If you supply foods of animal origin to other food businesses, then additional legislation may apply to you, namely the requirements of Regulation 853/2004/EC laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin.

Approval

As well as extra, more specific hygiene rules, you will need to apply for approval from your inspecting authority to allow you to continue to carry out business-to-business activities.

You should discuss changes in activities with your environmental health officer to make sure that you are complying with legislation.

Marginal, localised and restricted activities (MLR)

In certain circumstances, even if you are engaged in business-to-business activities, you may be exempt from the extra hygiene rules and the requirement for approval.

If your activities meet the requirements set out in national legislation for marginal, localised and restricted activities, then you will be exempt.

In this case, the supply of food of animal origin to another retail establishment must be only a small part of your business; the establishments supplied should be situated close to (e.g. next door to) your business premises; and the supply should concern only certain types of products and only certain types of establishments.

MLR criteria that must be met

Marginal

a) your total supply of food of animal origin (to all customers including retail establishments) is on average less than 2,000 kg per week
or
b) your supply of food of animal origin to other retail establishments represents, on average, no more than 25 %, by weight, of the total supply of food of animal origin

Localised

You supply food of animal origin to other retail establishments only within 100 km of your premises

Restricted

You do not supply other retail establishments the following products prepared or processed in your establishment:

a) ready-to-eat food of animal origin,
or
b) on average, more than 250 kg per week in total of minced meat, meat preparations made from minced meat or meat products made from minced meat.

Records

In order to prove that an activity is “marginal, localised and restricted”, you must be able to produce, when requested, all documents or records which prove that the activity satisfies the criteria set out above.

You must keep these records and documents for at least two years.

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