Health approvals

Food safety plan and sanitation plan

Two short written documents: a food safety plan, saying how you keep each food safe and what you do when something goes wrong, and a sanitation plan, saying how you clean and sanitise. Every restaurant, caterer, food processor and kitchen needs both, and Island Health approves them before it issues your permit or approval.

Who issues it
You write them; Island Health approves them
Forms and pages

Do you need it?

You need it if

  • You run a restaurant, café, caterer or any other food service establishment.
  • You process or prepare food, or handle carcasses — here a health officer must approve the plans.
  • You run a Mobile food unit types (A, B, C)How BC sorts food trucks and carts. Type A sells prepackaged food, simple snacks or food only handed out; Type B prepares higher-risk food but cooks no raw meat; Type C can cook raw meat. The type decides the permit, the fee and the equipment.All terms in the glossary or C food truck.

You don’t need it if

  • You serve at a single-day event with a simple, lower-risk menu: the operational plan on the Temporary food service permitIsland Health’s permit to cook or serve food at a fair, festival or other event, or to cook or sample higher-risk food at a market. Apply at least 14 days ahead.All terms in the glossary application can stand in for both plans.
Where this comes from

Sources

How to get it

Two short documents. The food safety plan says how you keep food safe; the sanitation plan, how you keep the place clean. Both are working documents your staff follow, not paperwork for the inspector.

  1. 1

    Start from a template

    Use Island Health’s guides to writing each plan, or the BC government’s templates and worked examples (pie, cookies, jam, salsa, curry, sausage and more).

  2. 2

    Write the food safety plan

    Go through each menu item or product step by step. Mark the critical control points — the steps where a hazard has to be controlled — and give each a critical limit, how you’ll check it, and what you’ll do when a limit is missed.

  3. 3

    Write the sanitation plan

    How, and how often, you clean and sanitise the premises and every piece of equipment and utensil; which cleaning and sanitising products you use and at what concentration; and any pesticides, what they’re for and how they’re stored.

  4. 4

    Send both to your EHO

    They go in with your application and must be approved before your permit or approval is issued.

  5. 5

    Train your staff and keep it on site

    The regulation says you must develop, maintain and follow the plans — keep them where the work happens.

Where this comes from

Sources

Once you have it

  • Follow the plans every day, and keep the records they call for.
  • Talk to your Environmental Health Officer (EHO)Island Health’s inspector. Your EHO reviews your plans, inspects before you open and afterwards, and is the person to ask before you change your menu, equipment or layout.All terms in the glossary when the menu changes. A food truck must send a revised plan if it starts travelling farther from its base, or stops returning to it as the plan says.
Where this comes from

Sources

What comes next

FOODSAFE Level 1BC FOODSAFE SecretariatHealth operating permitIsland HealthApproval to operateIsland Health

Which businesses need it

Restaurants & cafésOpening or running a restaurant, café, take-out or coffee shop.BakeriesA commercial bakery, with or without a counter.Caterers & personal chefsCooking for events, offices or private clients.Food trucks & cartsSelling from a truck, trailer or cart.Delivery-only & ghost kitchensCooking for delivery and pickup only, with no dining room.Packaged food makersMaking sauces, preserves, snacks, frozen meals or other packaged food to sell.Kombucha, juice & coffee makersMaking non-alcoholic drinks, or roasting coffee.Butchers, delis & fishmongersCutting and selling meat, fish or deli foods.

The rules behind this page

Last checked 5 November 2026. We check this guide regularly against Island Health, provincial and municipal sources, but regulations and laws change often and we can’t guarantee it is complete or current. Confirm with Island Health and your municipality before you apply, build or sell.

Did this page answer your question?

Noticed an error? Tell us

Tell us what’s wrong and where you saw it. We read every message and correct the guide.