The way is paved to prepare and sell ready meals at home

In recent years, many business models have made their way into very complicated sectors, such as the case of sharing the use of private cars to travel with other people or the rental of houses or rooms for days that is carried out with holiday homes.

In this line, since last December 22, 2022, a regulatory change has been in force that opens the door for private households to prepare food and market it.

Until now, some of the intrepid people who took risks did so by putting all their hopes in Chapter III of the European Regulation 852/2004, related to the hygiene of food products, but now the Government has approved Royal Decree 1021/2022, of December 13, which sets the specific requirements for the preparation of food in premises that are mainly used as private housing.

Responsible declaration at the start of activity and registration

It is established that to start the activity, registration must be made in the registry of the Autonomous Community with a responsible declaration, which reflects:

• The time when the operation is to be performed.
• Products that are going to be made.
• Plan of the house that reflects the rooms or areas destined to said activity.
• Commitment to assume the obligations to submit to the official controls carried out by the competent authorities.
• Commitment to have the documentary justification to prove that the 100 kilograms per week are not exceeded.

It is a retail trade

The areas of the house that are destined to the elaboration of food will have the consideration of establishment of retail trade, both this regulation and for the rest of the regulations.

It should not be lost sight of, that in general bakeries or prepared food stores are considered a retail trade.

What foods can be prepared?

There is a list of foods that can be prepared, of course, without exceeding 100 kilograms per week and adding to the rest of the labeling the legend "Made in a private home" and the date of preparation:

• Prepared meals subjected to sufficient heat treatment to ensure the safety of these.
• Bakery and pastry products stable at room temperature.
• Jams, jams and jellies, provided that after packaging they are subjected to a thermal treatment that guarantees their safety.
• Canned fruits, vegetables or vegetables, as long as they have a pH lower than 4.5.
• Other foods that the competent authorities of the autonomous communities allow in their territories.

It cannot be consumed in the house

The regulations set a series of conditions to be respected as to how processed foods are sold:

• They will not be able to be supplied in the in the establishment itself. They can only be supplied to the consumer directly in occasional or periodic markets, or by home delivery.
• They will not be able to be served for consumption in the house
• They may not be supplied to collectives, or at events, or to other retail establishments.
• They may not be frozen, nor may the raw materials used to make them. Only raw materials purchased already frozen may be kept in freezing

And now, what will the Autonomous Communities and the Municipalities do?

The regulatory framework is already in place, now it remains to be seen how it will work in practice, when the housing registration begins to be requested and previous communications of activity are submitted to the city councils, which also have to apply more regulations apart from this one.

It is the local urban planning areas that have the powers to process and inspect everything related to economic activities and the regional governments in charge of enforcing sanitary and food safety regulations, in this case, in private homes, which, will they be able to enter to inspect without a court order?, I don't think so.

And the fact is that the new regulations say things as difficult to control as for example:

• "When food intended for sale is prepared in the same facilities as those intended for private domestic consumption, at least a temporary separation will be necessary and when it is necessary to avoid the risk of contamination, a spatial separation of the different activities and products"
• "During the preparation of food intended for sale, access by people outside this activity to the areas of the house intended for processing will not be allowed"

In any case, we must not lose sight of the fact that Spain is a unique country, at the head of Europe in terms of unemployment, debt, shadow economy and picaresque. Therefore, to regulate in this sense is to draw a very fine line that can make a local who has made a powerful investment compete with a home exercising the activity on a subsistence basis.

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Zixin Yuan - Digital Marketing Coordinator at ÉLITER Packaging Machinery Website: https://www.eliter-packaging.com