Registration and Licensing Mandatory for All Food Businesses from November 1
The Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has made registration and licensing mandatory for specified categories of food businesses and food products in the country, with the aim of protecting public health, ensuring safe food and establishing discipline in the food trade. After the new regulations, titled the Safe Food (Registration and Licence) Regulations, 2026, were published in the government gazette earlier this year, the authority has called on all food traders and establishments concerned to apply for the required registration and licences from the start of next month.
Under the Safe Food Act, 2013, and the Safe Food (Registration and Licence) Regulations, 2026, four categories of food business must obtain a business licence, a premises licence, a licence for manufactured and imported products, and registration of licensed products. The regulations also provide for registration for 16 specified categories of food business and food establishment.
Licence needed even for pavement food stalls
Under this, everyone involved in the food trade, from roadside mobile or temporary food stalls and small restaurants to importers and large food processors, must now register with the BFSA. The schedule to the regulations divides food businesses mainly into two groups. For the 16 conventional types of food business, registration alone will be enough. Those dealing in special or “superfood” products, however, must obtain a licence. Restaurants, bakeries, juice shops, pastry shops and catering service providers must register with the authority. Manufacturers of packaged or wrapped food, sweetmeat shops, dairy product makers and importers (excluding raw and fresh food) must also register. Even those who sell foods such as pitha, puri and piyaju by the roadside must register under the new rules. Registration is also mandatory for specified businesses involved in the production, processing, storage, import, export and marketing of the following: wholesale grocery food trade, import of raw and fresh food, food storage and cold storage, edible oil and edible salt production, special foods, fortified foods, health-supportive and supplementary foods, special dietary foods, foods for special medical purposes, probiotic and prebiotic foods, organic foods, irradiated foods, genetically modified foods, novel foods, functional foods, multi-stage processed foods and food additives.
On the other hand, institutions dealing in specialised food products, such as infant formula milk and special foods made for the elderly or for people with specific diseases, will be brought under mandatory licensing by these regulations. The four categories include health-supportive and supplementary foods, special dietary foods and foods for special medical purposes, probiotic and prebiotic foods, and the production, processing, storage, import and marketing of nutraceuticals and similar foods.
In addition, genetically altered or edited foods, organic foods, irradiated foods, genetically modified foods, novel foods, functional foods, fortified foods, and foods carrying health-supportive claims or disease-risk-reduction claims under the Safe Food (Advertisement and Claims) Regulations, 2025, must obtain the required licences and registration under the relevant provisions.
The BFSA said applications must be made by paying the fees set out in Schedule 10 of the Safe Food (Registration and Licence) Regulations, 2026, and meeting the conditions described in the relevant regulations. Applications must be submitted on Forms 6.1, 7.1, 8.1 and 9.1 for mandatory licences and on Form 5.1 for registration.
The authority further said that running a food business without registration or a licence, despite the obligation to obtain one, is a punishable offence under the relevant provisions of the Safe Food Act, 2013. For this reason, food traders and establishments concerned have been specially requested to complete the necessary preparations to obtain the applicable registration and licences from the specified time. Registration and licences will be valid for three years and must be renewed after that.
Under the regulations, first-time registration for the 16 conventional categories of food business is free. The premises licence fee for superfood manufacturers will be set on the basis of floor size. The fee is Tk 10,000 for establishments of 100 square metres or less, and for establishments larger than 10,000 square metres, a new licence will cost Tk 60,000. Every food product packet must carry the BFSA registration number. Consumers will thus be able to tell from the product whether the establishment is registered, and can lodge any complaint by quoting the registration number. Initially, applications for licences and registration can be made to the BFSA and its district offices. The authority has, however, begun a step-by-step process towards accepting applications 100 percent online.
The BFSA believes this initiative will bring transparency and accountability to food business registration and licensing, make the production and marketing of food products more orderly, and make efforts to ensure safe food more effective in protecting public health.
