National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The food hygiene rating scheme

• http://ratings.food.gov.uk - The publication of Food Hygiene ratings of all food businesses within the South Bucks District Council area.

Since 2010, South Bucks has been working towards joining the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. We are now ready to take part and publish the Food Hygiene Ratings for certain businesses registered in the District.

Run in partnership with the FSA, the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) provides a single, easy to understand scheme and will ultimately replace other local schemes currently in place across the country. The FHRS has already won broad acceptance from local authorities, the catering industry, trade associations and consumer groups.

How are the ratings worked out?
An officer inspects a business to check that it meets the requirements of food hygiene law, specifically they will check:

• The hygienic handling of food – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
• The structure of the buildings –cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
• The management of the business including the management system and records in place to ensure food is safe

The hygiene standards found at the time of inspection are then rated on a scale from ‘0’ – this means urgent improvement is required to ‘5’ – this means the hygiene standards are very good.

The rating given shows how well the business does overall, but businesses may do better in some areas than in others. This means the rating is designed to take this into account, including areas that need the most improvement. The rating is not a guide to the quality or value of the food prepared or sold at premises.

Further FAQ’s are published on the FSA site:www.food.gov.uk

Scheme disclaimer
Scheme disclaimer
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is not an endorsement of current standards but merely reflects the score we awarded a premises at the time of their inspection. Nevertheless, we try very hard to make sure the information available on these pages is correct and in the case of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme adheres to the FSA’s brand standard.

Some high scoring food businesses may not have been inspected for some time, however, these will be classed as low risk and so be subject to other enforcement safeguards. Following an inspection it may take up to 28 days for the new rating to appear on our website.