Hygiene and HACCP · EU · AT · DE

Own checks

Own checks means you check, yourself and continuously, that your business complies with food law, and you put shortcomings right. They include good hygiene practice and HACCP-based procedures. EU-wide, the obligation follows from Article 17 of Regulation 178/2002; Austria also names it in § 21 LMSVG. The authority assesses how reliable your own checks are.

Legal basis

EU — applies in Austria and Germany: Reg. (EC) 178/2002 Art. 17(1): operators ensure that food meets the requirements “and shall verify that such requirements are met”. Primary responsibility lies with the operator (Reg. 852/2004 Art. 1).12
EU — applies in Austria and Germany: Reg. (EU) 2017/625 Art. 9: how often the authority inspects also depends on the reliability and the results of the own checks.3
AT — Austria: § 21 LMSVG: comply with the rules, check compliance through own checks and remedy shortcomings or reduce risks.4
DE — Germany: No national provision uses this term; Art. 17 of Reg. 178/2002 applies directly. Authorities such as Munich’s food control expect the records to be kept on site (information sheet, not law).15

What the inspector wants to see

Are the records of your own checks available in the business?5
Cleaning: which rooms when, by whom, and who is responsible?5
Temperatures: which equipment when, what action on a deviation, which repair company?5
Which checks have you introduced, and with what results?6

Common mistakes

Lists kept, but nothing done about deviations.47
The records are in the office or with a third party instead of in the business.5
No responsible person named for any area.5

Practise, read, print

The guide is in German for now.

Practise · 5 minWhat inspectors want to see GuideHACCP-Checkliste für die Gastronomie

Sources

We read every source in the original on the date shown and checked it against the text: EU law in its German-language version, the links lead to the English one. All sources and what has changed (in German)

1Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law), Art. 17(1) · checked 23 September 2026
2Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, Art. 1(1)(a), (d) and (e) · checked 23 September 2026
3Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on official controls, Art. 9(1) and (4) · checked 23 September 2026
4AT — applies in AustriaLebensmittelsicherheits- und Verbraucherschutzgesetz (LMSVG), the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Act, Austria, § 21 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
5DE — applies in GermanyCity of Munich, food control: information sheet on a business’s own checks (as of May 2026), points 1–6 · in German, checked 23 September 2026
6Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on official controls, Art. 14(a)–(d) · checked 23 September 2026
7Commission Notice 2022/C 355/01 on good hygiene practice and HACCP (guidance, not law), Annex II, point 11 (documentation) · checked 23 September 2026

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