Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The scheme helps you choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving you clear information about the businesses’ hygiene standards. The Food Standards Agency run the scheme in partnership with local authorities in Wales.

The scheme gives businesses a rating from 5 to 0 which is displayed at their premises and online so you can make more informed choices about where to buy and eat food.

• 5 – very good
• 4 – good
• 3 – generally satisfactory
• 2 – some improvement is necessary
• 1 – major improvement is necessary
• 0 – urgent improvement is required

What the rating covers

Ratings are a snapshot of the standards of food hygiene found at the time of inspection. It is the responsibility of the business to comply with food hygiene law at all times. This includes:

• handling of food, how food is stored, how food is prepared, cleanliness of facilities, how food safety is managed

The food hygiene rating scheme does not provide information on the following factors:

• quality of the food, customer service, culinary skill, presentation, comfort, compliance with food standards and allergen law

Right to Reply

As a food business operator you have the right to reply in respect of a food hygiene rating, following your inspection. This enables you to give an explanation of subsequent actions that have been taken to make the required improvements as detailed in an inspection letter.

Please complete the RIGHT TO REPLY FORM and send it the food safety officer that conducted your inspection.

Appealing a Food Hygiene Rating

As the operator of a food business you have a right, under Section 5 of the Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Act 2013, to appeal the food hygiene rating given to the establishment if: a) you do not agree that the rating properly reflects the hygiene standards found at the establishment at the time of the inspection, b) you believe that the rating criteria were not applied correctly when producing your food hygiene rating.

You have 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date of receipt of the notification letter to lodge an appeal.

Please complete an APPEAL FORM and return it to us – contact details are provided with the written notification of your food hygiene rating. Your appeal will be determined by an authorised officer and the outcome of your appeal will be communicated to you within 21 days from the date the appeal was received.

Request for early publication of rating

As the food business operator you may request that your new rating is published on food.gov.uk/ratings before the period in which you can appeal against the rating has elapsed

Please use the REQUEST FOR EARLY PUBLICATION FORM and return it to our Food Safety Team. Contact details are provided with the written notification of your food hygiene rating. The Food Safety Team will review your request and the rating will usually be published early.  If there are any issues or queries, such as the Food Safety Officer needing to confirm your position within the business, they will contact you.

Re-rating Inspection

You can ask us for a visit to be carried out before the date of the next food hygiene inspection so improvements can be checked and a new rating given if appropriate. Please complete a RE-RATING APPLICATION FORM and return it to our Food Safety Team.

Your request must be made in writing, on the standard re-rating inspection request form and you must provide information on the improvements that have been made to the hygiene standards.  You must continue to display your current rating sticker as required, at the time when making the request for a re-rating, until you have been notified of the outcome of the re-rating visit.

The re-rating inspection will take place within three months of the request being made by the business, and you will not be informed in advance of the specific date and time of the visit.  Although it is anticipated that most re-rating revisits will lead to an improved rating, during the re-inspection the officer will be looking at standards generally – not just at the specific areas you have been working to improve – so your hygiene rating could well go up, down or remain the same. 

A charge of £255 is payable and following receipt of the application we will contact you with details of how this is to be paid. The rescore inspection will be carried out within 3 months of receipt of the payment. If an officer visits your food premises to complete a re-rating inspection and your current FHRS sticker is found not to be displayed in the prescribed manner, then the inspection will not be carried out and a refund will not be payable.