What Is a Certificate of Acceptability? An R638 Guide for Food Businesses

Every restaurant, coffee shop, staff canteen and school kitchen in South Africa needs a Certificate of Acceptability before it may prepare, handle or sell food. Many owners only hear about it when an inspector arrives. This guide explains what the certificate is, who issues it, what the inspector checks, and where drawings fit in.

What is a Certificate of Acceptability?

A Certificate of Acceptability (CoA) is the permit that says a food premises meets the hygiene and structural standards in the Regulations Governing General Hygiene Requirements for Food Premises, the Transport of Food and Related Matters, published as R638 of 2018 under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act.

The certificate is issued to the person in charge of the premises, for that specific premises. If you move, expand or substantially change the layout, you need to apply again.

Who issues it?

People often call it a "health department certificate", but it is issued by your local municipality. The application is assessed and the premises inspected by an Environmental Health Practitioner (EHP) from the municipality's environmental health section.

Which businesses need one?

Any premises where food is handled for sale or for the public, including:

• Restaurants, cafés, takeaways and coffee shops

• Staff canteens in offices, factories and warehouses

• School, university and residence kitchens

• Bakeries, butcheries and delis

• Caterers and food-processing units

• Home-based food businesses selling to the public

What the inspector looks at

R638 sets out what a food premises must provide. In practice the EHP checks things like:

• Layout and flow: food should move from delivery to storage, preparation, cooking and serving without crossing dirty areas such as refuse or washing-up.

• Surfaces: floors, walls and ceilings in food areas must be smooth, durable and easy to clean.

• Hand washing: wash-hand basins with hot and cold running water, soap and hand-drying in the food-handling areas.

• Toilets and change rooms: adequate staff facilities that do not open directly onto areas where food is handled.

• Storage: separate, adequate storage for food, cleaning chemicals and refuse, and cold storage at the right temperatures.

• Lighting and ventilation: enough of both, including extraction over cooking equipment.

• Water and pest control: a supply of potable water and protection against pests.

Most failed inspections come down to layout problems that are expensive to fix after the kitchen is fitted out.

Do you need plans?

Many municipalities ask for a floor plan or layout of the premises with the application. Even where it is not strictly required, a scaled plan helps: the EHP can see the food flow, the basins, the toilets and the storage before arriving on site, and you can find layout problems on paper rather than during the inspection.

A good layout drawing for a CoA shows the rooms and their uses, the kitchen equipment, sinks and wash-hand basins, cold rooms, extraction, refuse storage, staff toilets and change rooms, and notes on finishes and ventilation.

If you do not have drawings of the building, they can be produced from a measured survey. We use a LiDAR scan to capture the existing building accurately and draw as-built plans from it, then add the kitchen layout.

Mortuaries and funeral parlours

Mortuaries and funeral undertakers' premises fall under a different set of regulations, the Regulations Relating to the Management of Human Remains (R363 of 2013), and need a certificate of competence from the municipal EHP. The process is similar: plans of the premises, an inspection and a certificate.

How A4AC can help

A4AC Architects draws plans for a Certificate of Acceptability for restaurants, canteens, school kitchens, mortuaries and other food premises in any South African municipality. We check the layout against R638 before you apply and, if you prefer, submit the application on your behalf.

Larger premises such as canteens and schools often also need emergency evacuation plans, and we can draw both from the same survey.

Opening or moving a food business? Email Dirk Coetser at dirk@a4ac.co.za with the address and whether you have existing plans.