## Good Hygiene Is Good For Your Business

A GUIDE FOR BUSINESSES

A good food hygiene 
rating can help you 
keep your customers 
food.gov.uk/ratings

## Get A Good Rating, Get Recognised

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme makes it easier for consumers to choose places with good hygiene standards when they're eating out or shopping for food. The food hygiene rating tells them about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, hotels, supermarkets and other places they go to for food. The scheme is run by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in partnership with the Food Standards Agency You can also look up food hygiene ratings online at food.gov.uk/ratings

## Your Hygiene Rating

Your business will be given a hygiene rating following a planned inspection by a food safety officer from your local authority. Your hygiene rating depends on the standards of hygiene found at the time of the inspection.

Your business can be given one of six ratings. These are on a scale from '0' at the bottom, which means that urgent improvement is necessary, to '5' at the top, which means that the business was found to have 'very good' hygiene standards.

## Calculating Your Rating

The rating you are given will depend on:

## Advertising Good Hygiene To Your Customers

n	How hygienically the food is handled including preparation, 
cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage
It's a good idea to tell consumers how good your hygiene standards are by putting your rating sticker in the window or on the door - you will be given this by your local authority. 

This means that your consumers can easily see your food hygiene rating when they visit your business.

n	The cleanliness and condition of facilities and building 
(including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand 
washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene
Your customers will also be able to look up your hygiene rating online at **food.gov.uk/ratings** which will include additional information on the 'ratings breakdown' for your business.

n	How food safety within the business is managed including 
a system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.
The food safety officer will explain to you if there are any improvements needed, what they are and how you can achieve a higher rating. Any business should be able to reach a top rating. The food hygiene rating is not a guide to food quality.

## Making Sure The Scheme Is Fair Find Out About Your Competitors

Each business is given a hygiene rating following its inspection by a food safety officer from the local authority. Is there a food business near you with better hygiene standards?

Find out at food.gov.uk/ratings You can ask for another visit to get a new rating if you make the improvements to hygiene standards that the local authority food safety officer told you about at your last planned inspection. You'll need to do this in writing and supply evidence of the improvements made. The food safety officer will re-assess hygiene standards and give you a new rating - this could go up but it could stay the same or it could go down. You have a 'right to reply' if you've improved hygiene standards since your inspection, or if there were unusual circumstances at the time of the inspection, and you want to explain this to your customers. You should submit this to your local authority and it will be published with your hygiene rating at food.gov.uk/ratings Y**ou can appeal** if you think your hygiene rating is wrong or unfair - in other words it does not fairly reflect the hygiene standards found at the time of your inspection. You must lodge an appeal with your local authority within 21 days of being told what your hygiene rating is. You can find out more about these safeguards at food.gov.uk/ratings Published by the Food Standards Agency March 2018. © Crown copyright 2018.