Food Business Certifications & Requirements

To prepare and sell food goods, there are rules and regulations that must be followed in order to prevent foodborne illness. These regulatory standards may vary by county or even by the method of production or packaging. The numerous guidelines can be difficult to understand—but we’re here to help you navigate these rules to ensure you are in compliance.

 Food Business Permit Types

Whether you want to sell your products through a retailer or farmers market, start a food truck, or are focused on creating a catering business, the Food Team at Local First Arizona can help steer you in the right direction when applying for your food business permit. Some permit types required for food businesses include: Click here for all the permit types and descriptions.

• Food Processor - Food businesses that want to make and sell products to targeted customers or in retail spaces

• Food Caterer - Private chefs, meal preppers, and off-site events

• Mobile Food Businesses:

  • Mobile Food I: Examples include Ice creams trucks/carts, cold trucks, farmers markets booths, selling commercially prepared and packaged foods

  • Mobile Food II: Examples include hot dog carts, coffee carts, shaved ice carts, kettle corn carts, etc.

  • Mobile Food III: Permits for food trucks or “enclosed vehicle-mounted food establishments that prepare, cook, hold and serve food”

• Annual Event Food Establishment: Food businesses interested in hosting a variety of events like farmers markets, swap meets, and school fundraisers will also need to go through the process of securing an event food establishment permit

The above information is for Maricopa County. Each county in Arizona has its own operational requirements. For more information about the other counties in Arizona click on the following links: Pinal, La Paz, Coconino, Mohave, Graham, Pima, Apache, Santa Cruz, Navajo, Cochise, Yavapai, Gila, Greenlee, and Yuma. 

Additionally, some food production methods require an environmental variance. This applies to products that will undergo a canning or a reduced oxygen packaging process. Products like juices and syrups that undergo bottling to extend the shelf life, products that undergo a fermentation process, or any type of curing or smoking to create a shelf stable product are examples of food items that require the additional variance and sometimes a HACCP plan. A HACCP plan helps identify the potential physical, chemical, and biological hazards connected to food processing, packaging, and storing.

Additional Requirements

Aside from the correct permitting, there is also required training for those in the food handling and production space. At a minimum, food handler training is necessary regardless of the product you are making. Of the 48 million annual cases of foodborne illnesses in the United States, the majority of these cases can be prevented. Food handler training can help to cover some of the basics of safe food handling. Maricopa County will soon require further instruction on obtaining Food Safety Manager certification. This advanced certification requires in-depth training and classroom instruction. 

Local First Arizona will soon offer ServSafe certifications by providing classroom instruction and test proctoring—stay tuned! If you would like to learn more about ServSafe click here.