Accredited food safety training in Cape Town, Western Cape.
Food safety training for Cape Town food premises, from the ASC Cape Town branch
In Cape Town the Certificate of Acceptability comes from City Health, the City of Cape Town’s own Environmental Health service, and the application is made online through the City’s e-Services portal rather than at a counter. There is no fee, and the City publishes a standard processing time of ten working days once the file is complete (City of Cape Town, Apply for a certificate of acceptability).
The food economy here is hotel and restaurant kitchens feeding a record tourism season, fruit and wine exporters moving product through the port, halal and fish processors, and the spaza shops of Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain that sent City Health more than 6 500 CoA applications in six weeks. ASC trains them online and, through the ASC Cape Town branch, on site.
2 300+ learner ratings across all ASC programmes, including KFC and Spur franchise training · 6 600+ course enrolments across South Africa
Which course do I need in Cape Town?
Pick your situation. Each one goes straight to the right course and price.
A Certificate of Acceptability for my premisesPersons in Charge · R1 699 · 16h A food handler certificate for workFood Handlers · R899 · 6h A spaza shop, tuck shop or market stallInformal Traders and Spaza Shops · R999 · 6h HACCP or GMP training for my teamThree HACCP levels from R1 195 · group pricing FSSC 22000, ISO 22000 or BRCGS certificationIntroduction, transition and implementation On-site or group training in Cape TownBulk enrolment, one invoice, manager dashboardCertificate of Acceptability in Cape Town
Who issues it, what the inspector checks, and the training you must show.
Read the full Certificate of Acceptability guide and the city by city R638 guide.
In Cape Town the Certificate of Acceptability is issued by the City of Cape Town, through its City Health, Environmental Health. An environmental health practitioner inspects the premises and recommends the certificate in the name of the person in charge, as Regulation 3 of R638 requires. Official page: City of Cape Town: apply for a Certificate of Acceptability.
Whoever issues it, the inspection follows the same regulation. R638 requires the person in charge to be trained (regulation 10(1)(d)) and to keep a record that every food handler has been trained, and the inspector can ask for those records at any visit. Certificates from ASC show the accreditation details and a QR code, so the record is verifiable on the spot.
Cape Town combines a tourism and restaurant economy with a serious food manufacturing base: the Cape Town Market at Epping is the only fresh produce market in the Western Cape trading the full basket of produce, and Epping, Montague Gardens and Paarden Eiland hold hundreds of food processors, bakeries, fisheries and cold stores. Industrial and food-manufacturing areas we train in include Epping, Montague Gardens, Paarden Eiland, Killarney Gardens, Airport Industria, Blackheath, Parow Industria and Philippi.
- Persons in Charge for the owner or manager named on the certificate
- Food Handlers for every person who touches food, drink or packaging
- Records: training register, illness reports, cleaning, temperature and pest control (regulation 10)
- Documents: the R638 toolkit gives you the policies, forms and registers, 15% off with a course
Where to apply in Cape Town
Where and how to apply for a Certificate of Acceptability in Cape Town.
City of Cape Town, City Health, Environmental Health, through the environmental health office for the suburb where the premises is, or online through the City’s e-Services portal. Contact details below were checked against the municipality’s own website on 6 September 2026; phone before you travel, because offices, hours and numbers change.
Offices and contacts
| Office | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Bellville | 7A Midmar Street, Groenvallei | 021 400 6101 |
| Brackenfell | Paradys Street, Brackenfell | 021 400 3845 |
| Durbanville | Corner Oxford and Queen Streets, Durbanville | 021 444 0734 |
| Fezeka (Gugulethu) | Corner Steve Biko and Govan Mbeki Roads, Gugulethu | 021 400 1920 |
| Khayelitsha | 50A Ncumo Road, Khayelitsha | 021 444 2350 |
| Kraaifontein | Brighton Road, Kraaifontein | 021 444 6738 |
| Kuils River | Van Riebeeck Street, Kuils River | 021 400 2612 |
| Lakeside | 1 Bogey Road, Lakeside | 021 444 1654 |
| Maitland | Berkley Road Complex, Maitland | 021 444 1739 |
| Milnerton | Bridal Way, Royal Ascot, Milnerton | 021 444 5648 |
| Mitchells Plain | Simonsig Avenue, Westridge | 021 400 4075 |
| Nyanga | Nyanga Training Centre, corner New Eisleben and Old Klipfontein Roads | 021 400 4076 |
| Parow | 23 Klosser Street, Parow | 021 444 0853 |
| Plumstead | 3 Victoria Road, Plumstead | 021 444 3259 |
| Silvertown (Athlone) | 16 Petunia Street, Silvertown | 021 444 6643 |
| Strand | Corner Main and Fagan Streets, Strand | 021 444 5032 |
| Wynberg | Lower Maynard Road, Wynberg | 021 400 2767 |
City of Cape Town call centre 0860 103 089. Online applications run through e-Services once the Environmental Health service is activated on your municipal account.
Official pages and forms
How to apply
- Register on e-Services and activate the Environmental Health service, or collect a paper form from the office for your area.
- Complete the application and upload or hand in the documents.
- An environmental health practitioner inspects the premises: design and construction, food safety practices, waste and pest control, general hygiene.
- The certificate is issued in the name of the owner or person in charge. A separate business licence is needed if you prepare meals.
Documents to prepare
- ID of the person in charge (and an authorisation letter plus ID if a proxy applies)
- A layout plan or approved building plan at 1:50 showing equipment and areas, for a building
- Proof of address, and for the inspection: training records, the pest control programme, temperature, cleaning and stock records and a supplier list
Fee and turnaround
No application fee (City of Cape Town Certificate of Acceptability FAQ). Ten working days when the documentation is complete (City FAQ).
What the inspector checks
Structural design and construction, food safety practices, waste and pest control and general hygiene, plus zoning: an application is held back until proof of zoning is supplied where special consent is needed.
City Health employs 209 environmental health practitioners and carried out more than 25 000 inspections and 4 605 food samples between July 2023 and May 2024 (City food safety FAQ). Food premises are visited at least twice a year.
Local detail, verified September 2026
What is different about Cape Town
- The health authority is City Health. Environmental health in the metro sits under the City of Cape Town’s Community Services and Health directorate as City Health, Environmental Health. City Health runs the metro in eight health sub-districts with legislated boundaries: Western, Northern, Eastern, Southern, Tygerberg, Klipfontein, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain (City of Cape Town health district map; PMG briefing on City Health). Environmental health practitioners work from 16 area offices, including Bellville, Brackenfell, Durbanville, Kraaifontein, Kuils River, Strand, Khayelitsha, Silvertown in Athlone, Fezeka in Gugulethu, Parow, Mitchells Plain, Plumstead, Wynberg, Lakeside, Maitland and Milnerton (City environmental health contact list).
- The CoA is applied for online. You register as a Business Partner on e-Services, activate the Environmental Health service, then upload the ID of the person in charge and, for a bricks and mortar premises, a layout plan drawn to 1:50 showing the equipment. The City states there is no charge for the certificate and that the standard processing time is ten working days when the documents are complete; the certificate is emailed, and a case number is your proof of application in the meantime (City of Cape Town; Western Cape Government how-to guide; EWN, December 2024).
- The inspector will ask for the training record. The Western Cape Government’s guide to the Cape Town CoA lists food safety and hygiene training records first among the things the EHP checks on site, ahead of the pest control programme, temperature monitoring, cleaning schedules and supplier lists.
- EHPs are stretched. City Health told Parliament’s health committee that it operates at roughly one environmental health practitioner per 23 000 residents against the national norm of one per 10 000, which is why complete paperwork and a training record that scans on the spot matter here (PMG).
- The 2024 to 2025 spaza drive was the biggest in the country. Between 15 November and 31 December 2024 City Health received 6 510 CoA applications and issued nine prohibition notices, most applications coming from Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Strand, Mfuleni and Kuils River; the registration deadline was extended to 28 February 2025 (Cape Argus, 15 January 2025).
- Food trucks now have their own permit. The City’s Informal Trading By-law was amended on 27 June 2025 to add mobile business permits and Mobile Business Trading Areas, so a mobile food operator needs the trading permit from the City and a CoA from City Health for the vehicle as a food premises (Informal Trading By-law, 2009, as amended 2025).
- Where the food industry sits. The Cape Town Market at Epping is the only fresh produce market in the Western Cape offering the full basket of produce (Cape Town Market). Wesgro describes Cape Town as an established centre for food and beverage manufacturing, strong in spices and sauces, fish processing, grain milling, brewing and soft drinks, with the most developed halal agri-processing industry on the continent; the province supplies almost half of South Africa’s agribusiness exports (Wesgro). The Cape Town Container Terminal, the deciduous fruit export gateway, moved 16 percent more containers year on year in the first quarter of Transnet’s 2026/27 year (FreshPlaza).
- Tourism kitchens run at record volume. Cape Town International handled 11.1 million passengers in 2025, 3.3 million of them international, both up 7 percent (Wesgro, 13 January 2026). Because Cape Town is a metropolitan municipality, its own EHPs deliver municipal health services under section 32 of the National Health Act and the Western Cape Department of Health does not inspect food premises inside the City (DBSA review of municipal health services); outside the metro, the Cape Winelands, West Coast and Overberg district municipalities inspect through their own registration centres (Western Cape Government list of 59 centres). On-site and in-house training in the Western Cape is run through the ASC Cape Town branch; all courses also run online.
Sources
- capetown.gov.za, Apply for a certificate of acceptability
- Western Cape Government, how to apply for a CoA in Cape Town (PDF)
- City of Cape Town health district map (PDF)
- City of Cape Town environmental health contact details (PDF)
- Western Cape environmental health registration centres (PDF)
- PMG committee meeting on City Health
- Cape Argus, 15 January 2025
- EWN, 22 December 2024
- Informal Trading By-law as amended 27 June 2025
- Cape Town Market
- Wesgro, agribusiness
- FreshPlaza, Cape Town port
- Wesgro, 13 January 2026
- DBSA review of municipal health services (PDF)
Courses Cape Town businesses buy most
Six courses cover almost every food premises in Cape Town.
- Food Safety Practices for Persons in Charge of Food Premises ★ 4.77 (101) R1 699 Enrol
- Basic Food Safety Practices for Food Handlers ★ 4.76 (58) R899 Enrol
- Basic Food Hygiene Awareness for Food Handlers ★ 4.86 (21) R420 Enrol
-
Food Safety Practices for Informal Traders and Spaza Shops
★ 4.88 (8)
R1 195R999 Enrol - Implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices ★ 5.00 (3) R1 950 Enrol
- Introduction to HACCP ★ 4.90 (10) R1 195 Enrol
- Basic Food Safety Document Templates Toolkit Templates Documents R699 View toolkit
Prices are the price you pay; no VAT is charged. The Basic Food Safety Bundle covers Persons in Charge, Food Handlers and Hygiene Awareness together at R2 264. HACCP for Supervisors and Advanced HACCP, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, BRCGS and GLOBALG.A.P. are on the Enrol page.
Who trains with ASC in Cape Town
Written for the food businesses that operate in Cape Town
The V&A Waterfront, Camps Bay, Sea Point, Bree and Kloof Streets, the Constantia wine farms and the Southern Suburbs restaurant strips staff up every summer with new hires who need a food handler certificate before their first shift, and a manager named on the CoA. Persons in Charge for the manager, Food Handlers or Hygiene Awareness for the crew, one dashboard per group.
Epping Industria, Montague Gardens, Paarden Eiland, Killarney Gardens, Airport Industria, Blackheath and Atlantis hold the sauce, spice, bakery, fish, dairy and beverage plants Wesgro describes, plus the halal processors and the cold stores feeding the container terminal. R638 basics for every handler, then Introduction to HACCP and GMP for the technical team that faces retailer and export audits.
Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Philippi, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Dunoon, Mfuleni and Strand carried most of the City’s 6 510 spaza CoA applications. The Informal Traders and Spaza Shops course is written for that inspection, and mobile traders under the 2025 by-law amendment use the same course.
School nutrition kitchens, campus and corporate canteens, event caterers and franchise stores across the eight sub-districts all fall under R638 and the same City Health inspection. Franchise groups train store managers on Persons in Charge and keep the record per site on the manager dashboard.
On-site and in-house training
Train a Cape Town kitchen, plant or franchise group on one dashboard.
The ASC Cape Town branch runs on-site and in-house training across the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape, usually within a week of your quote.
- Send the learner countWhatsApp or the contact form. Quote within one working day, one invoice, no VAT.
- Learners train online or on sitePhone, tablet or laptop, self-paced for the R638 courses. On-site sessions through the Cape Town branch.
- Manager dashboardSee who has finished, download certificates, and hand the inspector a training record for every site.
Add the documents. The Basic Food Safety Document Templates Toolkit (R699, 40+ editable Word and Excel policies, procedures, forms and checklists aligned to R638) is 15% off when you buy it with any R638 course. Tell us on WhatsApp +27 61 483 0381 or the contact form which course you are enrolling in, and we invoice both with the discount applied.
Questions from Cape Town
What Cape Town food businesses ask before they enrol.
Anything else, message us on WhatsApp during office hours or use the support page.
Who issues the Certificate of Acceptability in Cape Town?
City Health, the City of Cape Town’s Environmental Health service. An environmental health practitioner from the sub-district office covering your premises inspects against R638 and the certificate is issued in the name of the person in charge. The City states there is no charge for the certificate.
Do I apply for the Cape Town CoA at an office or online?
Online. Register as a Business Partner on the City’s e-Services portal, activate the Environmental Health service, and submit the Certificate of Acceptability application with the ID of the person in charge and a 1:50 layout plan. The City publishes a standard processing time of ten working days once the documents are complete, and the certificate is emailed. The area environmental health offices can help if you are stuck, but the application itself goes through e-Services.
What does the City Health inspector check at the premises?
The Western Cape Government’s guide to the Cape Town CoA lists food safety and hygiene training records, a documented pest control programme, temperature monitoring, waste management, cleaning schedules, supplier lists and stock rotation. Regulation 10(1)(d) of R638 is the training requirement. ASC certificates carry a QR code the EHP can scan on the spot, and the R638 document toolkit covers the registers.
Will City Health accept an online ASC certificate?
R638 does not prescribe classroom or online training; it requires the person in charge to be trained and to hold a training record for every handler. ASC is a SAATCA registered provider, TC 065, for the R638 Persons in Charge course and a FoodBev SETA accredited provider (587/00337/1900), and every certificate is QR-verifiable, which is what the inspector checks.
Can ASC train my Cape Town team on site?
Yes. The ASC Cape Town branch runs on-site and in-house sessions across the metro and the Western Cape, from a single restaurant to a multi-site franchise group, and any size of group can also train online with one invoice and a manager dashboard. Send the learner count on WhatsApp or the contact form for a quote within one working day.
Also serving
Food safety training near Cape Town.
This page covers the whole City of Cape Town metro, from Atlantis and Durbanville to Somerset West, Strand and Simon’s Town, and the ASC Cape Town branch travels from here. Stellenbosch, Paarl, Wellington and Franschhoek fall under the Cape Winelands District Municipality’s environmental health practitioners, Malmesbury and Darling under the West Coast District, and Grabouw, Hermanus and Caledon under the Overberg District, each with its own CoA registration centre on the Western Cape Government list; the Cape Town branch quotes on-site training for all of them, and the online courses run anywhere in the province.