What Are Food Hygiene Ratings?

5 Star Service and Hundreds of Happy Customers in:
Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire & North London

In this blog we will be looking at the Food Standards Agency, Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and covering the Key areas.

Why do we need a Food Rating Scheme?

The scheme is in place to help the public choose where to eat and shop for food by giving them clear information about your businesses hygiene standards.

The Food Standard Agency runs the scheme in partnership with the local council. Following an inspection, the Environmental Health Officer will give your business a rating from 5 to 0 so the public can make an informed choice about where to buy and eat food.

Your rating will be added to the Food Standards Agency website including the 3 main elements of the inspection, you will also be given a sticker showing your rating to be placed in your window.

GOOD or BAD your rating is available for the public to see so it makes sense to achieve the highest rating possible

Do you need a food hygiene rating? Ratings are awarded to places where food is sold, consumed or supplied such as:

  • Restaurants
  • Takeaways
  • Pubs
  • Cafes
  • Schools
  • Academies
  • Care homes
  • Commercial Kitchens

There are many more food outlets that the ratings apply to but theses would be considered the main ones.

What Do The Food Hygiene Rating Scores Mean?

5 – Hygiene standards are very good

A Hygiene Rating of 5 offers the customer the highest level of confidence in the business, everyone Food Outlet should strive to achieve a 5 Star Rating.

4 – Hygiene standards are good

A Hygiene Rating of 4 is good and will be seen by customer as a trusted place to purchase or consume food.

There will be minor issues and concerns on the report from the Environmental Health Officer, these should be address a.s.a.p. once addressed the business owner should but a request in for a re-inspection.

3 – Hygiene standards are generally satisfactory

A Hygiene Rating of 3, although this is deemed as “generally satisfactory” by the Food Standards Agency customer confidence will be low.

To improve this and retain you customer base as well as pulling in new customers, improvement should be made immediately checking off of the recommendations and issues on the list. Again as with 4 once addressed request a re-inspection.

2 – Some improvement is necessary

A Hygiene Rating of 2, can be due to a number of issues but ultimately shows a loss of confidence in the managements ability to keep to the standards laid out in the Safer Food Better Business For Caterers pack. The businesses reputation can really be damaged at this point.

1 – major improvement is necessary

0 – urgent improvement is required

What happens during a Food Hygiene Rating inspection?

The Environmental Health Officer will check three main elements:

  1. Is the food being handled hygienically: That’s broken down into, how is food being prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.
  2. The condition of the premises both front and back of house and will include: How clean and tidy areas are what pest control procedures you have in place, the layout, ventilation and even lighting.
  3. How your business manages ways of keeping food safe: Looking at processes, staff training and the systems you have in place to ensure good hygiene is maintained.

From the 3 main elements, the officer can then assess the level of confidence in standards being maintained in the future to achieve the top Food Hygiene rating your business must do well in all three elements if you do not achieve a 5-star rating, the officer will explain the necessary actions that are needed to improve your rating.

What happens if you get a low rating?

Businesses that are given a low rating must carry out urgent and sometimes major improvements to the standard of hygiene within the premises.

If the officer finds there is an imminent risk to public health from a pest infestation or food that is unsafe to eat, there are several enforcement options available to them. This is to ensure improvements are made and can result in stopping part of the business trading or closing it down completely until the improvements have been made and it is deemed safe to reopen.

How often will my business be inspected?

Each local authority has a yearly inspection program, the frequency of the inspections depends on the potential risk to public health.

Businesses that pose a higher risk level will, of course, be inspected more often than a business with a lower risk level, as a rule of thumb,

if you are a high-risk food outlet there could be 6 months between inspections with that increasing to 2 years for very low-risk food outlets.

A new hygiene rating is given each time a new inspection is carried out, depending on the findings you may be monitored in-between inspections, during these monitoring visits if the checks reveal a cause for concern the officer will carry out a full re-inspection and again issue a new hygiene rating.

What to know more? Visit our Food Hygiene page

 

Contact Area Pest Control today for advice, service and a solution to your pest problem.

Related Blog Posts

Why Area Pest Control?

As a pest control service provider, we offer bespoke, planned and contracted pest control solutions.

Efficient and effective pest control service with a fast and reliable response from trained specialists.

Trained Specialists

All our pest controllers are BPCA certified and trained to resolve your pest issues safely, quickly and discreetly.

A

Fast & Efficient

Choose us for a professional, courteous and efficient service and to provide you with advice on prevention and control of pests.

Effective Solutions

Innovative and bespoke solutions that resolve your pest problems quickly and effectively.

Z

Customer Satisfaction

We aim to ensure that every one of our customers is totally happy with the service received. 

We are proud of our Awards & Accreditations

Purple_RGB_Accredited
BPCA
ipaf
pasma

We offer rapid & effective pest control,
you won’t need to call us back.

FAQs

How quickly will you respond to my problem and how soon can it be treated?

It is our priority to take emergency pest control calls as they come in. We endeavour to speak to you and reply to emails on the same day during our working hours.

Treatment response times can vary depending on the pest, this can often be the same day, whatever the pest problem we are here and ready to help. Call us now.

What does a visit to my premises involve?

Our pest control technician will first survey your premises in an attempt to ascertain pest entry points and the best location to start the treatment,

they will talk you through the process answering any questions you may have.

On completion of the visit, the technician will advise you on preventative measures and recommend proofing works to help prevent a recurrence where possible.

What pests do you treat?

We treat a wide variety of pests from rodents to insects to birds, the more common pests we incur daily are Rats, Mice, Pigeons, Bed bugs and Cockroaches.

Seasonal pests include Squirrels, Glis glis (Edible dormouse) Starlings, Wasps, Cluster Flies, Moths, Spiders, Carpet beetle, Ants and Fleas, this is not an exhaustive list so please call to discuss any pest concerns you have.

We also have a specialist pest control team for removing pests from under solar panels and prevent them from re-entering.

This includes removing Birds, Pigeons, Jackdaws and Squirrels that are nesting under solar panels.

How much are your services?

 The costs vary from pest to pest and location, to give some examples:

Wasp treatments from *£49.99

Rat and Mouse treatments from *£50.00

Ant treatment from *£60.00

For more information on our service and costs call now. 

*All prices are per visit and plus VAT

Get an Instant Quote

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Pin It on Pinterest