Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The national scheme is a Food Standards Agency (FSA) initiative to provide consumers with at-a-glance information about hygiene standards in food businesses found during planned inspections. The aim is to help them to make informed choices about where they eat out or shop for food.

Not all businesses are included in the scheme, just those that supply food directly to the public. Exempt businesses include:

  • newsagents selling sweets only,
  • chemist and gift shops that sell packaged biscuits and sweets
  • childminders and other care providers

Find the rating for a food business

To find a rating for a business you can:

What the ratings mean

Each business participating is given a score between zero and five, based on their last inspection. The rating looks at compliance in three areas; food hygiene and safety procedures, structural requirements and confidence in management.

The scores themselves:

  • 0 - Urgent improvement necessary
  • 1 - Major improvement necessary
  • 2 - Improvement necessary
  • 3 - Generally satisfactory
  • 4 - Good
  • 5 - Very good