Food safety Haumarutanga kai

To sell food you need to have a registration under the Food Act 2014.

Businesses that need a food registration certificate to sell food include:

• restaurants, cafes and takeaway shops
• dairies, supermarkets and online stores
• food stalls and food trucks
• food manufacturers and growers, like brewers or honey producers
• transport businesses that handle food.

To apply for a registration first you need to work out the level of registration you need.

Find out which level applies to you

From 1 July 2025, MPI will begin charging - via councils - a new levy (mandatory fee) for all food businesses. The new levy was created under the new legislation and is for MPI to complete (at a national level) education, support to meet food safety standards, increased monitoring and enforcement, national campaigns and updated rules and standards.

The levy is a compulsory annual charge for each food business being phased in over three years (increasing each year) and includes an $11 administration fee.

More information about the levy is available on MPI's website.

Home-based cakemakers and/or decorators of shelf-stable cakes

If you make or decorate shelf-stable cakes in a home kitchen and sell them directly to an end user customer, then you are now exempt from registration under the Food Act.

However, please note that the following conditions apply to the exemption:

• The cakes must be shelf-stable, meaning that they can be safely stored at room temperature until they are eaten, or is safe to eat after being stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days
• The cakes must be made in and sold from a home kitchen
• The cakes cannot be sold to another food business or person for retail sale
• You need to be able to recall any unsafe or unsuitable product

The exemption also means that your food business is not subject to verification. However, you still need to comply with section 14 of the Act, which requires you to produce safe and suitable food for human consumption. 

Please refer to the Food Notice for the definition of ‘shelf-stable cakes’.