The Bangladesh Food Safety Authority has made registration and licences compulsory for specified categories of food business and food products, to protect public health, ensure safe food and bring order to the food trade.
The new Safe Food (Registration and Licence) Regulations, 2026 were published in the official gazette on 16 July. The authority has called on all food businesses and establishments concerned to apply for the registration and licences they need from 1 November.
Under the Safe Food Act, 2013 and the new regulations, four specified categories of food business must hold a business licence, a premises licence, a licence for manufactured and imported products, and registration for each licensed product. Sixteen specified categories of food business and food establishment must register.
This means every person and business in the food trade, from roadside mobile or temporary food stalls and small restaurants to importers and large food processors, will now have to register with the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority.
The schedule to the regulations divides food businesses into two main groups. For the 16 common types of food business, registration alone will be enough. Those that deal in specialised or so-called superfood products will need a licence.
Restaurants, bakeries, juice shops, pastry shops and caterers must register with the authority. So must makers of packaged food, sweet shops, dairy producers and importers (except of raw and fresh food). Even roadside sellers of snacks such as pitha, puri and piyaju come under the new rule.
Registration is also compulsory for specified businesses that produce, process, store, import, export or market the following: wholesale groceries, raw and fresh food imports, food storage and cold storage, edible oil and edible salt, special foods, fortified foods, health and supplementary foods, special dietary and medical dietary foods, probiotic and prebiotic foods, organic food, irradiated food, genetically modified food, novel foods, functional foods, multi-stage processed foods and food additives.
The regulations will also bring under compulsory licensing four kinds of business that work with specialised food products, such as infant formula and special foods for older people or people with particular illnesses. These cover the production, processing, storage, import and marketing of health and supplementary foods, special dietary and medical dietary foods, probiotic and prebiotic foods, and nutraceuticals and similar foods. Genetically modified food, organic food, irradiated food, novel foods, functional foods, fortified foods, and foods carrying health or disease-risk-reduction claims under the Safe Food (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2025 will also need the relevant licence and registration.
The authority said applicants must pay the fee set out in Schedule 10 of the regulations and meet the conditions they describe. Applications for compulsory licences are made on Forms 6.1, 7.1, 8.1 and 9.1, and for registration on Form 5.1.
The authority added that running a food business without the required registration or licence is a punishable offence under the Safe Food Act, 2013. It has urged the businesses concerned to prepare to obtain their registration and licences from the date set.
Registration and licences will be valid for three years and must then be renewed.
Under the regulations, first-time registration for the 16 common categories of food business is free. Premises licence fees for makers of superfoods will depend on floor area: Tk 10,000 for premises of 100 square metres or less, and Tk 60,000 for a new licence for premises larger than 10,000 square metres.
Every food package must show its BFSA registration number. Consumers will be able to see at a glance whether a business is registered, and can quote the number when making a complaint.
At first, applications for licences and registration can be made at the authority’s offices and its district offices. The authority is moving step by step to accept all applications online.
The Bangladesh Food Safety Authority believes the move will bring transparency and accountability to the registration and licensing of food businesses, make the production and marketing of food more orderly, and make safe-food work to protect public health more effective.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report