Look up your FSA rating, see your sub-scores, and find out exactly what's holding you back from a 5. Data direct from the Food Standards Agency.
Enter a name, postcode, or both. Data from the Food Standards Agency — England, Wales and Northern Ireland only.
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) is run by the Food Standards Agency in partnership with your local council. When an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) inspects your premises, they give you a single rating from 0 to 5 — where 5 means hygiene standards are very good and 0 means urgent improvement is necessary. That number is what customers see on the green-and-black sticker in your window and on the FSA's public register at food.gov.uk/ratings.
The rating reflects standards on the day of inspection — not an average over time. It stays published until your next inspection, which is why a single bad visit can follow you around for a year or more. England, Wales and Northern Ireland use the 0–5 scheme; Scotland runs a separate scheme (FHIS) that gives a “Pass” or “Improvement Required” instead of a number.
Your rating isn't a single opinion — it's calculated from three separate areas the EHO scores during the inspection. Each area is marked in points, and here's the part that trips people up: a lower score is better. Zero points in an area is a perfect result; high points mean problems were found.
The three area scores are added together and checked individually. To earn a 5 your total must be low and no single area can be above a set maximum. That means your overall rating is effectively capped by your worst area — a spotless kitchen with missing paperwork can still be held to a 3. This is why the documentation side (below) matters far more than most operators expect.
How food is handled, prepared, cooked, cooled and stored. The officer looks for temperature control (fridges at or below 5°C, cooking to safe core temperatures), separation of raw and ready-to-eat food, date labelling, and personal hygiene. Weak temperature records and cross-contamination risks are the usual point-losers here.
The condition of the building and equipment: cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, pest control, hand-washing facilities and drainage. Damaged surfaces, poor maintenance or any sign of pests push this score up quickly.
The heaviest-weighted area — and the one that's pure documentation. The officer wants evidence you manage food safety systematically: a written food safety management system (HACCP or Safer Food, Better Business), temperature logs, cleaning schedules, allergen information, supplier records and staff training records. If you can't produce records they can pick up and verify, confidence drops and your whole rating suffers.
Because your rating is capped by your weakest area, the fastest gains almost always come from the confidence-in-management pillar — it's worth the most points and it's the easiest to fix without capital spend. Get your food safety management system written down, keep your temperature and cleaning records up to date, hold allergen information for every dish, and file staff training certificates where you can hand them over on request. Then, once you've made improvements, you can ask your local authority for a re-rating visit rather than waiting for the next routine inspection.
Inspection frequency is risk-based — higher-risk businesses are visited more often. A well-run, low-risk site might be inspected every 18 months to two years; a business with problems can be revisited much sooner.
Yes. Once you've fixed the issues, you can request a re-rating visit from your local authority. Your rating won't change until they revisit, so it's worth requesting once you're confident. Some councils charge a fee for a requested re-rating visit.
Effectively, yes. To achieve a given rating your total points must be low enough and no single area can exceed a set maximum. A perfect kitchen with poor records can still be limited to a 3, which is why documentation is so important.
New businesses appear as “Awaiting Inspection” until the first inspection takes place. No rating is assigned until then.
No. Scotland uses the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS), which gives a “Pass” or “Improvement Required” result instead of a 0–5 rating, so sub-scores aren’t published. This checker covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Yes. You have a right to reply that is published alongside your rating, and an appeals process if you believe the rating is unfair or incorrect. Contact the officer who carried out your inspection in the first instance.
Rating data is provided by the Food Standards Agency. This tool is a free guide and doesn't change your official rating — only your local authority can do that.