How to Get a 5 Star Food Hygiene Rating

When deciding where to eat,  consumers consider many things, but one of the most influential is your business’s food hygiene rating. Research from the Food Standards Agency shows that customers often choose venues with higher scores, meaning your rating directly affects reputation, customer trust, and repeat visits.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS, run in conjunction with local authorities, scores businesses on hygiene standards from 0 to a 5 star food hygiene rating):

5 – Very good

4 – Good

3 – Generally satisfactory

2 – Improvement necessary

1 – Major improvement necessary

0 – Urgent improvement necessary

Aiming for the top score of a 5 star food hygiene rating signals that your business maintains excellent food hygiene practices. The following guide explains how the rating works, what inspectors look for and how to reach that ‘very good’ standard.

How inspections work 

Inspections are carried out by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) from your local authority. Visits are unannounced, so you must always be ready.

Frequency depends on the type of business and your past performance. High-risk operations may be inspected every six months, while lower-risk premises might only be checked every few years.

In England, it’s not mandatory to display your rating, but many businesses choose to as it reassures customers. In Wales and Northern Ireland, however, displaying your food hygiene sticker is a legal requirement.

Understanding the scoring system

During an inspection, your business is assessed across three categories:

1. Premises
2. Food handling processes
3. Confidence in management

Each area is scored using intervention points, ranging from 0 (perfect) to 25 (very poor). To secure a 5-star food hygiene rating:

• Your total score must be 15 or less
• No single category can score more than 5 points

This means that while there is a small margin for error, consistency across all areas is crucial.

Quick wins before your inspection

High-ranking guidance consistently points to a few areas that make the biggest difference:

• Train all staff in food hygiene and keep certificates on file
• Keep cleaning schedules and fridge/freezer temperature logs up to date
• Ensure pest control measures and contracts are in place
• Label and date all food clearly and discard items past use-by
• Make sure handwashing stations are stocked and accessible

These visible, documented practices help demonstrate to an inspector that hygiene standards are part of your daily routine.

Premises

First impressions are vital  so the hygiene standard of the premises can set the tone for the entire inspection.

To start, it is vital to ensure that the premises are fit for purpose. There should be dedicated handwashing facilities, a mains water connection and hot water access, drainage and lights to spot hazards. The kitchen’s construction and surfaces should be adequately suitable for food preparation. 

Physical separation should exist to limit the risk of cross-contamination, ideally allowing the journey from preparation to service to flow logically. Equipment must be in working condition, operated as per the manufacturer’s instruction, and moveable in order to be cleaned and inspected. Lack of necessary equipment can be in and of itself the difference between a 5 star food hygiene rating and a 4 star rating, even if replacements are on their way.  Regular maintenance and replacement in good time can prevent this.As with much of ensuring hygiene throughout, much relies on  processes. While the absence of pests is clearly important, it is a legal requirement to have systems in place to prevent access to pests and control any who may get in. 

Similarly, a waste system should be in place, with regularly cleaned and emptied bins with lids, adequate storage in a hygienic area and a provision for the removal of waste. 

Finally, there need to be systems in place, such as a rota, for the regular cleaning and disinfecting of your premises.

Ensuring that the right chemicals are used safely to maintain good hygiene throughout is also important. With adequate, evidenced systems in place, receiving no intervention points for your premises should be comfortably attainable.

Food handling process

The range of food you serve, the methods used for storing, preparing and serving it, and the prevention of food hazards are vital to succeeding in this category.

This section is primarily focused on ensuring you do not serve contaminated food, due to the risks it could pose to the customer. 

Food contamination comes in four forms – bacterial, physical, chemical and allergenic. Avoiding contamination from all of these is crucial. 

When storing food, chilled and frozen food must be kept at the FSA recommended temperatures.  So fridges and freezers should be regularly checked to ensure they are at the right levels. 

High-risk, raw and ready-to-eat foods should be separated to avoid cross-contamination. Fresh ingredients should be labelled to indicate age, checked before use to ensure freshness and all ingredients should be thrown out when reaching their best before or use-by dates. 

When preparing food, there should be a continued separation of high-risk, raw and ready-to-eat foods, often signified by chopping board colours. There is no existing set colour scheme for chopping boards, but having a scheme that all your staff know and follow demonstrates effort to limit cross-contamination. 

If possible, it would be sensible to divide your food areas between dirty tasks, such as washing up, and clean tasks, such as plating up, to further reduce the risk.  

This category also relies heavily on staff. The EHO is entitled to, and will, ask your staff about their knowledge of the food safety aspects of their roles. 

It is your responsibility to ensure that they understand what is required of them from a food safety standpoint, the processes in place to prevent contamination of food, and why those processes exist. 

Perhaps the most important of these areas is handwashing. If hand hygiene standards are not being met, you are likely to receive at least 10 intervention points. That would automatically prevent you from achieving a 5 star food hygiene rating. For this reason, it is important to ensure all staff who handle food know how to wash their hands properly, and actually do it, particularly after situations that could lead to contamination.

Confidence in management

Confidence in management is the broadest of categories and overlaps.  It is effectively a category which addresses the food hygiene culture you have created and maintain. 

The EHO knows that a visit is just a snapshot of the day-to-day business. They will want reassurance that the processes they see are consistently followed.

Every business is required by law to have and use its own Food Safety Management System. This is a system based on HACCP principles and tailored to your business. It should reflect the types of food you prepare, the space you prepare it in and any specific challenges. 

The evidence that the systems mentioned in the previous sections are being followed correctly will also be checked by your EHO. A lack of such evidence can be a significant issue. 

The final element of confidence in management, and indeed in achieving a 5 star food hygiene rating, is how well the culture of food hygiene is maintained.

All staff handling food should be trained in food hygiene, with evidence supplied to show this. Supervisors should be particularly knowledgeable to ensure standards are maintained and processes are consistently followed.

Staff should be provided with suitable PPE for any task that may require it, and a uniform policy should be in place to limit the risks of cross-contamination. Visual cues, while not necessary, can also contribute to an overall sense of attentiveness to food hygiene. 

Finally, staff should be given sufficient time to complete any set task. Rushed tasks can lead to cut corners, which reduces the efficacy of the task, limiting its usefulness.

After your inspection

If your score isn’t what you hoped for, you don’t have to wait for the next routine visit. Once improvements are made, you can apply for a re-inspection (re-score) with your local authority, often for a small fee.

Many councils also provide support services, guidance and training to help you achieve and maintain a 5 star food hygiene rating.

Final thoughts

As the EHO can come for an inspection at any time, you should be doing everything possible to ensure that, regardless of when it takes place, you are prepared.

You need effective systems in place to maintain hygiene standards, and these systems must be followed by all staff who know their roles and responsibilities.

A strong food safety culture not only helps you achieve a 5 star food hygiene rating, but also builds trust with customers, protects your business’s reputation and keeps diners safe.