Lighting and ventilation at food business sites

Lighting requirements

Your food business site must have adequate lighting that gives sufficient natural or artificial light for all activities including cleaning.

Light fittings should have protective plastic covers or sleeves to prevent contamination of kai with glass.

Ventilation requirements

Your food business site should have sufficient ventilation to maintain comfortable conditions for people on the site.

Ventilation should:

• prevent air from becoming excessively heated
• prevent condensation and excess moisture on floors, walls, and ceilings
• remove objectionable odours, fumes and impurities.

If natural ventilation is not satisfactory, you have to provide mechanical ventilation.

Mechanical extract ventilation

Mechanical extract ventilation has to cover all cooking equipment.

The system (depending on the cooking process) may use:

• a canopy enclosure
• a fan of sufficient capacity
• grease filters
• condensate channels
• ducting to remove cooking vapours to the exterior of the premises.

Discharge of mechanical ventilation

Place the discharge point at the building's highest point.

It must not create a nuisance.

Ventilation should comply with noise levels set out in district plans of former local councils or your resource consent.

Advice for business site refit works

If you are refitting your food business site, your building work needs to meet the Building Code.

Call us on 09 301 0101 and ask to speak to the building helpdesk for further information.