Food hygiene rating scheme

We participate in the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme to promote high performing food businesses and enable consumers to make informed choices about where to buy and eat food.

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text | Food hygiene rating scheme 1

The scheme is run by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in partnership with the Food Standards Agency. When you are travelling or holidaying in other parts of the country you may find it useful to check a food premises hygiene rating.

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.

Each business is given a ‘hygiene rating’ when it is inspected by a food safety officer from the business’s local authority. The hygiene rating shows how closely the business is meeting the requirements of food hygiene law.

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.

A business can be given one of these hygiene ratings:

  1. urgent improvement is required
  2. major improvement is necessary
  3. some improvement is necessary
  4. hygiene standards are generally satisfactory
  5. hygiene standards are good
  6. hygiene standards are very good
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Food Hygiene Ratings
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The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:

  • how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
  • the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
  • how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

At the end of the inspection, the business is given one of the six ratings. The top rating of ‘5’ means that the business was found to have ‘very good’ hygiene standards. Any business should be able to reach this top rating.

The food safety officer will explain to the person who owns or manages the business what improvements are needed and how they can achieve the top rating of ‘5’. We will check that these improvements are made.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme has been designed to make sure that the ratings given to businesses are fair.

The scope of the scheme extends to establishments supplying food direct to consumers and includes restaurants, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops and other places where people eat food prepared outside of the home, as well as food retailers. Establishments that do not supply food direct to consumers are ‘excluded’ from the scheme and will not be rated. This includes primary producers, manufacturers and packers, distributors including wholesalers. Establishments operating from private addresses are considered ‘sensitive’ and no home address will be published.

We will help businesses in West Lindsey to achieve the highest rating possible.

After an inspection, the rating will be uploaded by the local authority so that it is published on the Food Standards Agency Ratings website. Ratings of '5 - very good' will be published as soon as the information is uploaded. Ratings of 0 – 4 will be published 3 – 5 weeks after the date of inspection to allow for an appeal to be submitted.

The Food Business owner or manager can request that a rating is published early before the end of the appeal period. This request must be made in writing to West Lindsey.  You must include: details of who you are; the name and address of the business; your contact information; the date of the inspection; and the rating given. We will review the request and will usually publish the rating early.

You can use the relevant form, email or write to us directly.

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The charge for a revisit is £188.00*. On receipt of the revisit request form and payment, the revisit will be carried out within 3 months of receipt date. *Charge amount valid from 01 April 2023 until 31 March 2024.

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contact | Food, Health and Safety Team
Food, Health and Safety Team
Housing and Environmental Enforcement

Guildhall
Marshall’s Yard
Gainsborough
DN21 2NA
United Kingdom