Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
Scarborough Borough Council launched the scheme on 30
March 2011 with the hygiene rating applied to inspections
undertaken since 1st July 2010. This has enabled almost 600
businesses to participate from day one.
What is the National Food Hygiene Rating
Scheme?
The National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is a Food Standards
Agency/local authority partnership initiative to provide consumers
with at-a-glance information about hygiene standards in food
businesses found during planned inspections. The aim is to help
consumers to make informed choices about where to eat out or shop
for food.
Under the scheme, each food outlet may display rating
information on their door or window. Rating information is also
available from the national website where consumers can look up a
food business hygiene rating on-line.
What type of businesses are included in the scheme?
Most food businesses that supply food directly to the consumer
are included in the scheme including restaurants, shops, cafes,
takeaways, delicatessens, care homes, hotels and pubs.
Are there any exemptions?
Some businesses are not included, for example child minders, as
the business information includes personal information. These
people will have the opportunity to opt into the scheme. Premises
selling only low risk food are also exempted, as are manufacturers
who do not supply food directly to the consumer. These businesses
are still included in the council's food hygiene inspection
programme even though they may not be part of the rating
scheme.
How are businesses rated?
Following each programmed food hygiene inspection an overall
numerical rating, from 0 (the worst) to 5 (the best) is awarded,
based on food hygiene and safety standards found at the time of
inspection in the following three areas:
- Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures.
- Compliance with structural requirements.
- Confidence in management control/procedures.
The rating does not reflect the quality of food or the standard
of service provided to customers.
Safeguards for food businesses
In order to ensure that the scheme is fair to businesses, it has
been designed to include a number of safeguards. These are: an
appeal procedure; a ‘right to reply’, and an opportunity to request
a re-visit when improvements have been made in order to be
reassessed for a new rating. Information for food businesses about
these different safeguards is provided in the various documents
within the download list below.
Following an inspection it may take up to 28 days for the new
rating to appear on our website
If you have any queries about the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
more information is available from the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
website at www.food.gov.uk/ratings or
you can contact the Councils Food and Occupational Safety team on
01723 232366.
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. The
food hygiene rating scheme adheres to the FSA’s brand standard.