National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

Wealden District Council, along with other authorities in Sussex and across the country, is joining the scheme, run by the Food Standards Agency.

The scheme will allow Councils to publish the ratings businesses receive on their hygiene and food safety so that customers can see how good (or bad) they are. Evidence from the USA, where similar schemes have been running for a number of years, suggests that higher rated businesses can increase their turnover and profits.

This means that good businesses can finally get the public recognition they deserve for providing and maintaining high standards of food hygiene.

The Food Standards Agency has created an Information Leaflet (493kb) explaing the sceheme.

We have also produced our own Newsletter (926kb) with more local information for businesses in Wealden.

Which businesses are included in the scheme?

All food businesses that supply the final consumer are automatically included. This means restaurants, hotels, cafes, shops, delicatessens, public houses, mobile traders, home caterers, schools, care homes and farm shops.

Some businesses are excluded as they don’t sell to the final consumer, namely factories, importers, warehouses, transport companies.

Some businesses, such as childminders, are exempted as they often provide only drinks and biscuits.

How does the scheme work?

Food businesses are assessed and inspected by Wealden’s Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) on a regular basis. The frequency of assessment and inspection is determined by risk. Essentially, this is the risk of a business causing food poisoning or harm to customers or the public at large. The risk is assessed during inspection and the business given a score or rating based on what is observed and found at the time. Past history, complaint records and the level of compliance with current legal requirements is also taken into account.

Higher risk businesses are always visited and inspected. The lowest risk businesses are often dealt with by self assessment questionnaires, and occasional visits to confirm details.

Food hygiene inspections are predominantly unannounced to allow officers to assess a business as it is. Officers will always interview managers and staff to build up as complete a picture as possible.

After the inspection EHPs will score the business against a number of criteria to determine its level of risk, when the next assessment should be, and how well it complies or exceeds legal requirements. Part of this scoring is converted into a rating for the National Scheme.

Businesses will then receive a certificate and sticker with their rating. These are signed and dated by the inspecting officer and are issued after each routine inspection.

While there is no requirement to do so, businesses are encouraged to display the sticker in the window so that customers can see them. If businesses do not display their ratings then the public will be advised to draw their own conclusions about why this should be.

In addition, all businesses will have their ratings displayed on a national website that anyone can search. This website is administered by the Food Standards Agency

Are there any safeguards for businesses?

1. Appealing a rating

If businesses are unhappy with their assessment and rating they can appeal within 14 days of receiving their ratings and certificate. The appeal will be conducted by the Public Protection Team Manager, or other senior line manager within the service, and a decision made and notified within 7 days.

If the appeal is upheld, a new rating will be issued. If the appeal is rejected then the reasons for this will be put in writing to the business.

The Appeal Form is available in both word and pdf formats

Appeal Form (48kb)

Word Form (149kb)

2. Right to reply

Businesses will have the opportunity to explain to potential customers what they have done to improve hygiene, or to advise on circumstances that might have affected the rating at the time of inspection.

It is not an opportunity to complain or criticise the food hygiene rating scheme or your food safety officer

Comments must be made in writing (including email) to the officer who carried out the inspection. The Council may edit comments in order to remove any offensive, defamatory, clearly inaccurate or irrelevant remarks. Comments will then be published on the website for customers to see.

Comments can be made at any time until the next scheduled inspection.

The Right to Reply Form is available in both word and pdf formats

Right to Reply Form (45kb)

Right to Reply Form (144kb)

3. Requested revisit

Businesses are automatically given a new rating following a routine inspection. Officers will also explain what needs to be done to comply with legal requirements, and comment on what can be done to improve a rating. This will usually be in writing. If businesses carry out works and recommendations to improve standards they can request a revisit to obtain a new rating.

Businesses must make the request in writing (includes email), detailing what measures and works have been done since the inspection. Photographs and documents can be supplied to support the request. NB the council can refuse if insufficient evidence is supplied to justify the request.

The council will not normally revisit within three months of the original inspection, unless only structural works or upgrades to equipment were demanded.

If businesses request a revisit within the first 3 months, the council will revisit within 6 months of the original inspection. If a request is made after 3 months, the revisit will be within 3 months of that request. In either case, the revisit will be unannounced.

Businesses should be aware that they can only request one revisit between routine inspections.

It is also possible that a rating could go down if conditions on the day of revisit have deteriorated, or if the improvements claimed have not been properly implemented.

The Request a Revisit Form is available in both word and pdf formats

Request a Revisit Form (50kb)

Request a Revisit Form (149kb)

Finally, to help businesses get a rating of 5, Wealden has produced a list of the measures, works, systems and records (49kb) needed to achieve this standard.

Is there more information about the scheme?

Businesses can obtain more information about the scheme by visiting the Food Standards Agency website.

Food business ratings can be viewed on the National website.

We have also created a list of Frequently Asked Questions to help you understand the scheme.