Food Business Verification

Food Business Inspections and Grading - Man inspecting Freezer.

Once a food business is registered with Council, the first verification needs to happen within 6 weeks of the food business registration certificate being issued. 

Food businesses operating under a template Food Control Plan (FCP) will have their verification carried out by a Horowhenua District Council verifier. 

Food businesses operating under a National Programme (NP) will need to provide a letter from their confirmed third-party verifier when they register their food business.  Horowhenua District Council is not an approved National Programme verifier at this time.

A list of approved third-party verifiers can be accessed on the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) website.

How long does a FCP verification take, & what is the cost?

Verification is a way to make sure a food business is selling safe food, and following good safety practices.

How long a verification visit takes depends on the size of a food business and the processes they use.  Generally, it will take between 1.5 hours and 3 hours onsite plus extra time if there are things a business needs to fix or improve on. 

The cost of a verification reflects the time it takes to complete the verification visit, any follow-up visits and to write the verification report.

See our Environmental Health - Fees & Charges page for more information.

Food Grading Policy 

Council has a Food Businesses Grading Policy that supports our role in monitoring and enforcing legislation and regulations governing food businesses. A list of food businesses and their grades is available for downloading below.

Food Businesses Grades List - January 2022(PDF, 40KB)

Find more information about the policy on the Food Premises Grading Policy page.

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