How to improve your food hygiene rating: a guide for takeaways

Your food hygiene rating can be on your door and is published online, so customers can see it before they taste anything. The good news is that the rating is based on things you control. The FSA says all businesses should be able to achieve the top rating.

This guide explains how ratings work in each part of the UK, what inspectors look at, how to prepare, and what to do if you are unhappy with your result. It draws on the FSA's Food Hygiene Rating Scheme guidance for businesses (opens in a new tab) and Food Standards Scotland's guidance on its own scheme (opens in a new tab).

How ratings work in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) gives each business a rating from 0 to 5:

• 5: very good
• 4: good
• 3: generally satisfactory
• 2: some improvement necessary
• 1: major improvement necessary
• 0: urgent improvement necessary

The FSA says the rating shows how well you are doing overall, based on the standards found at the time of inspection. Inspections are unannounced, and higher-risk businesses are prioritised.

How it works in Scotland

Scotland uses a different scheme, the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS). Instead of a number, inspections give one of two outcomes:

• Pass: the business broadly met the legal requirements, including the conditions found and its procedures for providing safe food.
• Improvement Required: the business did not meet those requirements and needs to make improvements.

New businesses that have not been inspected yet are shown as 'Awaiting Inspection', and a very small number of very low-risk premises can be exempt. FSS also runs the Eat Safe award, which recognises businesses that go beyond the legal minimum in food hygiene and safety management.

What inspectors look at

Under the FHRS, the officer checks three things:

1. How food is handled: how you prepare, cook, reheat, cool and store it.
2. The physical condition of the premises: cleanliness, layout, pest control and facilities.
3. How you manage food safety: your processes, training and systems. This tells the officer how confident they can be that standards will be kept up in future.

The FSA is clear that to get a 5, you must do well in all three. A spotless kitchen will not make up for missing records, and good paperwork will not make up for a broken sink. In Scotland, the officer checks whether you comply with food hygiene law and whether your food is safe to eat.

Food handling

Your written food safety procedures should already set out how you cook, cool, reheat and store food safely. The FSA's Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) packs in England, and FSS's CookSafe guide in Scotland, give you ready-made methods and checks. What matters on the day is that staff follow them and that you can show they do.

Cross-contamination is a common weak spot in busy kitchens. The FSA's allergen guidance advises cleaning utensils before each use and washing hands between preparing different dishes, and the same habits protect against bacteria spreading from raw to ready-to-eat food.

The condition of your premises

The FSA says premises need handwashing facilities, changing facilities, ventilation, lighting and drainage, and that floors, walls, ceilings, surfaces and equipment must be easy to clean and kept in good repair. In practice:

• Fix damage quickly. Cracked tiles, peeling paint and broken seals are hard to clean and easy for an inspector to spot.
• Keep handwashing sinks clear, stocked with soap and paper towels, and used only for handwashing.
• Have a pest control routine, and keep records of checks and any treatments.
• Get rubbish out quickly. The FSA says removing rubbish promptly helps prevent pests.

Confidence in management

This is the part many takeaways lose marks on, and often the easiest to improve. The FSA says food businesses must use procedures based on HACCP principles and keep records of their food safety systems, checks and how they fixed problems.

• Keep your SFBB pack or CookSafe system up to date, and make sure it matches how your kitchen really works today.
• Fill in your daily records as you go, not at the end of the week.
• Train every member of staff and keep a record of what training they have had. The FSA says you will need to show you have been adequately trained.
• Know your allergens. Staff must be trained on allergens, and allergen information must be available for every dish, including for online and phone orders. Our guide to allergen rules for takeaways covers what to tell customers.

If you use ChefSynk on the Growth or Complete plan, the kitchen display highlights modifiers on each ticket, and the dispatch display adds allergen prompts to the bag check-list before an order goes out.

Getting ready for an inspection

Because inspections are unannounced, the only way to be ready is to run the kitchen to inspection standard every day. The FSA says inspectors are not visiting to find faults or to shut you down, but to support safe food practices. Use the visit: ask the officer what would move you up a rating, and write down what they say.

If your rating is low, the FSA says you must make urgent or major improvements. Where standards are very poor, the council can stop part of the business or close it until it is safe to reopen.

Appeals, right to reply and re-rating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

You have three safeguards under the FHRS.

Appeal

If you think your rating is wrong or unfair, you must appeal in writing within 21 days of being told your rating, including weekends and public holidays. A lead food officer who did not give the rating reviews it, and you get a result within 21 days of the council receiving the appeal. Ratings of 0 to 4 are published 3 to 5 weeks after the inspection to leave time for appeals, and ratings of 5 are published as soon as the council uploads them.

Right to reply

You can publish a response alongside your rating online, for example to explain what you have fixed. There is no deadline; you can submit one until your next inspection.

Re-rating inspection

Once you have accepted your rating and made the improvements the officer asked for, you can ask for a re-rating inspection. In Wales and Northern Ireland, councils charge for this and the visit takes place within three months of your written request. In England, some councils charge a fee. Where there is a charge, you can expect the visit within three months. Where there is no charge, it will not usually happen in the first three months after the original inspection, and if you ask during that time, you can expect it within six months of the inspection. Without a charge, you can have only one re-rating inspection between your council's planned inspections. You cannot choose the date, and your rating could go up, stay the same or go down.

Appeals and re-visits in Scotland

Under FHIS (opens in a new tab), if you get an Improvement Required outcome and have fixed the problems found at your last planned inspection, you can ask in writing for a re-visit, explaining what you have done and including evidence. You are allowed one follow-up visit between regular inspections, and you cannot choose when it happens. FSS says there is currently no charge. You will be told the new outcome in writing, either at the visit or within 14 days.

To appeal an FHIS outcome, you must write within 14 days of being told it, including weekends and public holidays. You also have a right to reply, which the council publishes online with your outcome.

Displaying your rating

• Wales: you must display your rating in a visible place at or near each customer entrance. Takeaways that advertise food, for example on menus or leaflets, must also publish a bilingual statement on those materials directing customers to the food hygiene ratings website, and customers have a legal right to ask for your rating when they order.
• Northern Ireland: you must display your rating sticker at or near each customer entrance where customers can easily read it, and give your rating verbally if someone asks in person or by phone.
• England: displaying your rating is encouraged but not required.
• Scotland: you receive a certificate or sticker to display on your door or window. FSS notes that some businesses choose not to display theirs.

The FSA also encourages displaying your rating on your website and social media. Whatever the rules where you trade, every rating is published online, so customers can look it up either way.

Sources

• FSA, Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS): guidance for businesses (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• GOV.UK, Food hygiene ratings: overview (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSA, Starting a food business (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• GOV.UK, Food safety management systems (HACCP) (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSA, Allergen guidance for food businesses (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSS, Food Hygiene Information Scheme business guidance (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSS, FHIS business safeguards (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSS, Food Hygiene Information Scheme consumer information (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)
• FSS, Starting a food business checklist (CookSafe) (opens in a new tab) (checked 12 November 2026)