About the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
The food hygiene scheme will help you choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving you information about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, hotels, and other places you eat out. Supermarkets and other food shops are also included in the scheme.
The scheme is run by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in partnership with the Food Standards Agency.
Each business is given a ‘hygiene rating’ when it is inspected by a food safety officer from Basingstoke and Deane. The hygiene rating shows how closely the business is meeting the requirements of food hygiene law.
When you eat out or shop for food, you might see a sticker in the window or on the door, or a certificate on display, showing you the hygiene rating for that business. Businesses are encouraged to display these stickers and certificates at their premises in a place where you can easily see them when you visit.
You can find out what rating your favourite restaurant, cafe or bar in Basingstoke and Deane has been given by clicking on the link below:
http://ratings.food.gov.uk/
The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:
-how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, reheated, cooled and stored
-the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
-how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe
At the end of the inspection, the business is given one of the six ratings:
The top rating of ‘5’ means that the business was found to have ‘very good’ hygiene standards. Any business should be able to reach this top rating.
The food safety officer will explain to the person who owns or manages the business what improvements are needed and how they can achieve the top rating of '5'. The local authority will check that these improvements are made.
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme has been designed to make sure that the ratings given to businesses are fair.
For more information, see frequently asked questions about the scheme.
Information for businesses
If an owner or manager of a business feels their rating is wrong or unfair, they should talk to the local authority food safety officer that inspected the business about why the rating was given. The name of that officer will be on the last report of visit form issued at the time of the inspection, and/or on any follow up correspondence that we may have issued as a result of our inspection.
If the business owner or manager still thinks that the rating is unfair or wrong, they can appeal in writing. To appeal, any food business can download an appeal form (see link below) and send it to their local authority’s lead officer for food within 14 days (this includes weekends and public holidays) of being told what their rating is.
The owner or manager of the business also has a ‘right to reply’. This is different from an appeal. The owner or manager can download a right to reply form and send it to their local authority to tell the food safety officer 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 by the local authority with the business’s hygiene rating.
The owner or manager of a business can request a revisit but only if the improvements to hygiene that the local authority food safety officer told the business about at the last inspection have been made. The owner or manager of the food business can only ask the local authority for a revisit to be carried out once before the date of the next planned inspection, and after a three month "standstill" period from the date of your last food hygiene inspection.
To ask for a revisit, any food business can download a revisit form (below) and send it to their local authority.
It is recommended that you read the information contained in the leaflet "FHRS Safeguards for Business" (see link below) before appealing against a rating, exercising your right to reply or requesting a revisit. This will give you more information about how to do this and how the scheme works.
