As from 1 January 2026, the environmental healthcare tasks in the administrative branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will be transferred from the Regional State Administrative Agencies to the Finnish Food Authority. The tasks of the Regional State Administrative Agencies concerning animal health and welfare as well as food will be centralised to the Finnish Food Authority. The change is part of the reform of regional state administration taking place at the turn of the year.
The aim of centralising the tasks to the Finnish Food Authority is to harmonise the supervision of animal health and welfare and food control and to improve the effectiveness of combatting animal diseases. Animal-related tasks directly assigned to the Finnish Food Authority will include the guidance of supervision of animal welfare in municipalities, control and guidance of combatting animal diseases, and prevention and eradication of animal diseases. The guidance of food control in municipalities will also be centralised to the Finnish Food Authority. At the same time, tasks related to laboratory animals and the supervision of reindeer husbandry will be transferred to the Finnish Food Authority.
Presence in the regions remains
The reform of regional state administration will keep regional expertise and cooperation. As a rule, the personnel of the Regional State Administrative Agencies who will be transferred to the Finnish Food Authority will continue to work in their current locations either at the facilities of the Finnish Food Authority or in other state-owned premises. The Finnish Food Authority will also establish five new offices – in Kokkola, Kouvola, Mikkeli, Rovaniemi and Vaasa.
The Finnish Food Authority has established a veterinary care regional unit, which has three regional sections: Eastern and Northern Finland, Western Finland and Southern and Inland Finland. In principle, each regional section carries out the same tasks transferred from the Regional State Administrative Agency in its own region. At the beginning of the year, Matti Nyberg, Licentiate of Veterinary Medicine and provincial veterinarian at the Regional State Administrative Agency for Western and Inland Finland, will start as the head of the Veterinary Care Regional Unit.
A total of 62 persons will transfer from the Regional State Administrative Agencies to different tasks at the Finnish Food Authority.
Information on the transferred tasks can be found at ruokavirasto.fi
The tasks and matters transferred from the Regional State Administrative Agency to the Finnish Food Authority will in future be found on the Finnish Food Authority’s website. Information on certain notifications, permits and service use related to animals and foods will be transferred to the ruokavirasto.fi website. A summary of the new content pages has been compiled to make access to information easier. The pages will be published by the turn of the year.
The email addresses of the personnel transferring from the Regional State Administrative Agencies to the Finnish Food Authority changed on 10 December 2025. From now on, the email address from which messages are sent ends with ruokavirasto.fi instead of avi.fi. As of 1 January 2026, the avi.fi addresses of persons transferring to the Finnish Food Authority will stop working completely and emails sent to these addresses will no longer be received.
The operation of Regional State Administrative Agencies and ELY Centres ends
In the reform of regional state administration, permit, guidance and supervision tasks are brought together under the new Finnish Supervisory Agency, and new regional Economic Development Centres are created on the basis of the current Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The operation of the Regional State Administrative Agencies ends and the majority of their tasks will be transferred to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency. All of Valvira’s tasks as well as most of the environmental tasks of the ELY Centres will also be brought together under the Finnish Supervisory Agency. The tasks of the competition and consumer administration will be transferred to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority. The Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) will be closed down and most of their tasks will be transferred to the new Economic Development Centres.
Enquiries:
Finnish Food Authority
Marjatta Rahkio
Deputy Director General
tel. +358 40 186 4576
marjatta.rahkio@ruokavirasto.fi
Regional State Administrative Agency
Ulla Ahonen
Director of Basic Public Services, Legal Rights and Permits, Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland
tel. +358 295 016 888
ulla.ahonen@avi.fi
Ruokavirasto.fi: Administrative duties shifted to the Finnish Food Authority