Food safety and hygiene
On this page you can find:
- food hygiene ratings
- how to request your hygiene rating to be rescored
- the food safety management system
- food hygiene training
Good food hygiene is essential to make sure that the food you serve is safe to eat. When you are setting up a food business, you need to introduce ways of working that will help you ensure hygiene standards are right from the start.
Food hygiene ratings
We have adopted the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) from the Food Standards Agency.
This helps customers to choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving information about the hygiene standards including:
- restaurants
- pubs
- cafés
- takeaways
- hotels
- supermarkets and other food shops.
You can check the ratings by searching on the FHRS website. Food establishments will also have their ratings displayed on their window or door.
How we inspect food businesses
During a food hygiene inspection, an Environmental Health Officer will view your food production and storage areas, discuss your food safety practices and procedures and view your food safety management system (food safety plan).
Providing our rating
An officer will provide the business with a food hygiene rating scheme score between 0 (urgent improvement required) to 5 (very good). The scoring is based on:
- 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 food safety so that the officer can be confident standards will be maintained in the future.
Request a revisit or appeal
A food business owner can formally request that a rescoring visit is undertaken. The cost of a revisit is £170 and a business can request more than one revisit.
Request your business to be rescored
If the business owner or manager thinks that the rating is unfair or wrong, they can appeal in writing to our Lead Food Safety Officer.
You have 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date of receipt of the notification of FHRS rating to lodge an appeal. Before making an appeal, please visit the appeals section of the Food Standards Agency website for further information.
Right to Reply
The owner or manager of the business also has a right to reply. This is different from an appeal. This allows the owner or manager to tell potential customers how the business has improved hygiene, or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time of the inspection. A business’s right to reply will be published online with their hygiene rating.
To make a right to reply, please complete the FHRS Right to Reply [DOCX, 75Kb] form and return it to commercial.envhealth@scambs.gov.uk
Food safety management system
All food businesses must have a food safety management system in place. This is a document to show how you keep food safe and is a legal requirement. The document must be based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principle.
What you include in the document will depend on the type of foods you produce and the procedures you use.
When an Environmental Health Officer undertakes an inspection to assess your food hygiene practices, we will review your food safety management system.
Safer Food, Better Business pack
The Food Standards Agency have produced a food safety plan called the Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack to help small food businesses comply with their legal duty. The SFBB pack is usually suitable for small caterers such as cafés, restaurants, pubs, takeaways, nurseries and food retailers such as newsagents.
Food hygiene training
If you are responsible for developing and maintaining your business's food safety management procedures, you are legally required to have received adequate food hygiene training.
Food business operators are also required by law to ensure that food handlers receive appropriate supervision, training and instruction to handle food safely.
In the UK, food handlers don't have to hold a food hygiene training certificate to prepare or sell food, although many food businesses will prefer that they do.
The necessary skills may be obtained through:
- on-the-job training
- self-study
- relevant prior experience
- training courses
Food hygiene training certificates
UK food hygiene certificates don't have an expiry date. It is left to the discretion of the food business operator or Environmental Health Officer to decide whether a refresher course is needed. We would recommend that food hygiene refresher training is undertaken every 3 years.
It is recommended that food handlers undertake Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety training. Managers of food businesses, or those involved with complex processes, may require greater knowledge and training to Level 3.
We do not provide food hygiene training, however there are many food hygiene training courses available.
Providers of training courses can be easily found using an online search engine.