs.
  • LawFor food that is not prepacked, tell guests before the sale, in German. Do it in writing (menu, sign, notice or screen) (LMIDV § 4).
  • LawTelling guests by word of mouth is allowed only if a written or electronic ingredient record exists, the authority and guests can see it on request, and a clear notice says so (LMIDV § 4).
  • LawSome additives must also be named on menus, for example “mit Farbstoff” (with colouring) and “mit Konservierungsstoff” (with preservative) (LMZDV § 5).

Fire safety checks

  • Official guidanceFire extinguishers are serviced every 2 years by a competent person, and the result is documented (ASR A2.2). Fryers and woks need a class F extinguisher (BGN guidance).
  • Official guidanceKitchen hood and grease filters are checked every working day. Ducts, fan and interlocks are checked every 6 months, and an exhaust test is done every year (BGN, VDI 2052, DGUV Regel 110-003).
  • Official guidanceGas appliances and their flame-failure devices get a function check every year. The owner also looks over the whole gas installation every year (BGN, DGUV Regel 110-003).
  • LawLiquefied gas (LPG) must be tested by a competent person: fixed installations at least every 4 years, mobile ones every 2 years, and every year in a room below ground (BetrSichV, Annex 3).
  • Official guidanceA qualified electrician tests the fixed electrical installation every 4 years. Portable appliances are tested about every 6 months, at most yearly if few faults are found (DGUV Regel 110-003).

Records

  • LawYou need food safety procedures based on HACCP principles (EU Regulation 852/2004, art. 5). German food hygiene law (LMHV) has no separate HACCP rules.
  • Official guidanceThe recognised national guide for restaurants is DEHOGA’s “Leitlinie für eine Gute Hygienepraxis in der Gastronomie” (3rd edition, 2022). It is sold and not free.
  • LawKeep your monitoring records, for example temperatures, cleaning and deliveries, for an appropriate period (Regulation 852/2004). Restaurants record who supplied what, but not their guests.
  • Official guidanceKeep equipment test records at least until the next test, and for LPG installations for their whole life (BGN guidance).

Official sources

Checked

This page is general information, not legal advice. Check with your local authority.

Germany: the Chef Hygiene app

The app loads these rules for your kitchen, checks your records against them and keeps proof for the inspector.

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