How To Get A 5* Rating On The Food Hygiene Rating System -

When a Food Safety Officer inspects a food business and awards a Food Hygiene Rating Score they take three factors into account.

1.      Hygiene standards – which cover cross contamination risk, temperature control and monitoring, personal hygiene and stock rotation.

2.      Structural standards – which cover cleanliness, layout and how it impacts on the risk of cross contamination, condition of structure, lighting ventilation, hand washing facilities, equipment and food washing facilities, drainage, pest control, hot water supply and waste disposal.

3.      Confidence in Management – which takes into account training or supervision of staff, track record of business, attitude of management toward hygiene and food safety, understanding of significant hazards and controls and having in place satisfactory documented food safety management procedures based on HACCP principles.

As can be seen, having in place a documented food safety management system, which is understood by all food handlers with monitoring sheets which are kept up to date is a key component of the Confidence in Management score. If you do not have such a documented system then the likelihood is that the highest FHRS you will achieve, even if everything else is in order is a score of 1, the definition of which is “Major Improvement Necessary”

If you are a new businesses and you have introduced a documented food safety management system but are still developing it or working towards full compliance, then you might manage to scrape a score of 4 (definition “Good”) but once again, only if everything else is in order. It should be noted however, that the allowance of” breathing space” afforded to new businesses, who are working towards full compliance can only be given once and should the documented system still not be considered satisfactory at the next inspection, then the business would automatically be dropped down to a score of no higher than 1.

Food hygiene ratings scores are openly available to the public as they are published on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website. Diners are becoming more aware of the scheme and it can affect their dining choices. They are actively encouraged by the FSA to investigate a restaurants rating before they decide whether to book a table. There is also a proposal to make displaying the score mandatory throughout the UK as it is in Wales.

It makes sense to aim for a top score of 5 as soon as you start trading and then throughout your trading future. The proper use of Our Kitchen Rules should assist you in achieving a high level of compliance with a resultant score of 5 the definition of which is “Very Good”.

More information on how the FHRS works is available here on pages 21 to 34 :-

http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/enforcement/fhrsguidance.pdf

You can order a copy Of Our Kitchen Rules by emailing artisanfood.angel@gmail.com