Food Hygiene Rating & HACCP Check for UK Businesses

Every UK food business, from a restaurant or café to a market stall, mobile caterer or home baker selling online, must follow the food hygiene rules in Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 (kept in UK law), the Food Safety Act 1990 and the food hygiene regulations for each nation, such as the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. Article 5 of Regulation 852/2004 requires you to put in place and keep up a written food safety management system based on HACCP principles. Many small businesses use the Food Standards Agency’s Safer Food, Better Business pack to do this. You also need clean premises, safe temperature control, trained food handlers and pest control, and you must register with your local council at least 28 days before you start trading.

Your council’s environmental health officers inspect you and give you a food hygiene rating from 0 to 5, which is published online. Displaying the rating sticker is a legal requirement in Wales (Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Act 2013) and Northern Ireland (Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016), and voluntary in England, although customers and delivery apps check it either way. A low score can cost you trade, and serious failures can lead to hygiene improvement notices, emergency prohibition notices that close you on the spot, and prosecution with unlimited fines. This check shows where you stand before the inspector arrives and what to fix first.

Use this free tool to check whether your food business is ready for a food hygiene inspection, from registration and HACCP-based food safety records to temperatures, training, cleaning and pest control.