The so-called Hygiene Package1 is the EU’s legal linchpin for ensuring the production of safe food within and outside the Union. This legislation aims to cover a vast array of food products and processes; from basic, commonsensical rules on the storage of fresh fruit and vegetables to the complex standards for animal slaughter and hygienic carcass handling. In addition, the Hygiene Package applies to a broad variety of different food business operators – from major international companies with huge production output and regulatory resources to farming families producing solely for local markets. Of course, all food, irrespective of the commodity concerned or the nature of its production, must achieve the same level of safety. However, a concern over the threat of excessive and disproportionate hygiene standards for small businesses, including, but not limited to, those in the artisanal and traditional food sectors, is also to be found in the Hygiene Package’s provisions. So-called ‘flexibilities’ exist throughout the Hygiene Package to guard against this risk of over-regulation. These flexibilities cannot and do not represent carte blanche exemptions from the Hygiene Package and must continue to satisfy the overall principles of food risk regulation as set down in the EU’s General Food Law.2 This article examines the extent to which the flexibilities foreseen by the Hygiene Package really enable a proportionately tailored regulatory regime for small-scale food business operators.