Brazil's Worker's Food Program introduces new rules and mandatory re-registration

The Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment is implementing significant changes to the Worker's Food Program (PAT), affecting over 22 million workers.

Under new regulations, the program will move toward full interoperability, requiring benefit operators to open their technological systems. This allows meal and food vouchers to be processed by any standard card machine in retail establishments, similar to traditional debit and credit cards. To protect small businesses, the regulation imposes a 3.6% cap on total transaction fees for merchants and a 2% limit on interchange fees. Additionally, retailers must receive funds within a maximum of 15 days to improve cash flow.

Simultaneously, all entities registered in the PAT—including beneficiary companies, food suppliers, facilitators, and registered nutritionists—must complete a mandatory re-registration in a new system by November 9, 2026. This update must be performed via the gov.br portal, as existing data will not be automatically migrated to the new platform. Failure to re-register within the deadline will result in automatic exclusion from the program.