In December 2008 the Food Standards Agency agreed a National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. It is now running in all areas of Wales, Northern Ireland and in 99% of England.

In practice the rating scheme is designed to ensure that businesses that are broadly compliant with food law and are managing food safety risks will receive a rating of three … and those who are managing the risk well will receive a rating of four or five. However, significant lapses in any of the scoring criteria can also have a significant effect on the rating.

This course is intended to give you an overview of how the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme works, what the scoring criteria are and how these are assessed by the inspectors, the appeals process, the Safer Food Better Business management system, E-Coli and concludes with some practical advice for ensuring your premises gets the best score possible.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify Food Hygiene ratings and understand what they mean.
• Define the scoring criteria and how decisions on the final score are made.
• State how scores can be appealed.
• Apply Safer Food, Better Business to ensure compliance with legal obligations.
• Create and evaluate good Hygiene and cleaning structures for your business.