Food hygiene ratings

[Stu999]

Do you pay attention to food hygiene ratings (actively seek them out)? Or do you just use any takeaway / restaurant? If you walked to a place and they had a 1 star sticker on the door would you go elsewhere?

You can check the scores here:

Scores on the Doors - Official Food Hygiene Ratings

Food Hygiene scores for every current registered UK food business - updated daily. If it's not on here their registration is still "awaiting processing..."

www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk

and:

Search for ratings | Food Hygiene Ratings

(Hat tip to robfosters, he made this same thread but didn’t want to necro a 12 year old thread.)

 

[Rai200]

Probably not something people will be aware of but they're so far behind in their ratings that if you already have a 5 you can retain it by attending an updated food safety course.

We did this because we hadn't been checked in around 4-5 years and kept asking them to come out with no luck.

So it might not be all that relevant, there's a place near me that had IIRC a 4 but they had last been checked in 1999! They had an updated one and got a 3.

A lot of the time points will be docked for lacklustre paper work more than anything else, temp check sheets not being up top date, not having comprehensive allergens for the current menu, that kind of thing. Rather than being unclean or using old stock etc.

 

[Brazo]

@Stu999, I’d remove the Scores on the doors link, they are a commercial company who scrape results from the Food Standards Agency website. The only link should be to the Food Standards Agency (your second one).

@Rai200

People can’t retain a ‘5’ just by doing a course, scores are reevaluated from scratch upon each inspection.

The place near you couldn’t have had a rating in 1999 because the FHRS scheme started in 2010, although there was a different scheme in place from circa 2005 but wasn’t widely adopted.

Premises are rated on 3 aspects, management (which includes paperwork), structure and practices. Each one carries an equal weighting and can reduce scores. Don’t be fooled into thinking a lot of time points will be docked for lacklustre paperwork. It’s rare you would find an otherwise good place who had simply forgotten to do their paperwork.

 

[Rai200]

People can’t retain a ‘5’ just by doing a course, scores are reevaluated from scratch upon each inspection.

Then how do we have a 5 rating from Jan 2024 despite not having had an inspection since 2019? It states our last inspection was 26th January, a Friday, but as I work every day we're open I can assure you none has been carried out.

The place near you couldn’t have had a rating in 1999 because the FHRS scheme started in 2010, although there was a different scheme in place from circa 2005 but wasn’t widely adopted.

Maybe it was an error on the site and no inspection had been carried out? It certainly said 1999 the last time I looked.

Premises are rated on 3 aspects, management (which includes paperwork), structure and practices. Each one carries an equal weighting and can reduce scores. Don’t be fooled into thinking a lot of time points will be docked for lacklustre paperwork. It’s rare you would find an otherwise good place who had simply forgotten to do their paperwork.

Sure, but the only time somewhere I've worked has ever been docked a point was on missing paperwork. It's much more common in my experience than poor storage, cross contamination etc.

 

[Brazo]

Then how do we have a 5 rating from Jan 2024 despite not having had an inspection since 2019? It states our last inspection was 26th January, a Friday, but as I work every day we're open I can assure you none has been carried out.



Maybe it was an error on the site and no inspection had been carried out? It certainly said 1999 the last time I looked.



Sure, but the only time somewhere I've worked has ever been docked a point was on missing paperwork. It's much more common in my experience than poor storage, cross contamination etc.

Could it be that you have an ‘E’ classification (lower risk premises) which means you get a self assessment questionnaire every 3 years and auto retain your 5 as this cannot be changed without a physical inspection. If not then your Local Authority are very behind!

 

[robfosters]

I never order from a place with a rating of 2 or less. 3 is satisfactory, so that’s ok.

 

[Rai200]

Could it be that you have an ‘E’ classification (lower risk premises) which means you get a self assessment questionnaire every 3 years and auto retain your 5 as this cannot be changed without a physical inspection. If not then your Local Authority are very behind!

I'm not sure how we would, we handle high risk food items, allergens, raw seafood, meats, shellfish etc. It's a gastro pub where we make 99% of stuff from scratch like any decent restaurant.

But as I say, we were given the option of a senior member of staff attending a seminar/test in lieu of being retested; maybe it's just our particular council/HSE area that's seriously behind.

 

[Freakbro]

Do you pay attention to food hygiene ratings (actively seek them out)? Or do you just use any takeaway / restaurant? If you walked to a place and they had a 1 star sticker on the door would you go elsewhere?

I don't actively seek them out but if they had 1 or 2 on the door I'd definitely go somewhere else.

We had a mobile hospitality company for 15 yrs, working out of the back of a converted arctic, and always had a 5, so I know how bad your practice has to be to get a 1 or 2.

 

[200sols]

I do take notice, 3 or below is too low and I'd avoid such a place.

 

[Bear]

I never order from a place with a rating of 2 or less. 3 is satisfactory, so that’s ok.

Same here and I actively look to see what rating they have

 

[dave28]

one of the few advantages of living in or near very small towns or villages, if the restaurants or take aways are really bad food hygiene and give anyone food poisoning the locals will find out and not go there. They have a reputation to protect to keep loyal customers. I have never had food poisoning in my 40+ years luckily so i trust where i go and where people i know go.

 

[throwaway4372]

If it's below 3 I assume something's wrong with it, but tbh I don't actually know what the ratings mean.

 

[Minstadave]

Our local Pizza Express got a 1 star rating in October, we don't go anymore.

Pizza Express | Rating Business Details | Food Hygiene Ratings

 

[AndyCr15]

I've had to deal with these inspections for many years too and I've never heard of receiving a score for anything other than them spending a good few hours examining your premises, practices and paperwork.

Local authorities are responsible for carrying out inspections of food businesses to check that they meet the requirements of food hygiene law. Depending on what they find, they may come back in 6 months or up to 2 years.

It isn't generally that hard to score a 4 or a 5, so whilst I don't look the score up in advance, if I see somewhere has a 3 or below, I do wonder how bad they might be.

 

[Baldbloke]

Same as most here. 3 or above I'll use. a 1 or a 2 then I'll avoid.
Don't know anything really about how rigorous the checks are but at least I hope it gives some reasonable representation of hygiene.

Me and my lass once visited a fish and chip shop in Cleethorpes. They had a 5 star hygiene rating and only a very small queue to get served. Two doors down there was another chippy but a great big queue. (Don't know its rating). We went for the one with the very small queue and the five star rating. We both got mild food poisoning that evening.
Lesson learned. Follow the crowd

 

[ristac]

We used our favourite takeaway for years, their food was head and shoulders above the rest, only for them to appear in the local paper with a rating of 1.

We used to have a retail unit amongst some terraced houses, they all had decent sized gardens. The Chinese takeaway next door used to have a guy in the garden chopping up chicken in the open air (flies) with a cigarette hanging out his mouth.

I checked their rating online and it was a four, the rating system helps some no doubt but it has serious flaws

 

[Reuben klang]

Nope, not at all. You’d only end up eating McDonalds or fine dining for the most part.

Most kitchens are disgusting, I’ve been in hundreds of them and a good chunk of the time I’m like i’ll not be eating in here.

Genuinely you’re best not to think about it and just go to the popular places.

 

[AndyCr15]

Nope, not at all. You’d only end up eating McDonalds or fine dining for the most part.

As said, it's not that hard to score 4 or 5. Just a quick look at the 40 nearest me, for example - 30 of 4 or 5, 10 3 or below.

 

[Bug One]

As said, it's not that hard to score 4 or 5. Just a quick look at the 40 nearest me, for example - 30 of 4 or 5, 10 3 or below.

You'll find most businesses, if they get a low score will endeavour to make the changes necessary to get the score back up to a 4 or 5.

My wife heads up a team running these inspections in our area. If it's really bad (usually due to poor hygiene, pest infestation, faulty dangerous equipment), they will force them to close either voluntarily or via a court order.

 

[Brazo]

I'm not sure how we would, we handle high risk food items, allergens, raw seafood, meats, shellfish etc. It's a gastro pub where we make 99% of stuff from scratch like any decent restaurant.

But as I say, we were given the option of a senior member of staff attending a seminar/test in lieu of being retested; maybe it's just our particular council/HSE area that's seriously behind.

Then in that case you wouldn’t be on an alternative enforcement strategy and should be properly inspected regularly so perhaps your council is behind. Was the test thing offered in Covid as some Local Authorities relaxed things a bit (too much!)