Food Hygiene
Food Hygiene Ratings - Guidance for Businesses
Guidance on food hygiene ratings is available for businesses here.
Food Hygiene Ratings are assessed via routine food premises inspection visits which follow the "Food Law Code of Practice (England).
During the inspection, the Environmental Health Officer will allocate scores for:
•The level of compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures
•The level of compliance with structural requirements
•Confidence in management
These three scores will then enable the officer to rate the hygiene standards on a scale of 0-5. A score of 5 will be the highest level indicating very good standards of food hygiene and a score of 0 will indicate that urgent improvement is necessary.
How to achieve the highest score
In order to achieve the best score possible, you will need to make sure that your business meets high standards in the following three areas:
•How hygienically the food is handled - how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
•The condition of the structure of the buildings, including the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
•How the business manages and records what it does to make the food safe
What to do if you disagree with your hygiene rating
If you are not happy with the food hygiene rating you have been awarded, you should contact the inspecting officer to discuss your concerns in the first instance. If the issue cannot be resolved at that stage, there are three further options to consider: