Available now in 50 countries, following each country’s own food hygiene rules.

Chef Hygiene
Menu

Denmark: for restaurants and takeaways

Ready for the food inspection. Every day.

Chef Hygiene follows the Danish hygiene order (BEK 1331/2025) and the hygiene guide VEJ 9700/2025 of the Danish Veterinary and Food Authority (Fødevarestyrelsen), which inspects and publishes the Smiley result.

Coming soonApp StoreGet it onGoogle PlayGet it fromWindowsOpen theWeb app

14 days free · one price per site · no contract

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

Denmark: food hygiene rules

Inspection body
Danish Veterinary and Food Authority (Fødevarestyrelsen)
Public rating
Yes
Languages in the app
Dansk, English

Your inspection

One national authority inspects: Fødevarestyrelsen (the Danish Veterinary and Food Authority), part of the Ministry of Business. It works through three food units: East, South and North. The inspector checks your self-check (egenkontrol), the premises and your papers.

Visits are unannounced. Most restaurants and cafés get sample-based control chosen by a risk model, with no fixed rhythm: firms with problems get more visits. The inspector can take samples and photos and hold back food. Sanctions are a warning, an order, a ban, an administrative fine, a police report or loss of approval. After a warning you pay for 1 follow-up visit, and after an order, ban or fine for 2.

Hygiene rating

Yes: the public Smiley scheme (BEK 1225/2024). A glad smiley means no remarks. A smiley with a straight mouth means a warning, order or ban. A sad smiley means a fine, a police report or loss of approval. The smiley sign must hang at every public entrance, and the last 4 results are on findsmiley.dk.

“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

  • LawFridge: the air must be 5°C or colder for cooked and cooled dishes, minced meat, meat preparations, fresh poultry, food with cream and milk products (BEK 1331/2025, § 25 and annex 3).
  • LawOther chilled limits in the order: 10°C for mayonnaise salads with pH above 4,5 and for fish semi-preserves, and 12°C for eggs. If the label says colder, follow the label.
  • LawFresh fish and cooked shellfish: keep them on ice or at 2°C at most (EU Regulation 853/2004, which the authority applies to restaurants).
  • LawFreezer: −18°C or colder for deep-frozen food (BEK 1194/2005, § 5). A short rise of up to 3°C is allowed during local delivery.
  • LawCooking and reheating: 75°C in the whole food needs no extra documentation (BEK 1331/2025, § 26). A lower temperature needs your own proof that it is safe.
  • Official guidanceFish: the hygiene guide accepts 60°C in the centre for at least 1 minute.
  • LawHot holding: at least 56°C everywhere in the food, with no time limit (BEK 1331/2025, § 29). This has been the rule since 1 January 2026. The old limit was 65°C.
  • Official guidanceCooling: from 56°C to 10°C within 4 hours, then into the fridge at 5°C (hygiene guide VEJ 9700/2025). The law only says as fast as possible.
  • Official guidanceChilled food taken out of the fridge for preparing, plating or a buffet: 3 hours at most in all. Leftovers are normally thrown away (hygiene guide).

Staff, training and health

  • Official guidanceThere is no food hygiene certificate, no set hours and no renewal. Staff must be instructed or trained in food handling and personal hygiene. Training by a colleague is often enough (hygiene guide VEJ 9700/2025, chapter 23).
  • Official guidanceWhoever builds the self-check must be trained in HACCP (a food safety system), in proportion to the size of the business. The firm chooses who and which course.
  • LawStaff with an illness food can carry (vomiting, diarrhoea, skin or throat infection) may not handle food or enter food areas. They must tell the manager.
  • Official guidanceA person should come back at least 48 hours after the symptoms stop. There is no health check or health certificate.

Allergens

  • LawThe 14 EU allergens must be declared. For food that is not prepacked, the information can be written or given by staff in words (BEK 1355/2015, § 13).
  • LawIf the allergens are not written on the menu or by the food, a visible sign must say that allergen information is available from staff on request. For online orders, the notice also goes on the website.
  • LawYou need no sign if staff ask every customer about allergies first. You must be able to show what each dish contains, including sauces and spice mixes.

Fire safety checks

  • Official guidanceFire extinguishers: a check every year by a competent person, with a label showing year, month and signature. A pressure test is needed every 5 years, and every 10 years for CO2 extinguishers (building regulation BR18 guide, chapter 7).
  • Official guidanceKitchen: at least 1 suitable extinguisher, a fire blanket where you fry (checked every year), and a fat extinguisher of type 75 F or higher no more than 30 m away.
  • LawFire inspection (brandsyn) by the municipal rescue service is free. It is every year for rooms for more than 150 people, and every 2 years for 51 to 150 people only if the municipality decides (BEK 2341/2021).
  • LawElectrics: in a restaurant for more than 150 people, an authorised electrician checks the installation every 24 months. The certificate must be shown to guests (BEK 1119/2019).
  • LawGas: a kitchen is class 6 (large kitchen). You need a written operation and maintenance plan that sets how often it is checked (BEK 247/2018). Gas cooking appliances may only run while the extraction runs.

Records

  • LawYour self-check (egenkontrol) is based on HACCP: a written risk analysis and a written programme for the critical points. Good working practices can be given in words. All must be at the premises, on paper or digital (EU Regulation 852/2004, article 5).
  • Official guidanceTraceability records (supplier, goods, date, quantity, such as invoices or delivery notes) are always needed. Keep them 5 years as a starting point.
  • Official guidanceKeep self-check records for a suitable period. The guidance gives no number of months. Review the self-check once a year as a rule.

Official sources

Checked

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

Denmark: the Chef Hygiene app

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

Coming soonApp StoreGet it onGoogle PlayGet it fromWindowsOpen theWeb app

Other countries

Countries