Does a smoker need a permit? The 1-tonne limit
In Germany, a commercial smoking system only requires a permit if its production capacity exceeds one tonne of meat or fish products per week. Below this, the exemption in Annex 1 Number 7.5.2 of the 4th BImSchV applies – as it does for systems in restaurants. No farm business or farm butchery reaches this volume in normal operation. However, this does not exempt you from food law.
At Beelonia GmbH, we have been building smoking systems for exactly this scale in Beelen since 1880 – and we are asked about permits in almost every consultation, usually even before the question about the price.
Last updated: 30 July 2026 · Author: Michael Vering, Beelonia GmbH · All prices: as of July 2026. This article classifies the legal situation and does not replace official or legal advice.
Recommended reading: The obligations that apply regardless of the permit question can be found in the article HACCP for smoking: obligations and documentation for businesses. How the investment pays off is explained in Financing a smoking system, and you can find the right system size in the article on System planning for butcheries.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| When is a permit required? | from 1 tonne of smoked goods per week |
| Legal basis | Annex 1 No. 7.5.2 of the 4th BImSchV |
| Second exemption | systems in restaurants |
| Formal procedure | only from 75 tonnes per day (No. 7.5.1) |
| Simplified procedure | between 1 t/week and 75 t/day (No. 7.5.2) |
| Remains independent of this | Food law: registration, hygiene training, approval if applicable |
From what volume does a smoking system need a permit?
A smoking system only requires a permit from a production capacity of one tonne of meat or fish products per week. This is stated in Annex 1 Number 7.5.2 of the Fourth Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act. Two cases are explicitly exempted there: systems in restaurants and smokehouses below this weekly volume.
The ordinance is staggered in two stages. Number 7.5.1 covers systems with 75 tonnes of smoked goods or more per day – this is an industrial scale and requires a formal permit procedure. Number 7.5.2 covers everything below this in a simplified procedure, but completely exempts restaurants and small smokehouses.
There is an enormous range between these two figures. The entire craft sector operates exactly at its lower end, far below the permit threshold: farm shops, direct marketing, farm butcheries, trout farms, fishing clubs.
What does one tonne per week mean in practice?
One tonne is 1,000 kilograms of smoked goods – per week, not per month. A fully loaded batch in an F6-100 holds around 160 kilograms. To reach the limit, a business would therefore have to run about six such batches in one week.
With hot smoking, this would theoretically be conceivable. With cold smoking, it is not: a raw ham does not hang in the smoke for hours, but for days, with resting phases between the courses. If you cold smoke ham and bacon, you can manage one, maybe two batches in the same week.
Calculate it for your own business: how many kilograms go over your counter per week? In direct marketing, this figure is typically in the double-digit to low triple-digit range. The permit threshold is then not just narrowly missed, but missed by a multiple.
What other exemptions apply?
In addition to the volume limit, the ordinance exempts systems in restaurants. And the permit requirement generally presupposes that a system is expected to be operated in the same place for more than twelve months. If a business operates several systems, their capacities are added together.
The twelve-month period is stated in Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 of the ordinance. It is the reason why mobile smoking systems are exempt from the permit requirement – not the wheels themselves, but the actually changing location. If you operate a mobile system for years in the same place in the same hall, you cannot rely on this exemption. This is a rule for mobile use, not a design trick.
More important for growing businesses is the aggregation: according to Section 1 Paragraph 1, the legally and actually possible operating scope of the system operated by the same operator must be taken into account. If you upgrade to three or four smokers over the years, you should keep an eye on the added capacity.
What applies in addition to immission control law?
The exemption from permits under the BImSchV exclusively concerns immission control, i.e. smoke and odours. Registration of the business, hygiene training and, depending on the scope, food law approval remain unaffected. Other authorities are responsible, usually the veterinary and food inspection office.
These two areas of law are regularly confused. In practice, this means: even if your system does not need an immission control permit, you must register your business under food law before you sell smoked goods. What exactly is required in your case depends on the scope and form of delivery and is regulated differently depending on the federal state.
Independent of both are structural questions: smoke extraction, exhaust air routing, possibly a change of use of the room. These points are clarified by the local building authority, and they belong before the purchase decision – not after. The room in which the system will later be located must meet different food law requirements than a barn where there just happens to be space.
When the question does become relevant
Not every concern is unfounded – only the permit requirement itself usually is. The topic becomes relevant in three situations: if a business operates several systems in parallel and the added capacity moves towards the tonne; if neighbours complain about the smell of smoke, because then the authority checks the concrete nuisance regardless of the permit question; and if a room is used for food processing for the first time, because then building law comes into play.
In these cases, it is worth calling the lower environmental authority of the district before investing. In all other cases, the question is clarified after two minutes.
Frequently asked questions about permits
Do several smokers count together?
Yes. According to Section 1 Paragraph 1 of the 4th BImSchV, the legally and actually possible operating scope of all systems of the same operator must be taken into account. If you operate several smokers in parallel, you must add the capacities – not look at each system individually.
Does the 1-tonne limit also apply to fish?
Yes. The text of the ordinance explicitly mentions meat or fish products. The same limit applies to a trout smokehouse as to a farm butchery. With fish, the distance to the threshold is usually even greater, because a portion-sized trout only weighs a few hundred grams.
What applies to mobile smoking systems?
The permit requirement presupposes that the system is expected to be operated in the same place for more than twelve months. A system that actually changes location is exempt from the requirement. If you operate a mobile system permanently in the same place, you cannot rely on this.
Does the exemption from permits replace food law registration?
No. Immission control and food law are separate areas of law with different authorities. Registration, hygiene training and, depending on the scope, approval must be clarified independently of the BImSchV.
Who is responsible for the permit?
In immission control law, usually the lower environmental authority at the district or city level, for larger systems the district government. The responsibilities are regulated by state law and differ between the federal states.
Which system suits your volumes?
We build every smoker for the business in which it will be located – since 1880 in Beelen, with our own delivery, installation and instruction.
Sources and technical basis: Fourth Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (Ordinance on Installations Requiring a Permit), Annex 1 Numbers 7.5.1 and 7.5.2 as well as Section 1 Paragraph 1, accessed via gesetze-im-internet.de on 30 July 2026. Batch data from the Beelonia product documentation (as of July 2026). The presentation classifies the legal situation in general; the examination of the individual case is the responsibility of the competent authority.
