Approval and registration of dairy companies

Do you have a dairy company in the Netherlands? Your dairy company must be approved or registered with the Dutch supervisory authority in the field of dairy, poultry, and eggs (Controle Orgaan Kwaliteits Zaken, COKZ). This allows them to monitor the safety of food production.

Who needs approval or registration?

Your dairy company needs approval if it, among others:

• receives farm milk for processing, storage, or transhipment of milk
• is a factory-based dairy processor
• is a follow-up processor
• refines cheeses (matures, cuts, grates, and/or processes cheeses)
• is a temperature-controlled storage site
• prepares special foods
• is a farm or small-scale dairy manufacturer

Certain dairy companies do not need approval, but they do need to register. This applies to:

• dairy farms
• holdings with unconditioned storage of dairy products
• companies that manufacture dairy products and sell them directly to the consumer

How to apply for approval or registration?

To receive approval or registration, you must first comply with, among others, the requirements of the European hygiene regulations.

Do you want to apply for approval for or register your company (in Dutch)? You must send the application form for approval or registration to the COKZ (in Dutch). Applying for registration or recognition involves several steps (in Dutch). For more information contact the COKZ's Data Processing team.

Is your business already registered with COKZ? Then you do not need to also register with the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit, NVWA). The register is offered by the NVWA, but COKZ supervises it.

Terminate approval or registration

If you end business activities that require an approval or registration, you must terminate the approval or registration (in Dutch).

Supply milk and dairy products data

Do you own a milk processing company? You must supply information annually about the volumes of processed milk and dairy products you have manufactured to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, in Dutch).