Newtownabbey Borough Council - Environmental Health: Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The National Food Hygiene Rating scheme (FHRS) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is a Food Standards Agency (FSA)/local authority partnership initiative. This national food hygiene rating scheme provides consumers with information about hygiene standards in food business establishments at the time they are inspected to check compliance with legal requirements on food hygiene. The food hygiene rating given reflects the inspection findings. Newtownabbey Borough council will launch the scheme on 25th June 2012.

The purpose of the FHRS is to allow consumers to make informed choices about the places where they eat out or shop for food and, through these choices, encourage businesses to improve their hygiene standards. The overarching aim is to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness and the associated costs to the economy.

The scheme is a Food Standards Agency/local authority partnership initiative to provide consumers with at a glance information about hygiene standards in food businesses found during planned inspections. The aim is to help the public make informed choices about where they eat out or shop for food. Having a single scheme in place will help ensure consistency for businesses both within and across local authority boundaries.

Click here to check the ratings for food businesses in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area

The food hygiene scheme will help you choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving you information about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, hotels, and other places you eat out. Supermarkets and other food shops are also included in the scheme.

Ratings

There are six different food hygiene ratings (‘0’ up to ‘5’) - the top rating (5) represents a ‘very good’ level of compliance with legal requirements and all businesses irrespective of the nature or size of their operation should be able to achieve this. When you eat out or shop for food, you might see a sticker in the window or on the door, or a certificate on display, showing you the hygiene rating for that business. Businesses are encouraged to display these stickers and certificates at their premises in a place where you can easily see them when you visit. Food hygiene ratings for all local authorities taking part in the scheme are published on-line at www.food.gov.uk/ratings.