If you serve or supply food direct to the public, you may be covered by the food hygiene rating scheme.
When your business is inspected you will be given a hygiene rating from 0 at the bottom to 5 at the top, based on the hygiene standards found at the time.
You can display your rating on a sticker or certificate at your business or banner for your website.
For further information on food law inspections and to check a businesses food hygiene rating please go to the
Food Standards Agency website.
If you're unhappy with your rating
Appeals
If you think that the hygiene rating you've been given does not reflect the standards at the time of the inspection you can make an appeal.
Start by contacting the officer who gave you the rating. They will be able to advise you why they gave the score they did. If you are still not satisfied and want to appeal, you must submit this within 21 days of the date of your inspection.
Make an appeal external link Revisits
If you make all the improvements in your inspection report you can ask us to revisit before your next inspection. We will assess your business again to consider giving you a new food hygiene rating.
The cost for each revisit is £253. Before applying you must make sure that all the improvements in your inspection report have been carried out as your rating can go up or down depending on what we find during the revisit. To request a revisit, please complete the online form:
Request a revisit link to online form
Once we have received your form and checked it to ensure it shows improvements have been made, we will contact you to take your payment over the phone. We will revisit within approximately 3 months. Once the revisit has been carried out, the officer will give you a new rating based on the food hygiene standards they find at the time of this visit.
There are no limits to how many revisits you can have, so if you do not achieve the maximum rating of 5 first time, you could reapply when you have made further improvements. You will be charged £253 for each visit.
Right to reply
You also have a right to reply to your rating. This is different from an appeal. It allows you to tell potential customers how the business has improved hygiene, or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time of your inspection. We will publish your right to reply online along with your hygiene rating.
Reply to your food hygiene rating link to online form