Baltimore
Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health
In short
Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health issues 3 permits we publish for Baltimore, last verified 2026-09-06. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary Food Service Facility License | Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health | $50 per booth or stand, per event of 14 days or less | per event | 2026-09-06 |
| Food License Fee Waiver for Licensed Child Care Centersonly if it applies to you | Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health | No fee | contingent on a specific state-city staffing contract remaining in effect | 2026-09-06 |
| Food Service Facility Plan Review | Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health | $150 initial plan review and inspection, includes 1 reinspection; each additional reinspection is $50; a blueprint review, where required, is $75 | one-time, per new facility or major remodel | 2026-09-06 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Temporary Food Service Facility License
Anyone who will prepare and sell, or give away, food at a public event such as a fundraiser, carnival, bazaar, meeting or special event lasting 14 days or less needs this license, including a restaurant that does not hold a caterer's license. The exceptions listed on the application, BCHD Form T-78, are a caterer with a valid Maryland caterer's license that completes the major food preparation at its licensed facility, and an event host that will not itself prepare, sell or give away food, which files Form SPC-EVT instead. Each booth or stand files its own application with a completed menu at least 15 days before the event, together with a letter of approval from the event sponsor and, if the applicant is the sponsor, the Special Events and Recreation and Parks permits; the $50 fee is paid by check or money order payable to the Director of Finance. All food must come from an approved source and be prepared in a licensed food service facility, never at home unless pre-approved by the State of Maryland, and the license must be posted in the booth or stand for the duration of the event.
Food License Fee Waiver for Licensed Child Care Centers
Section 6-405 currently charges no fee for a qualifying licensed 501(c)(3) child group day care center, waiving the fee entirely so long as a specific state-city sanitarian-staffing contract remains in effect — otherwise section 6-404 caps it at $50. A MSDE-licensed center should confirm current status with BCHD directly.
Food Service Facility Plan Review
Baltimore City Health Code delegates the base annual food-facility license fee to the Health Commissioner, 'as set from time to time... with the approval of the City Council' — no published dollar figure for that base annual fee could be located. A widely-repeated claim that Code section 9-11 sets a $460 annual fee is false; that section is Article 15's Late-Night Commercial Operations subtitle, unrelated to food licensing.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Baltimore
- Phone
- (410) 396-4424
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Baltimore City — Food Permits: Temporary Food Facility license, events of 14 days or lessCity of Baltimore · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Baltimore City Health Code, Title 6, Food Service Facilities, sections 6-402 through 6-405City of Baltimore · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Baltimore City Health Department — Plan Review feesBaltimore City Health Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Baltimore City Health Department — Temporary Food Service Facility License Application, BCHD Form T-78 (rev. 9-21-12)Baltimore City Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
Other offices serving Baltimore
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Maryland jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.