Food Truck: Documents and Permits 2026

To start a food truck legally in 2026, you need six things: an entry in CEIDG (Poland's central register of business activity), a notification to Sanepid (the State Sanitary Inspection), HACCP documentation, sanitary-epidemiological examinations, a permit or consent to trade at a given location, and third-party liability (OC) insurance (the last is not a statutory requirement, but it is sometimes required by organisers and landlords). Lacking some of them risks a financial penalty or fine, and where there is a direct threat to health also a decision to shut down the establishment (Art. 27(2) of the Act on the State Sanitary Inspection) or - in the worst case - criminal liability. The good news: each of these items has its own path, and the order matters.

This article is a complete checklist. You will go through it point by point and know what to arrange, where to do it and what the cost depends on. No padding, no legal jargon.

Key points at a glance

• A food truck is a full foodservice establishment - the same legal acts apply to you (Regulation 852/2004 and the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety), except that the requirements for mobile premises are described in a separate Chapter III of Annex II to Regulation 852/2004.

• You submit the application to Sanepid at least 14 days before the start (Art. 64(1) of the Act), and you may start operating only after the establishment has been approved (Art. 63(1)) - this is a statutory requirement.

• HACCP documentation is mandatory - but for a food truck it can be simpler than for a large restaurant.

• Sanitary-epidemiological examinations must be held by every person who comes into contact with food - including you as the owner.

• A permit to trade depends on the location - every city and every event organiser has its own rules.

What documents you need for a food truck - a complete checklist

Below you will find all the documents and permits you must have before you serve your first burger. The order is not accidental - this is the logical path from idea to launch.

Registering the business (CEIDG)

The first step is setting up the business. You register a sole-trader business in CEIDG (the Central Register and Information on Business Activity). An application for an entry in CEIDG is free of charge (Art. 13 of the CEIDG Act).

A few practical tips:

• Choose the right PKD codes (Polish Classification of Activities). Since 1 January 2025 the PKD 2025 classification has applied (Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 18 December 2024, Journal of Laws (Dz.U.) 2024, item 1936): mobile foodservice outlets, including food-truck-type vehicles, are subclass 56.12.Z (formerly 56.10.B), and restaurants are 56.11.Z. A code from PKD 2007 may be used for activity designated before 2025 no longer than until 31 December 2026 (§ 2(1) of the Ordinance). Preparing and delivering food for events under a contract with the customer has a separate subclass, 56.21.Z.

• The address entered in CEIDG matters when choosing the sanitary station: for mobile facilities the competent authority is the county sanitary inspector for the seat of the establishment or the place where the activity is carried out (Art. 62(2)(1) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety). If in doubt, ask the station.

• You can register online at biznes.gov.pl or at the municipal office. The application is simple, you do not need a lawyer.

Notification to Sanepid

This is a step that many novice food truck operators skip or put off until later. A mistake. Under Art. 64(1) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety, the application for approval of the establishment and entry in the register is submitted in writing, on the official form (Ordinance of the Minister of Health of 29 May 2007, Dz.U. 2007 No 106, item 730), at least 14 days before the planned start of operations. The establishment may start operating after approval (Art. 63(1)).

What you have to do:

1. Submit an application for approval of the establishment and entry in the register of establishments subject to official food control.

1. Arrange a visit to the vehicle. Regulation 852/2004 provides for approval of an establishment after at least one visit to the place where it operates (Art. 6(3)), and you agree the place and date with the station.

1. Prepare the HACCP/GHP/GMP documentation (GHP: Good Hygiene Practice, GMP: Good Manufacturing Practice). The Act does not list it among the attachments to the application (Art. 64(3)), but Art. 5 of Regulation 852/2004 requires procedures based on HACCP principles, so the station may ask for it during the visit.

1. After a positive inspection you will receive an approval decision - this is your official document that you can operate.

You submit the application to one station: for mobile facilities the competent county sanitary inspector is the one for the seat of the establishment or the place where the activity is carried out (Art. 62(2)(1)). We did not find in the Act a provision requiring a separate registration in every city you travel to. We describe the whole registration process in detail in the article registering a food truck with Sanepid step by step. Inspection at the point of sale, on the other hand, is carried out by the authority competent according to the seat of the establishment or the place where the activity is carried out, determined each time (Art. 73(2) of the Act), so it may be a different station from the one that registered you. You will find more about this process in the article food truck and Sanepid - requirements and HACCP.

HACCP documentation

The HACCP system is not an option - it is a legal obligation for everyone who produces or serves food. It applies to food trucks exactly as it does to restaurants. Legal basis: Art. 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and Art. 59(1) and Art. 100(1)(8) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety (no HACCP procedures is an offence). Documents and records are to be proportionate to the nature and size of the establishment (Art. 5(2)(g) of Regulation 852/2004).

Your HACCP documentation should contain:

• A description of the establishment (in this case - the vehicle) and of the activity carried out

• GHP procedures (Good Hygiene Practice) - hand washing, cleaning surfaces, staff hygiene

• GMP procedures (Good Manufacturing Practice) - receiving goods, storage, heat treatment

• A hazard analysis and the determination of critical control points (CCP)

• Registers - fridge temperature, cleaning and disinfection, receiving goods

• Workstation instructions for staff

If you think this sounds complicated - relax. For a food truck the HACCP system is usually simpler than for a restaurant, because you have a smaller menu and fewer processes. You do not have to build it from scratch - ready-made HACCP templates for a food truck make preparing the documentation easier. We describe how to fill in such a template step by step in the article HACCP template for a food truck - how to fill it in.

Examinations for sanitary-epidemiological purposes

Every person working with food must hold a current medical certificate for sanitary-epidemiological purposes (sanitary-epidemiological examination). This applies to you as the owner and to every employee who has any contact with food.

What it looks like in practice:

• The medical examination is carried out by a primary care doctor or an occupational medicine doctor, and the laboratory tests by accredited laboratories (Art. 7(1) and (4) of the Act on Preventing and Combating Infections and Infectious Diseases in Humans).

• The scope of the tests is indicated by the doctor on the basis of implementing regulations (we did not check their content).

• The cost depends on the facility (we do not give amounts, because we do not have them from a source).

• The validity period is indicated by the doctor in the certificate.

Do not leave the examinations to the last moment: the waiting time for results depends on the laboratory. A person working in contact with food should have a medical certificate (Art. 59(2) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety), and employing people without a certificate is an offence under Art. 100(1)(11). Copies of the certificates are to be kept at the place of work (Art. 59(5)), that is, in the food truck.

A permit to trade at a given location

This is the element that distinguishes a food truck from a stationary restaurant. You cannot simply park and start selling. Every location requires establishing who manages the land and on what basis you may stand on it.

There are three typical scenarios:

• Street, pavement, roadside parking (road right-of-way): occupying the road right-of-way for purposes unrelated to road maintenance requires a permit of the road manager issued by decision (Art. 40(1) of the Public Roads Act) and a fee (Art. 40(3)). The rates are set by a resolution of the local government body, not more than PLN 10 per m² per day (Art. 40(8)). Occupation without a permit risks a financial penalty of 10 times the fee, imposed by the road manager by decision (Art. 40(12)). Square, park, market (municipal land outside the road right-of-way): the rules are set by the municipality, and selling on municipal land outside a place designated by its authorities is an offence (Art. 60³ § 1 of the Code of Petty Offences). We did not check the resolutions of specific municipalities.

• Private land (car park, square by a shopping centre) - you need an agreement with the owner of the land. It is usually a lease or tenancy agreement.

• Event or festival - the event organiser sets the conditions of participation. Most often you sign an agreement with the organiser and pay a stall fee.

Plan locations in advance. A road manager's permit is issued in administrative proceedings, in which the deadlines of the Code of Administrative Procedure apply (Art. 35 § 3: as a rule up to a month, in particularly complicated cases up to two months).

OC insurance

Third-party liability insurance for food is not required by statute (the OC of a vehicle holder is compulsory, but it concerns damage connected with the movement of the vehicle, not poisoning of a customer). Liability for damage does, however, follow from the Civil Code, as we write in the text OC insurance in foodservice: obligation and scope. If a customer is poisoned by food from your food truck - you are financially liable.

• Look for an OC policy for carrying out foodservice activity.

• Make sure the policy covers food poisoning and damage caused to third parties.

• The cost depends on the scope and the sum insured (we do not give amounts, because we do not have them from a source).

• Many event organisers require proof of OC insurance as a condition of participation.

Registering a food truck with Sanepid - step by step

Registration with Sanepid is the moment that many novice food truck operators fear most. Unnecessarily. If you prepare properly, the whole process will go smoothly.

Step 1: Prepare the vehicle. Before you submit the application, make sure the food truck meets the sanitary requirements. The scope of the assessment follows from Annex II Chapter III of Regulation 852/2004 (mobile premises): personal hygiene facilities, including for washing and drying hands, food-contact surfaces easy to clean, an adequate supply of hot and/or cold potable water, arrangements for the disposal of liquid and solid waste, and arrangements for maintaining and monitoring food temperature. The regulations give no numbers (tank capacity, water temperature): the station assesses whether the solution is "adequate", so establish its expectations before the vehicle is built out.

Step 2: Prepare the documentation. Before the inspection you should have ready the HACCP documentation, the GHP/GMP procedures and empty registers (temperature, cleaning, receiving goods). The inspector wants to see that you have a system - even if you have not yet started operating.

Step 3: Submit the application. You submit the application for approval of the establishment to the county sanitary-epidemiological station competent for the seat of your company. The application contains, among other things, the applicant's data (including PESEL and NIP numbers), the type and scope of the activity and the location of the establishment or place where the activity is carried out (Art. 64(2)); the form is set by the Ordinance of the Minister of Health of 29 May 2007.

Step 4: Inspection. The inspector will arrange a visit to the food truck. Show the vehicle and the documentation, and talk about the planned menu and processes. Be prepared for questions about the water source, the way waste is disposed of and food storage.

Step 5: Decision. If everything is in order - you receive an approval decision and an entry in the register. If the inspector points out shortcomings - you get time to make corrections. This is not the end of the world, it is a normal part of the process.

You will find a detailed description of how to prepare for a Sanepid visit in the article opening a foodservice business and Sanepid - when to notify.

HACCP for a food truck - how it differs from a restaurant

The obligation is the same, but the scope of the documentation differs, because a food truck is a different scale of activity. Here are the key differences:

A smaller menu = fewer hazards to analyse. A restaurant with a 40-dish menu has dozens of processes to describe. A food truck with 5-8 items on the menu has a few. This means that your hazard analysis and the determination of CCPs will be shorter and simpler.

Limited space = different GHP procedures. In a food truck you do not have separate zones for processing meat, vegetables and desserts. You must describe how you separate these processes in a limited space - e.g. by separation in time (vegetables first, then meat, disinfection between them) or by dedicated boards and tools.

Mobility = additional procedures. A food truck has specific elements that a restaurant does not: a water tank, a waste water tank, transport of food between the base and the vehicle, garaging the vehicle. All of this must be described in the documentation.

Registers are the same. Regulation 852/2004 does not list registers; Art. 5(2)(g) requires documents and records proportionate to the nature and size of the establishment. In practice registers such as storage temperature, cleaning and disinfection, receiving goods or complaints are kept both in a restaurant and in a food truck. The difference is that in a food truck you have fewer devices to monitor.

If you want to see what a simple HACCP system adapted to small foodservice looks like, read the article HACCP for small foodservice - a simple version.

The most common mistakes in the formalities

Below are mistakes that in our view are worth ruling out before launch (this is our working list, not a statistic from inspections):

1. Starting without notifying Sanepid. A serious mistake. You think you will start earning first and register afterwards. Carrying out activity without submitting an application for entry in the register or for approval of the establishment risks a financial penalty of PLN 1,000 to PLN 5,000, imposed by decision of the Voivodeship Sanitary Inspector (Art. 103(1)(4), (2)(2) and Art. 104 of the Act). Approval is also a condition for starting operations (Art. 63(1)).

1. No HACCP documentation, or a generic text downloaded from the internet. The inspector sees at once whether the documentation concerns your food truck or is a copy pasted from a random guide. The documentation must describe your menu, your vehicle, your processes.

1. Not keeping registers. You have the documentation, but the registers have been empty for three months. This is a signal that the HACCP system exists only on paper. Empty registers may be assessed as a lack of working monitoring and documentation (Art. 5(2)(d) and (g) of Regulation 852/2004).

1. No hot water for washing hands. An example of non-compliance. The tank is there, but the heater does not work or was never connected. For mobile premises Regulation 852/2004 speaks of "an adequate supply of hot and/or cold potable water" (Annex II Chapter III point 2(e)), not directly of warm water in the washbasin; in practice assume warm water and agree expectations with the station.

1. Out-of-date sanitary-epidemiological examinations. You hired someone for the season and forgot about the examinations. Or your own certificate has expired. The inspector may check this, and copies of certificates are to be at the place of work (Art. 59(5) of the Act).

1. No permit to trade in a given place. You drive to a popular square, set up and start selling. Occupying the road right-of-way without a permit is a financial penalty of 10 times the fee (Art. 40(12) of the Public Roads Act), and selling on municipal land outside a designated place is an offence (Art. 60³ of the Code of Petty Offences).

Each of these mistakes can be avoided. A little preparation is enough - and this checklist, which you are going through right now.

FAQ - frequently asked questions

What do you need to open a food truck?

You need: an entry in CEIDG with the right PKD code, a notification to Sanepid and an approval decision, HACCP/GHP/GMP documentation, current sanitary-epidemiological examinations for yourself and your employees, a permit to trade at the planned location (a permit from the municipality or an agreement with the owner of the land) and OC insurance. Besides documents you of course need a properly equipped vehicle - with a water source, a waste water tank, a fridge, a washbasin and washable surfaces.

How much does registering a food truck cost?

An application for an entry in CEIDG is free of charge (Art. 13 of the CEIDG Act). In the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety and in the list of stamp duties we did not find a fee for the approval of the establishment and entry in the register itself (we did not check fees for laboratory tests or for inspections). The costs you will incur are the sanitary-epidemiological examinations, any adaptation of the vehicle to sanitary requirements and OC insurance; their amount depends on the provider and the condition of the vehicle. HACCP documentation - if you do not create it yourself - is an additional cost.

Does a food truck need HACCP?

Yes, absolutely. A food truck is classified as a food establishment - a mobile foodservice outlet. The same rules apply to it as to a stationary restaurant, including the obligation to implement and maintain a HACCP system. Legal basis: the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety and Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. No HACCP procedures is an offence under Art. 100(1)(8) of the Act (a court fine; the inspector may impose a mandate fine of up to PLN 500), and where there is a direct threat to health the inspector may order the shutdown of the establishment by an immediately enforceable decision (Art. 27(2) of the Act on the State Sanitary Inspection).

Ready-made HACCP documentation for a food truck

Creating HACCP documentation from scratch is labour-intensive and it is easy to miss something. The Foundation package from GastroReady is a ready-made set of HACCP, GHP and GMP documents adapted to small foodservice - including food trucks. You get complete documentation, registers, workstation instructions and a hazard analysis. All in an editable format, so that you can adapt the documents to your menu and the specifics of your vehicle.

Instead of building the system from scratch, start from a proven base and focus on what you do best - cooking.

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Legal status as of: 8 November 2026
Legal basis: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (Art. 5, Art. 6(3), Annex II Chapters III, VIII, XII); Act of 25 August 2006 on Food and Nutrition Safety (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026, item 1399; Art. 59, 62-64, 73(2), Art. 100(1)(8) and (11), Art. 103(1)(4) and (2)); Act on Preventing and Combating Infections and Infectious Diseases in Humans (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025, item 1675, Art. 6-7); Public Roads Act (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025, item 889, Art. 40); Code of Petty Offences (Art. 60³); CEIDG Act (Art. 13); Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 18 December 2024 on the PKD (Dz.U. 2024, item 1936); Ordinance of the Minister of Health of 29 May 2007 (Dz.U. 2007 No 106, item 730); Code of Administrative Procedure (Art. 35). We did not check municipal resolutions on the occupation of land or fee rates in specific municipalities, the scope of sanitary-epidemiological examinations, the cost of examinations and policies, or the practice of individual sanitary stations as to the documents attached to the application. The text is not legal advice. The review of 8 November 2026 covered the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026, item 1399, status as of 28.09.2026) and the Code of Petty Offences (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026, item 1372); we checked the cited articles in these texts and found no changes to their meaning compared with the previous consolidated texts. We have not re-checked the other acts on this list since the review of 4 October 2026.
Last review: 8 November 2026