Food Trucks at Fairs 2026: Permits and Water

The season of fairs, food truck rallies and corporate events is the best time of year for mobile catering - and at the same time the moment when a slip-up is easiest. A different address every weekend, water and power "from the organiser's socket", crowds and heat. An inspection at an event is possible (official controls as a rule take place without prior notice - Art. 9(4) of Regulation 2017/625), so your HACCP documentation for a food truck must travel with the vehicle. This article shows what to arrange before heading to a fair: permissions, water and HACCP in the field.

If you are only now registering your vehicle, start with the articles registering a food truck with Sanepid (the State Sanitary Inspection) and food truck documents and permits. Here we assume you already have approval, and focus on working at an event.

The key points in brief

• For a vehicle (a mobile premises) the authority competent for registration is the county sanitary inspector according to the seat of the establishment or the place where the business is carried on (Art. 62(2)(1) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety (25 August 2006)), and an inspection is possible wherever you are standing.
• The organiser's permission is not the same as the right to trade - check who is responsible for the site and what conditions apply.
• Drinking water, hand washing and wastewater disposal are elements covered by Chapter III of Annex II to Regulation 852/2004 (mobile and temporary premises) - check them before you set off.
• The HACCP documentation travels with the vehicle - together with the registers and the staff's medical certificates.

Permissions and permits for an event

At a fair it is not enough to "agree something" with someone at the gate. Check what site you are standing on and who is responsible for it:

• A private event / a fair with an organiser - you sign a contract with the organiser and pay for the stall. The organiser usually sets the conditions (power, water, hours). Organisers often require confirmation of third-party liability insurance and a document from Sanepid - that is the organiser's condition, not a general rule.
• Public land (a square, a park, a road right-of-way) - if the stall stands in the road right-of-way, occupying the road right-of-way for purposes unrelated to its maintenance requires a permit from the road manager issued by decision, and a fee (Art. 40(1), (2)(4) and (3) of the Act on Public Roads) - also when the event is organised by someone else. On a square or in a park the rules are set by the owner or manager of the site (usually the municipality); we did not check local resolutions and orders, so ask the manager who arranges the permission.
• Private land (a car park, a square by a shopping centre) - a contract with the owner of the site.

The permission of the fair's organiser gives you a place for a stall - but it does not release you from sanitary requirements or from permits for occupying land, if they are required. These are two different things.

Water at an event

In the field, water is the bottleneck. Chapter III of Annex II to Regulation 852/2004 (mobile and temporary premises) requires - where necessary - among other things, facilities for hygienic hand washing and drying (point 2(a)), an adequate supply of hot and/or cold drinking water (point (e)) and arrangements for the hygienic disposal of waste, including liquid waste (point (f)); Chapter VII point 1(a) requires an adequate supply of drinking water. The regulations do not give a number of litres or a water temperature. Typical pitfalls:

• A clean water tank that is too small - it runs out in the middle of the day, and then you have nothing to wash your hands with. Chapter III speaks of "hot and/or cold" drinking water; a requirement for warm water at the basin follows directly only from Chapter I (fixed premises). However, approval of a vehicle is a decision of the PPIS (the county sanitary inspector), so ask what your inspectorate requires - hot water is a safe assumption.
• No wastewater tank - liquid waste must be removed hygienically (Chapter III, point 2(f)), that is, collected in a tank, not poured "on the ground next to you". The rule "a wastewater tank at least as large as the clean water tank" works in practice, but we did not find it in the regulations - confirm it with your PPIS.
• Water from an unreliable source - connecting to a random tap at a fair can be problematic; make sure it is drinking water (Chapter VII, point 1(a)).

We describe the requirements for water and hand washing in the vehicle in detail in the article water and hand washing in a food truck.

HACCP in the field - what must travel with the vehicle

The operator must give inspectors access to the vehicle, the equipment and its documents (Art. 15(1)(a) and (d) of Regulation 2017/625) - also at an event. The regulations do not list which registers you must have or how often to keep them; that follows from your hazard analysis (Art. 5 of Regulation 852/2004). In practice it is worth taking with you:

• HACCP/GHP (Good Hygiene Practice)/GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) documentation (it can be in a binder or electronic),
• registers - fridge temperature, cleaning and disinfection, receipt of goods - kept up to date, also on the day of the event,
• the staff's medical certificates for sanitary-epidemiological purposes (Art. 59(2) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety),
• the decision approving the establishment or the certificate of entry in the register of establishments (Art. 62(1)(2) and (4) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety).

Heat and the cold chain

Fairs are often in the middle of summer. The fridge in the vehicle works harder, and deliveries easily lose their cold on the way to the site. Chapter IX point 5 of Annex II to Regulation 852/2004 requires storage at temperatures that do not pose a risk to health and does not allow the cold chain to be interrupted (except for limited periods), but it gives no figures. Measure temperatures more often than at your base and record them (this is practical advice, not a rule). We describe how to keep control of the cold in the heat (also for meat and ice cream) in the article the cold chain in summer.

The most common mistakes at an event

1. The organiser's permission instead of a permit for the site. On public land a contract with the organiser alone may not be enough.
2. Too small a water reserve. Running out of water for hand washing = the end of work until it is topped up.
3. The documentation stayed at the base. At an event an inspection may ask for it immediately.
4. Registers "I'll fill in later". On the day of the event you also have to measure and record.
5. No proof of third-party liability insurance. Many organisers require it as a condition of taking part.

FAQ - frequently asked questions

Do I have to register with Sanepid in every city where I go to a fair?

The regulations provide that for mobile premises the authority competent for registration is the PPIS according to the seat of the establishment or the place where the business is carried on (Art. 62(2)(1) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety), so the mere fact that you are going to another city does not create a separate registration obligation. It is different for temporary premises (for example a tent or stall set up at an event) - there the competent PPIS is that of the place where the business is carried on (point 2). Whether your stand is a "mobile" or a "temporary" premises is decided in practice by the PPIS, so ask it before the season. In any case an inspection at an event is possible, so the documentation and registers should travel with the vehicle.

Is the fair organiser's permission enough to trade?

The organiser's permission gives you a place for a stall, but it does not replace sanitary requirements or - on public land - a permit for occupying the land. Check who is responsible for the site and what conditions apply.

How much water do I need at an event?

The regulations do not give a number of litres - Chapter III of Annex II to Regulation 852/2004 speaks of an "adequate supply" of drinking water. Match it to the menu and the traffic for the whole day and plan with a reserve; treat the rule on the size of the wastewater tank (for example not smaller than the clean water tank) as a practice that you confirm with your PPIS.

HACCP documentation that travels with a food truck

At an event there is no time to look for a missing register. The Foundation package from GastroReady is ready-made HACCP, GHP and GMP documentation for a food truck - with registers and instructions in PL/EN that you take with you in a binder and show the inspector on the spot.

The winter equivalent of a fair follows different rules: the stall stands for weeks instead of a weekend, water freezes, and mulled wine requires an alcohol permit - a one-off permit is issued for a period of up to 2 days (Art. 18¹ of the Act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism). We cover this in the guide on a stall at a Christmas market.

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Legal status as of: 8 November 2026
Legal basis: Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (consolidated version of 24.03.2021): Art. 5 and 6, Annex II Chapter III points 1-2 (mobile and temporary premises), Chapter VII point 1(a), Chapter IX point 5; Act of 25.08.2006 on Food and Nutrition Safety (consolidated text Journal of Laws (Dz.U.) 2026, item 1399): Art. 59(2), Art. 62(1)-(2), Art. 63, 64; Regulation (EU) 2017/625: Art. 9(4), Art. 15(1); Act on Public Roads (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025, item 889): Art. 40(1)-(3); Act on Upbringing in Sobriety (consolidated text Dz.U. 2023, item 2151): Art. 18¹(1)-(3). Not checked: local municipal resolutions and orders on trading on municipal land, event organisers' requirements, the written guidelines of individual PPIS (tank capacity, hot water), Reg. 853/2004 (as a rule it does not apply to retail, Art. 1(5)(a)). 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); we checked the cited articles in these texts and found no changes to their meaning compared with the previous consolidated texts. We have not rechecked the remaining acts on this list since the review of 4 October 2026.
Last review: 8 November 2026