Childminders

Food safety is very important for childcare because young children (typically children under 5 years old) are at higher risk of food poisoning. This means children can be more seriously affected by food poisoning than some other groups of people. Read more information about who’s at higher risk of food poisoning.

This guidance is aimed solely at registered childminders in domestic premises and is not intended for nannies and home child carers or care operating from non-domestic premises such as nurseries, care homes and schools.

If you're planning to start up a childminding business that provides food as part of your childminding service you may need to register as a food business with your local authority, depending on the food services you provide.

The Legal Requirements for Registered Childminders in Domestic Premises Operating as a Food Business guidance should help you understand whether you need to register as a food business and can be found on our Legal Requirements for Childminders in Scotland page.

As a childminder, it is your responsibility to ensure that you can provide allergen information for the food you serve and that this is accurate, consistent and verifiable.  

Further information on allergen legislation and advice can be found on our Allergen Advice for Registered Childminders page.

A Safer Food Better Business pack has been developed by the Food Standards Agency especially for childminders.