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Chef Hygiene
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France: for restaurants and takeaways

Ready for the food inspection. Every day.

In France, Chef Hygiene follows the arrêté of 21 December 2009 on food temperatures, the 14-hour hygiene training of Décret 2011-731 and EU rules, and the DDPP inspects restaurants.

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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

France: food hygiene rules

Inspection body
Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (Direction Départementale de la Protection des Populations, DDPP)
Public rating
Yes
Languages in the app
Français, English

Your inspection

The DDPP carries out official controls in restaurants. The DGAL (Direction Générale de l’Alimentation) sets national inspection policy. About 52,000 inspections a year are made in commercial restaurants.

Inspections follow risk: higher-risk places are inspected at least twice a year. A small fault brings a warning letter. A bigger fault brings an official report, a deadline for corrective measures and a re-inspection. If public health is at serious risk, the DDPP can order closure, withdraw the sanitary approval or suspend operations.

Hygiene rating

Yes. Alim’confiance publishes every official inspection result online, free for the public. It has 4 levels: Très satisfaisant, Satisfaisant, À améliorer and À corriger de manière urgente. A result stays visible for 1 year.

“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

  • LawDishes prepared in advance (préparations culinaires élaborées à l’avance): +3°C or colder.
  • LawRaw poultry and meat preparations: +4°C or colder.
  • LawMinced meat and fresh fish products: +2°C or colder.
  • LawIce cream and frozen minced meat and fish: −18°C or colder. Other frozen food: −12°C or colder. Chef Hygiene aims for −18°C and flags a freezer above −15°C.
  • LawDishes served or delivered hot: +63°C or hotter.
  • Official guidanceCooling: from +63°C to below +10°C in less than 2 hours. Annexe IV of the arrêté makes this law in collective catering. Commercial restaurants use the same numbers as good practice from the hygiene guides.
  • Official guidanceReheating: no more than 1 hour between +10°C and the serving temperature of +63°C. This is law in collective catering and good practice from the hygiene guides in restaurants.
  • Chef Hygiene defaultFrench law sets no core cooking temperature. Chef Hygiene checks against 75°C in the centre, or 70°C for 2 minutes.

Staff, training and health

  • LawCommercial restaurants, cafeterias, self-service and fast-food places need at least one person with 14 hours of food hygiene training. The rules are Décret 2011-731 and the arrêté of 5 October 2011.
  • LawYou do not need the course with 3 years of experience managing or running a food business. A recognised food hygiene diploma issued after 1 January 2006 also counts. The rule sets no renewal date.
  • LawA worker with a disease carried by food, an infected wound, a skin infection or diarrhoea must not handle food (EU Regulation 852/2004). They must tell the business operator at once.
  • Official guidanceFrench law sets no fixed time off for sick staff. The operator judges each case and keeps the person away from food until they are medically cleared.

Allergens

  • LawThe 14 EU allergens must be declared: gluten cereals, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs (Regulation 1169/2011).
  • LawFor food that is not prepacked, such as restaurant dishes, the information must be in writing (Décret 2015-447). It goes on, or right next to, the food, so there is no doubt which dish has which allergen.
  • Official guidanceA label, a menu note or a board can carry it. Staff can also explain it by voice if it is backed by written documents. Staff must be trained to give it correctly.

Fire safety checks

  • LawFire extinguishers are checked at least once a year by a qualified person or approved body. Dates go on the label and in the safety register (registre de sécurité). Extinguishers are overhauled every 10 years.
  • LawKitchen hood and ducts: cleaned at least once a year (Article GC 21 of the 1980 fire rules for public buildings). Grease filters are cleaned at least weekly, and every cleaning is written in the register.
  • LawGas installations, connections and appliances are checked every year. Chimney flues are swept at least yearly. A competent body or person does the work and the register records it.
  • LawElectrical installations are checked every year by an approved organisation or a competent person. The report goes in the safety register.
  • LawEvery restaurant keeps a safety register. It holds the emergency numbers, evacuation instructions, staff training dates and reports of all technical checks and maintenance.

Records

  • LawEvery food business except primary production needs a food safety plan (Plan de Maîtrise Sanitaire, PMS) based on HACCP principles and good hygiene practice.
  • Official guidanceThe plan covers cleaning and disinfection records, goods-in forms with temperatures, fridge and cooking temperature records, equipment maintenance, staff training, pest control and logs of problems and fixes.
  • Official guidanceKeep verification and trend records for at least 3 years. Keep food safety control records for the product’s shelf life plus 6 months (DGAL instruction).

Official sources

Checked

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

France: 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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