5 Common Reasons for a Bad Food Hygiene Rating

5 Common Reasons For A Bad Food Hygiene Rating

When the Environmental Food Officer (EHO) visits your food business premises to undertake an inspection, there are three areas that they will check

Poorly kept, incomplete or no documented food safety management system
Lack of staff training
Poor food hygiene practises
Poor cleaning practises
Poor structure and layout of food businesses

There are 3 key areas that will be inspected by the EHO

Food Safety Management System

For small independent food businesses, the Food Standards Agency produce a free system that you can download to help you keep your business compliant commonly known as The Safer Food Better Business (SFBB).

Your EHO will look to see how well you use the documents, how often they completed and updated. This include regular temperature checking of fridges, freezers and cooked foods, cleaning records, staff training and ensuring correct hand washing takes place.

Any gaps or missing records will raise red flags and make them dig further with the potential to reduce your rating! It is very important the FBO regularly reviews their documentation and records what actions have been undertaken to rectify problems.

The Premises

The presentation of the premises will be scrutinised very carefully! The EHOs will be looking at the state of the walls, floors and equipment to see how well these are maintained. This includes the cleanliness of food delivery and storages areas, and your fridges and freezers have working thermometers. They will also be looking at your hand-washing facilities, where they are located and that each has a good hand soap, drying facilities, hot and cold running water.

Food Safety Procedures and Practises

This is key to an EHO’s observation of what you have written in your SFBB, food safety management and what they actually see happening in the food business. It is common for an EHO to ask staff questions about what they are doing and why they are doing certain tasks. It will tell the EHO a lot about your food business.

Contact us for your free Self-Inspection Checklist for your food business and/or call me to help you achieve your 5* Food Hygiene Rating the next time the Inspector visits.