Food safety for business
Food hygiene rating scheme (FHRS)
- Hyndburn Borough Council operates the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme in conjunction with the Food Standards Agency.Food businesses inspected by officers from the Council’s Environmental Health team are given a rating based on their compliance with the legal requirements for hygiene, structural condition and management performance. Certain premises that do not supply food to the final consumer are not included in the scheme.
Following a food hygiene inspection a business that included in the scheme is rated from 5 for a very good premises through to 0 for those premises that need to improve urgently. It is currently voluntary for the businesses to display the rating at their premises but all ratings are published online at Search for ratings | Food Hygiene Ratings. The scheme is deisgned to gives consumers an indication of a business’s overall level of food hygiene compliance. As a guide:
- A premises with a zero to one ratingdemonstrates virtually no awareness of “Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)”, limited monitoring of critical control points and is poor in relation to structure and cleanliness. These premises are likely to be subject to further formal action in terms of Hygiene Improvement Notices, Simple Cautions and Prosecutions to secure future improvements.
- A premises with a two to three ratingdemonstrates an awareness of HACCP and routinely monitoring the critical control points, but have limited documentation. The premises must be generally fair in relation to structure and cleanliness.
- A premises with a four ratingshows an ability to demonstrate an understanding of HACCP and have good food safety management systems. The premises must also have good structure and cleanliness throughout.
- A premises with a five ratinghas a fully documented HACCP based system and includes a system of self-inspection and verification coupled with very good structure and hygiene practices. To help businesses demonstrate to officers how they achieve this standard the directorate has produced some standard records and forms (available below).
All in scope businesses on completion of a food hygiene inspection will receive an inspection summary and a window sticker showing the category from zero through to five. Businesses are requested to display their rating and it is valid until their next routine inspection.
The aim of the scheme is to improve food hygiene standards in the borough and also to give the public a more informed choice about where to eat based on food safety.
There are approximately 830 food businesses in Hyndburn that are inspected for food hygiene. An up-to-date list of their ratings following the last inspection can be viewed at the following link: Search for ratings | Food Hygiene Ratings.
The rating is only a reflection of the conditions found on the day of the inspection and standards may have gone up or down since that inspection. The rating will be downgraded where standards deteriorate and are not maintained.
There are various safeguards available to all food businesses in relation to Food Hygiene Ratings. Details are given below:
Appeal
What can the owner of a business do if they think the rating given was wrong or unfair? If a food business is not satisfied with the rating awarded then this should be discussed in the first instance with the officer who carried out the inspection to understand why the rating was awarded.
If you still think that the rating awarded is unfair or wrong, the food business operator can lodge an appeal by completing of the following online form:
This form will be submitted to the Lead Food Officer in Environmental Health.
For your information, the contact details for the Lead Officer are detailed on your inspection report.
Alternatively, a food business operator can email food_team@hyndburnbc.gov.uk detailing their grounds for appeal.
A food business has 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date of receipt of the notification letter to lodge an appeal.
Once the appeal form has been submitted, the Lead Officer will review the inspection findings and the rating awarded. The outcome of the appeal will be communicated back to you within 21 days from the date an appeal is received.
If a business is not satisfied with the outcome of the appeal, they can challenge the local authority’s decision by means of judicial review. The business also has recourse to the Council’s complaints procedure, including taking the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman where appropriate, if they consider that a council service has not been properly delivered.
Full details of the appeal process are in the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme safeguards for businesses | Food Standards Agency.
Right to reply
The owner or manager of the business also has a ‘right to reply’. This is different from an appeal. The owner or manager of a food business can provide some text to be displayed with their published rating to give information about how the business has improved hygiene or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time of the inspection.
A right to reply can be submitted by completion of the following form:
A business’s right to reply will be published online at Search for ratings | Food Hygiene Ratings by the local authority alongside the business’s food hygiene rating.
Request a revisit
If, you operate a food business in Hyndburn and you have made improvements to the hygiene standards in your business, since your last inspection you can request a rescore visit by completing the revisit request form below:
You will need to provide details of the steps you have taken to address the points raised in the inspection report, which can be done when you complete the online form. You can also include information to support your request.
Request for early publication of rating
As the food business operator of a food business you may request that your new rating is published on food.gov.uk/ratings before the appeal period has elapsed. You will need to use the form below if you would like to request early publication of your new rating. Please note that if you have been allocated the top rating of 5 (Very Good), then you do not need to complete this form as your rating will be automatically published at the earliest opportunity.