Guide
Food hygiene rating meaning: what 0 to 5 actually measures
Updated
The rating is a six-point scale with published wording for every point, and it scores three specific things. Knowing which three explains most of the ratings people find surprising.
The six ratings and their published meanings
The Food Standards Agency publishes a word for each number rather than leaving it to interpretation.
| Rating | Published meaning |
|---|---|
| 5 | very good |
| 4 | good |
| 3 | generally satisfactory |
| 2 | some improvement necessary |
| 1 | major improvement necessary |
| 0 | urgent improvement necessary |
A 3 is "generally satisfactory", not a failure. The scale is not a school grade, and the gap between 3 and 5 is usually documentation and management rather than anything a customer would see.
The three things an inspector scores
The rating is the combined result of three assessments, quoted here in full because the third is the one businesses lose points on without realising: "(1) How hygienically the food is handled, how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored. (2) The physical condition of your business, including cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, pest control and other facilities. (3) How you manage ways of keeping food safe, looking at processes, training, and systems to ensure good hygiene is maintained" (gov.uk).
Two of the three are about the premises and the food. The third is about paperwork and systems, and a business can be spotlessly clean and still score below 5 because its records do not show that the cleanliness is managed rather than incidental.
Where to look a rating up
Ratings are published by the Food Standards Agency and searchable by business name or area at ratings.food.gov.uk. That is the authoritative source: a rating shown anywhere else is a copy, and copies go stale when a business is re-inspected.
What the certificate and the sticker are
A rated business receives a certificate and a green and black sticker showing its score. In Wales and Northern Ireland displaying it at the customer entrance is a legal requirement. In England it is encouraged but voluntary, which is why an unrated-looking window in England tells you nothing on its own and the online lookup does.
What the number does not tell you
It is a snapshot from the date of the inspection, not a live measure, and inspection intervals differ with the risk rating of the business. It also says nothing about the quality of the food, the service or the ingredients: a rating of 5 is a statement about hygiene management, not about whether the meal is any good.