Germany Food Hygiene Briefing Study Guide 2026

The § 43 IfSG briefing

Under § 43 of the Infection Protection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz, IfSG), you need a certificate (Bescheinigung) before you first start certain food work. The local health office (Gesundheitsamt) or a doctor it commissions gives you a briefing (Belehrung) on illnesses that can spread through food and on your legal duties. You then declare in writing that you know of no facts that would bar you from the work.

The briefing is not a medical examination and there is no national exam. A doctor's certificate is only needed if there are signs that you may have one of the illnesses. Some health offices run online briefings; Cologne's online version, for example, includes a short check of eight questions.

Point	Rule
Who issues it	Gesundheitsamt or a doctor it commissions
Age of certificate at your first food job	No more than 3 months
Validity after that	For life, also after a job change or a long break
Old 'red card' under the former Bundes-Seuchengesetz	Still accepted
Language (example: Berlin)	German; bring an interpreter if you need one

Fees are set by each health office. On the official pages checked in October 2026, Berlin charged €30 for a group briefing and Cologne €25. Bring valid ID; non-EU citizens may also need their residence and work permit.

Who needs it

You need the briefing if you commercially make, handle or sell the high-risk foods listed in § 42 IfSG, directly with your hands or indirectly through equipment, or if you work in the kitchen of a restaurant, café, canteen or other communal catering (for example in hospitals, care homes or kindergartens). Kitchen dishwashers and cleaners are included.

Meat, poultry and products made from them
Milk and milk-based products
Fish, shellfish and products made from them
Egg products
Baby and toddler food
Ice cream and ice cream mixes
Bakery goods with a filling or topping that is not fully baked or heated
Delicatessen, raw and potato salads, marinades, mayonnaise and other emulsified sauces
Sprouts and seeds for sprouts eaten raw

Work in private households is not covered.

Illnesses that bar you from food work

§ 42 IfSG says you may not do this work if you have, or are suspected of having:

Typhoid or paratyphoid
Cholera
Shigellosis (bacterial dysentery)
Salmonellosis or another infectious gastroenteritis (for example norovirus or rotavirus)
Hepatitis A or E
Infected wounds or skin diseases that could pass germs into food

You are also barred if a stool test shows you excrete salmonella, shigella, EHEC (enterohaemorrhagic E. coli) or cholera bacteria, even if you feel well.

Warning sign	What it may mean
Diarrhoea: 3 or more loose stools in 24 hours, maybe with nausea, vomiting or stomach pain	Infectious gastroenteritis
Fever of 38.5 °C or more	An infection; typhoid and paratyphoid often start with high fever and a bad headache
Weakness, no appetite, yellow skin and eyes	Hepatitis A or E
Wound that is red, swollen, weeping or has a greasy coating	Infected wound

What to do if you get sick

Stop handling food and leave the kitchen.
Tell your supervisor at once. This is a legal duty under § 43 IfSG.
See your family doctor or the company doctor and say that you work with food.

The health office can allow exceptions if measures can prevent the spread of germs. The BfR also asks staff to tell kitchen management after travel to regions where hepatitis or diarrhoeal diseases are common, especially without vaccination. Hepatitis can be infectious 7 to 14 days before symptoms start.

Your employer's duties

Only employ people in covered jobs who have the § 43 certificate (or an old health certificate).
Instruct staff after they start and then every 2 years, and record it.
Keep each worker's certificate and the latest instruction record at the workplace and show them to the authorities on request.
Act at once to stop germs spreading if a worker reports a reason that bars them.

Breaking these rules can be expensive. Employing someone without the certificate, or not giving the required instruction, can be fined up to €25,000 (§ 73 IfSG). Spreading disease through this work can even lead to prison.

The § 43 briefing does not replace the separate food hygiene training required under the Lebensmittelhygiene-Verordnung. Your employer must also train you in hygiene for your actual job.

Kitchen hygiene: the BfR rules

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) publishes a leaflet, *Hygieneregeln in der Gemeinschaftsgastronomie*, in German, English and 11 other languages. Its main points:

Personal hygiene

Wear a head covering and tie back long hair.
Take off rings and watches before work; no earrings or necklaces.
Keep nails short and unpainted.
Wear clean work clothes, changed daily, stored apart from private clothes.
Cover cuts with a waterproof, brightly coloured plaster plus a glove or finger cot.
Turn away from food to cough or sneeze, use a tissue or your elbow, then wash your hands.
No smoking in the kitchen.

Handwashing

Use soap, warm water and disposable towels, only at the hand-wash basin. Wash before work, after every break and often between tasks. After handling raw meat, poultry or eggs and after using the toilet, wash and disinfect your hands.

Temperatures

Step	BfR rule
Danger range	Many germs multiply fast between 15 °C and 55 °C
Hot holding	60 °C or hotter (65 °C is safer), for no more than 3 hours
Reheating	At least 72 °C in the core for 2 minutes
Cooling	From 60 °C to 7 °C within 2 hours; use small containers
Cold chain	Meat, poultry, fish and dairy must arrive chilled and stay chilled

Avoiding cross-contamination

Keep raw and cooked food apart, covered and in separate containers.
Clean equipment thoroughly between raw and cooked food.
Thaw large roasts and poultry fully; pour away thaw water and clean everything it touched.
Taste with a clean spoon into a separate dish, never straight from the pot.
Wear clean gloves to portion food that will not be heated again.
Store cleaning products and pesticides outside the kitchen.