• For food manufacturing, wholesaling, or distributing in Texas, information and licensing applications may be found at www.dshs.state.tx.us/foods or by phone 512-834-6626 for all licensing questions or 512-834-6670 for questions concerning food manufacturing.
• For meat and poultry processing in Texas, information and licensing applications may be found at www.dshs.state.tx.us/msa or by phone 512-834-6760 for questions concerning meat processing for wholesale.
• For food retailing in Texas contact your city or county local health department. If you do not have a local health department, then go to the Texas website at www.dshs.state.tx.us/foodestablishments for information and licensing applications or by phone 512-834-6753 for questions concerning retail food establishments.
• For milk and dairy products go to the Texas website at www.dshs.state.tx.us/milk or by phone at 512-834-6758.

It is important to consider the licensing/permitting early on in your business plan as it can take from 4 to 8 weeks to obtain a license/permit and in some cases it may involve a pre-inspection of your facility. Also, these websites provide the links to food laws, statutes and regulations for handy reference. These include the “Current Good Manufacturing and Warehousing Practices”, Seafood HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) regulations, Acidified and Low Acid Canned Food regulations and Juice HACCP regulations. You will also find the answers to “frequently asked questions” which covers numerous topics of interest with search capability.