All food businesses inspected by Food Safety Officers are given a rating based on their compliance with the legal requirements for hygiene, structural condition and confidence in the management.
Following a food hygiene inspection a business is rated from five for a very good through to zero for those premises that need to improve urgently.
It is voluntary for the businesses to display the rating but gives the consumer an indication of its overall level of food hygiene compliance.
Find a business hygiene rating
All Oldham food business ratings are on the Food Standards Agency website.
- Search for food hygiene ratings - Food Standards Agency website
About the ratings
Zero to one
A business with a zero to one rating demonstrates virtually no awareness of "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point" (HACCP), limited monitoring of critical control points and is poor in relation to structure and cleanliness.
These premises are likely to be subject to further formal action in terms of Hygiene Improvement Notices, Simple Cautions and Prosecutions to secure future improvements.
Two to three
A business with a two to three rating demonstrates an awareness of HACCP and routinely monitoring the critical control points, but have limited documentation.
The premises must be generally fair in relation to structure and cleanliness.
Four
A business with a four rating shows an ability to demonstrate an understanding of HACCP and have good food safety management systems. The premises must also have good structure and cleanliness throughout.
Five
A business with a five rating has a fully documented HACCP based system and includes a system of self-inspection and verification coupled with very good structure and hygiene practices.
All businesses included in the scheme receive an inspection summary, window sticker and rating certificate stating the category from zero through to five on completion of their food hygiene inspection.
Businesses are requested to display their rating and it will be valid until their next routine inspection.
Businesses who receive a low rating are given advice on how to improve their food safety standards.
The aim of the scheme is to improve food hygiene standards in the town and also to give the public a more informed choice about where to eat based on food safety.
What can the owner of a business do if they think the rating given is unfair or wrong?
Appeal
The owner or manager of the business should talk to the Food Safety Officer that inspected the business about why the rating was given.
If the business owner or manager still thinks that the rating is unfair or wrong, they can appeal in writing.
If you submit a form via email you do not have to sign it.
Right to reply
A ‘right to reply’ is different from an appeal.
The owner or manager can fill in the right to reply form to tell the Food Safety team, how the business has improved hygiene or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time of the inspection.
If you submit a form via email you do not have to sign it.
Request a revisit
If a food business makes improvements to hygiene standards they can request a re-visit for the purposes of re-rating any time after the food hygiene inspection has been carried out.
There is a charge of £179 to request a re-visit for a business to be re-rated.
Find out more
Save and download information which will explain how, as a consumer, you can make better choices when looking for somewhere to eat.
If you are a food business there is information on how the score rating is calculated and how you can improve your score.
Good scores are good for business