The ‘Food Hygiene Rating Scheme’
is a national local authority/Food Standards Agency partnership
initiative. The scheme provides consumers with information about
hygiene standards in food premises at the time they are inspected
by local authority food safety officers to check compliance with
legal requirements. The food hygiene rating given reflects the
inspection findings. The purpose is to allow consumers to make
informed choices about the places where they eat out or shop for
food thereby encouraging businesses to improve their hygiene
standards.
What types of businesses will be given a rating?
Restaurants, takeaways, cafés, sandwich shops, pubs, hotels,
supermarkets and other retail food outlets, and any other business
where consumers can eat or buy food will be given a rating. However
the following exemptions and exclusions apply:
- Exempt premises - 'low-risk' premises which are not generally
recognised by consumers as being food businesses, and/or certain
businesses operating from private addresses – e.g.
childminders.
- Excluded premises - Establishments that do not provide food to
final consumer are not included in the FHRS. These include
manufacturers and packers, primary producers, importers and
exporters, distributors and transporters.
What safeguards are there to ensure ratings are fair?
You will be notified of your rating in writing within 14 days of
the inspection. If you are a multi-site businesses, the head office
will be notified also. Along with notification of your rating, we
will explain the reasons why your business was rated as it was, and
give details of any actions that you need to take to improve your
level of legal compliance.
In order to ensure that the scheme is fair to businesses, it has
been designed to include a number of safeguards. These are: an
appeal procedure; a ‘right to reply’; and an opportunity to request
a re-visit when improvements have been made in order to be
re-assessed for a ‘new’ rating. Information for food businesses
about these different safeguards is provided below.
What is the purpose of the appeal process?
Following a hygiene inspection of your premises you will be
notified in writing within 14 days (this includes weekends and
public holidays) what your food hygiene rating is. The officer may
give you an indication of your rating at the time of your
visit.
If you think that the rating is wrong or unfair – in other words
it does not reflect the hygiene standards at the time of inspection
– you can appeal against this. In the first instance you should
contact the officer that carried out the inspection. If the matter
can not be resolved you should then make an appeal in writing which
will be considered by the lead officer for Food Safety.
What is the purpose of the ‘right to reply’?
You can explain to potential customers any actions that you have
taken after your inspection to improve hygiene standards at your
premises or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time
of the inspection that might have affected your food hygiene
rating. It is not an opportunity to complain or criticise the food
hygiene rating scheme or your food safety officer.
What is the purpose of requested re-visits?
If you make the improvements to hygiene standards that the local
authority food safety officer told you about at your inspection you
can ask for a re-visit before the next planned inspection. You must
provide evidence that the improvements have been made and the food
hygiene rating could go up, down or remain the same if deemed
appropriate by the officer.
The Food Standards Agency has produced guidance for businesses on
how each of these safeguards works.
Useful links