Apply In-Person:

1. To Obtain a Certificate of Acceptability, the applicant has to approach the Environmental Health Office link
2. An application form will be provided to the applicant by the concerned officer. or it can be downloaded from the following link
3. The applicant has to fill in all the necessary details in the application form. (Incomplete applications are not accepted)
4. Make sure that the applicant has attached all the necessary documents that are mentioned in the “Required Documents” section of this page.
5. The applicant has to attach the photocopies of the required documents along with the application form while submitting.
6. Submit all the documents with the completed form to the concerned officer.
7. The applicant has to pay the prescribed fee as requested by the authority.
8. After receiving the application, the concerned authority will check the submitted application and document set. If all are in place, the application will be accepted.
9. An acknowledgment receipt will be provided. Please save it for future reference.
10. Then the application will be processed further. All the updates on the application status will be sent via SMS to the applicant’s mobile number.
11. Once the process gets completed, the applicant gets a call from the office regarding the application.
12. The applicant has to visit the office to get the certificate.
13. This entire process can be completed within 15 - 30 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

• Completed application form link
• Certified South African Identity copy
• ID proof
• Address proof
• letter of authorisation
• fee receipt

Environmental Health Office
Physical address:
Civic Centre
12 Hertzog Boulevard
Cape Town
8001
Postal address:
Private Bag X9181
Cape Town 8000

Postal address:
PO Box 298
Cape Town 8000
Telephone: 0860 103 089
Contact link
List of office link

• Any food business person, who intends to Obtain a Certificate of Acceptability is eligible to make this application.

• The applicant has to pay the prescribed fee as per the authority’s request.

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

• Completed application form link

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

• This entire process can be completed within 15 - 30 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

• Applicants must complete the application form before submitting it. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
• Applicants must provide genuine information while applying for this procedure.

• Name
• Address
• Postal address
• Phone
• Email
• Tel.no
• Name of Food Premises / Business / Trading Name
• Food category
• Quantities of food to be handled
• Nature of handling
• Staff
• Particular of application
• Declaration

• A certificate of Acceptability is a food handling business permit which confirms that a food handling organisation is conforming to basic food safety and hygiene requirements.

For more information [tps://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Apply/Health-and-safety/Environmental-health/Apply-for-a-certificate-of-acceptability link]

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

Link

A COA is a certificate that is issued out by the local health authority whereby an inspector will carry out an inspection to ensure the food establishment meets the requirements set out.