Temporary Food Establishment Permits

Public Health | Environmental Health

Temporary food service establishments may only operate during a special event.

Event Permits

An Event Permit is valid for one event in a single location for up to 21 consecutive days.

Market Permits

A Market Permit is valid for one approved, reoccurring seasonal event in a single location, such as a farmer’s market, that operates no more than 3 days per week. The event must meet the definition found in RCW 82.32.033(6)(b).

Frequently Asked Questions

A low-risk temporary food establishment has a limited menu. You may not cook raw meat, fish, or eggs, cool food, serve sushi, ceviche, or raw shellfish, or have any complex food handling at your booth. Examples of allowable menus include:

  • Factory sealed packages of processed foods that do not require cooking for safety. These foods may be heated and hot held prior to service. No unattended hot holding – items must be served or discarded at the end of each day for multi-day events.
  • Intact (unopened) frozen packages of raw meat, raw fish, or other frozen items prepared at a WSDA/USDA/FDA-licensed facility and sold for customers to prepare at home.
  • Pasteurized dairy products, espresso drinks, or commercial beverage mixes
  • Pancakes, funnel cakes, donuts, or other fried dough products made from a commercial powder mix and water.
  • Sno-cones or other ice-based drinks or foods made with purchased ice and commercial syrups or mixes.
  • French fries, onion rings, other deep-fried foods made from frozen, commercially packaged product.
  • Commercially pre-washed fresh or commercially canned or frozen fruit or vegetables cut or served on site.
  • Max of two fresh produce items cut and washed. You must have adequate produce washing facilities at your commissary or the event.
  • Pre-made, ready-to-eat items received from a permitted food establishment or licensed food processor and served without any further preparation and in a manner that prevents contamination. May be hot or cold held. Examples:
    • Commercially made pizza from a licensed restaurant, hot held, sold by the slice.
    • Cold appetizer, dessert or other trays prepared & plated at a commercial facility and served cold.
    • Pancake breakfast buffet with cooked eggs and sausage provided ready-to-eat by a permitted restaurant.
    • Baked goods that require time or temperature control for safety (ie., pumpkin pie, cheesecake) sold by the slice or whole.

Sampling or Demonstration permits are for vendors serving small tastes of food to encourage sales of an exempt product or equipment where you are using reusable utensils or the food requires time or temperature control for safety. You may not cook & cool food or cook meat from raw under a sampling or demonstration permit.

Examples of sampling or demonstration booths include:

  • Jerky samples where meat is cut with scissors or handled with reusable tongs.
  • Educational booth where attendees learn to make a fresh salad and try bite-size servings
  • Barbecue smoker sale event with pre-cooked samples of brats & hot dogs for customers to try

You do not need a permit to serve the following items:
  • An establishment that offers only nontime/temperature control for safety food prepackaged in a licensed food establishment or food processing plant;
(ii) An establishment that offers only nontime/temperature control for safety food, nonready-to-eat, minimally cut, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and fresh herbs;
(iii) A food processing plant, cottage food operation, or other establishment for activities regulated by the Washington state department of agriculture or the United States Department of Agriculture;
(iv) An establishment that offers only nontime/temperature control for safety food, ready-to-eat food produced in a licensed food establishment or food processing plant (such as premixed soda pop, powdered creamer, pretzels, cookies, doughnuts, cake, or meat jerky) that are served from the original package without direct hand contact, with limited portioning, directly onto or into sanitary single-use articles or single-service articles;
(v) An establishment that offers only nontime/temperature control for safety food, hot beverages (such as coffee, tea, or pasteurized apple cider) served directly into sanitary single-service articles;
(vi) An establishment that offers only dry nontime/temperature control for safety food, nonready-to-eat foods with no additional processing (such as dry beans, dry grains, in-shell nuts, coffee beans, tea leaves, or herbs for tea);
(vii) An establishment that offers only prepackaged frozen confections produced in a licensed food establishment or food processing plant;
(viii) A residential kitchen in a private home or other location, if only foods that are nontime/temperature control for safety food baked goods are prepared and wrapped in a sanitary manner for sale or service by a nonprofit organization operating for religious, charitable, or educational purposes and if the consumer is informed by a clearly visible placard at the sales or service location that the foods are prepared in a kitchen that is not inspected by a regulatory authority;
(ix) A location where foods that are prepared as specified in (c)(viii) of this subsection are sold or offered for human consumption;
(x) A hotel, motel, or other similar business that maintains an ice dispensing machine for self-service use by guests and the ice is not used by a food establishment;
(xi) A kitchen in a private home operated as a family day care provider as defined in RCW 43.215.010 (1)(c) or an adult family home as defined in RCW 70.128.010, used only to prepare food for residents and other people for whom the operation is licensed to provide care;
(xii) A private home that receives catered or home-delivered food;
(xiii) A private home or other location used for a private event;

Some food establishments can operate 

A temporary food establishment must either prepare and store all food at the event site or use an approved, permitted commissary kitchen for any off-site food storage, preparation, or dishwashing.

You must use a commissary kitchen to cook and cool food - food may not be cooked and cooled at a temporary food establishment.

Your commissary kitchen must have the space and equipment for you to prepare your menu and amount of food safety. Skagit County Public Health will review your commissary agreement and let you know if there are any concerns about your plan of operation.

If your commissary kitchen is outside of Skagit County, you must include a copy of the kitchen's current health permit and last health inspection from the local health department with your commissary agreement. Starting 1/1/2027, Skagit County will no longer accept commissary agreements for kitchens that do not have a valid local health permit. Work with the health department where you are based to locate a permitted commissary.

Not for profit organizations which occasionally sell packaged baked goods as a fundraiser are not considered a food establishment, and can even sell homemade baked goods. Items for sale must be labeled and customers informed with a sign if food was made at home.

Download this guidance document about Charity Bake Sales for more information on the requirements.

Temporary Permit Applications & Forms

Download & save the applications and forms you need from the lists below. To fill out and save your work, please open the document in a program or app for PDF files. Do not fill out the form in your internet browser.

You may need to submit additional written plans and policies and part of your plan review. You can find additional food safety information and guidance to help you write those plans on our Training & Resources page.

Address

301 Valley Mall Way, Suite 110
Mount Vernon, WA 98273

Hours

Monday – Friday
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed federal holidays

Contact Us

eh@skagitcountywa.gov
(360) 416-1500

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