Food safety regulations

The restaurant owner is personally responsible for the safety of their customers, including the guests attending a birthday party. To fully ensure this protection, the law requires the restaurant owner to be able to verify the origin of food products and monitor the entire supply chain.

For homemade birthday cakes and any other homemade food, the restaurant owner cannot guarantee their safety, even if they are assured that they were prepared using fresh, high-quality ingredients. For this reason, they may—and indeed must—refuse permission for such products to be served inside the restaurant.

Any liability assumed by the person who prepared the cake or homemade food does not remove the responsibility of the restaurant owner. Even if the person responsible for preparing the food agreed to personally cover any consequences or damages suffered by guests (for example, food poisoning), this would not eliminate the legal responsibility of the venue owner.

The restaurant may, however, allow customers to purchase cakes or other food products from an external supplier (such as a bakery or supermarket), provided that the restaurant can verify the supplier and carry out the necessary checks.

The regulation that prevents restaurants from serving homemade food brought in by customers is based on the HACCP system (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), a set of procedures designed to prevent possible food contamination.

This protocol involves monitoring all stages of food handling and preparation in order to prevent risks to customers and avoid contamination. HACCP is mandatory in Italy for all businesses authorised to prepare and serve food and beverages, including bars, bakeries, restaurants, pizzerias, pubs, self-service restaurants, food shops, delicatessens, butcher shops, fish shops, bakeries, schools, canteens and other facilities providing food services.

Among its requirements, HACCP obliges businesses to identify and assess all potential hazards and risks associated with food production at every stage, from production through to consumption.

Therefore, when dealing with homemade cakes or other homemade foods, it is not possible to verify the ingredients used, whether they are safe, properly stored, fresh or suitable for consumption. Allowing customers to serve food of unknown origin would prevent the restaurant owner from carrying out the safety checks required by HACCP regulations.

The relevant legislation is Legislative Decree No. 155/1997, later repealed and replaced by Legislative Decree No. 193/2007, implementing European Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004.