Food hygiene in Portugal: implementing Reg. (EC) 852/2004

This page is the hub for Portugal's implementation of Reg. (EC) 852/2004. It gives the overall picture and links to the detail pages and the other jurisdictions covered in the countries pillar.

The division of powers

Unlike strongly decentralised States, Portugal has a unitary administrative structure. On food safety, two main authorities operate. ASAE (Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica) carries out, in particular, official controls, inspections and enforcement in the field of food and economic safety. DGAV (Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária) is the veterinary and food authority, competent in particular for the animal-origin chain and for the approval of establishments. In our view, what most often confuses newcomers is telling apart the level of the European obligation — single and uniform — from the level of the actual counterpart, which depends on the type of establishment.

Registration and licensing of the establishment

Reg. 852/2004 requires every food business operator to notify each establishment to the competent authority for registration Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. In Portugal this obligation is implemented through the licensing or communication regime applicable to the activity: for much retail trade and catering the channel is a prior communication (mera comunicação prévia) or a licence with the authority having territorial competence, while upstream establishments follow their own regimes. We do not invent numbers, deadlines or costs here: the precise channel and paperwork must be checked on the portals of ASAE and DGAV (verified as of 2026-07-12). The distinction between registration and approval is explained in the concept registration vs approval: establishments handling products of animal origin may be subject to approval under Reg. (EC) 853/2004 Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, which falls to DGAV.

Self-checking and training

Every food business must put in place self-checking procedures based on HACCP principles Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, governed by Article 5, and ensure the training of staff who handle food, under Annex II, Chapter XII Annex II, Chapter XII, point 1 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. In Portugal training is the food business's responsibility, in line with the scheme of the regulation; the operational picture is covered in HACCP training in Portugal.

Official controls and competent authorities

Official controls are organised under Reg. (EU) 2017/625 Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which repealed the earlier Reg. (EC) 854/2004 and 882/2004. In Portugal controls are carried out in particular by ASAE, while DGAV acts as the veterinary and food authority, in particular for establishments of animal origin. Registration with the competent authority is governed by Article 6. For a comparison with a concurrent-competence health model, see the Italy page; for a strongly decentralised model, the Spain page. A systematic comparison is available in the country-comparison tool.