FOOD HYGIENE RATING SCHEME (FHRS)

What can RS Food Hygiene do for you?

As former Environmental Health Enforcement Officers with years of experience and specialist training in inspecting food businesses and allocating Food Hygiene Ratings, we can use our extensive experience and knowledge to improve your scores. This work can include; training staff, updating food safety management system documentation (including the Safer Food Better Business pack), producing and implementing cleaning schedules and recommending structural improvements to your premises.

Breaches in food safety legislation could result in a Hygiene Improvement Notice or Hygiene Prohibition Notice being served or worse still, a criminal prosecution through the Courts. It is far better for a food business to simply comply with the law.

What is the FHRS?

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) is a food safety scheme designed to give consumers information about the hygiene standards of places where they eat. The schemes are run by the local councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own similar scheme.

Which businesses are included in the FHRS?

Restaurants, takeaways, cafés, sandwich shops, pubs, hotels, schools, hospitals, residential care homes, supermarkets, bakeries, and delicatessens are all included.

How is a Rating determined?

The Food Hygiene Rating is determined via an inspection of the food business carried out by a local council Environmental Health Officer specially trained to assess food hygiene standards. A business can be given any one of these ratings:

‘0’: Urgent Improvement Necessary.
‘1’: Major Improvement Necessary.
‘2’: Improvement Necessary.
‘3’: Generally Satisfactory.
‘4’: Good.
‘5’: Very Good.

These ratings are based on the following:

• How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.
• The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities.
• How the business manages what it does to make sure food is safe and so that the officer can be confident standards will be maintained in the future.

Do I need to display my Rating?

Businesses in England do not have to display their rating. However, the scores are accessible on the Food Standards Agency website (click food hygiene rating logo below):

How often are the Food Hygiene Ratings updated?

A new rating is given each time the business is inspected. How often inspections take place depends on the risk of the business. For example, there is a greater food safety risk where a business serves both raw and cooked foods and hence they will be inspected more frequently than say a retail shop only selling packaged cooked foods.