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Food hygiene rating scheme (FHRS)

From January 2011, Salford City Council signed up to the Food Standards Agency's national food hygiene rating scheme. 

All food businesses inspected by officers from Environmental Health are given a rating based on their compliance with the legal requirements for hygiene, structural condition and management performance.

Following a food hygiene inspection a business included in the scheme is rated from five for a very good premises through to zero for those premises that need to improve urgently. It is currently voluntary for the businesses to display the rating but gives the consumer an indication of its overall level of food hygiene compliance. As a guide:

  • A premises 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.

  • A premises 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.

  • A premises 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.

  • A premises 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. To help businesses demonstrate to officers how they achieve this standard the directorate has produced some standard records and forms (available below).

All applicable businesses on completion of the food hygiene inspection will receive an inspection summary, window sticker and rating certificate stating the category from zero through to five. Businesses are requested to display their rating and it is valid until their next routine inspection.

The aim of the scheme is to improve food hygiene standards in the city and also to give the public a more informed choice about where to eat based on food safety.

There are approximately 2,000 food businesses in Salford that are inspected for food hygiene. An up-to-date list of their ratings following the last inspection can be viewed on the FSA's food hygiene rating scheme website.

Food hygiene rating scheme

The rating is only a reflection of conditions found on the day of the inspection and standards may have gone up or down since that inspection. The rating will be downgraded where standards deteriorate and are not maintained.

What can the owner of a business do if they think the rating given is unfair or wrong?

Appeal

If you are not satisfied with the rating you have been awarded you should discuss this, in the first instance, with the Environmental Health Officer who carried out the inspection to understand why the rating was awarded. For your information, the contact details for the Lead Officer are detailed at the top of your inspection report, and provided with the written notification of your food hygiene rating.

If you still think that the rating awarded is unfair or wrong, you should complete the appeal form below. You have 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date of receipt of the notification letter to lodge an appeal.

The appeal will be submitted to the Lead Officer in Environmental Health. Once the appeal form has been submitted, the Lead Officer will review the inspection findings and the rating awarded. The outcome of the appeal will be communicated back to you within seven days.

Appeal online

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the appeal, then you can contact the FSA's Independent Business Appeals Panel to review the decision.

Full details of the appeal process are in the FSA's safeguards for food businesses.

Right to reply

The owner or manager of the business also has a ‘right to reply'. This is different from an appeal. The owner or manager can fill in the right to reply form (see downloads at bottom of this page) to tell the Environmental Health team, how the business has improved hygiene or to say if there were unusual circumstances at the time of the inspection. The form should be emailed to environmentalhealth@salford.gov.uk.

A business's right to reply will be published online by the local authority with alongside the business's hygiene rating.

Request a revisit

We appreciate that businesses that have received a low food hygiene rating may wish to request a re-rate visit. The cost of a rerate is £191, if you require a rerate please use the following online form.

Complete the online revisit request form

You will need to provide details of the steps you have taken to address the points raised in the inspection report, which can be done when you complete the online form. You can also include information to support your request.

There is a charge for this revisit of £191, which is payable when completing the online form. There is now no limit on how many times you can apply and pay for a revisit.

Refunds

If no visit or work has been undertaken by the officer a full refund will be made, less a £10 administration fee.

If an officer has visited the premises, no refund will be available.

Would like your rating to be published sooner?

Early publication of rating request

All the food hygiene ratings are published on the Food Standard Agency’s website, 21 days following the inspection. If, as a food business operator, you would like your new rating displayed sooner, then you can request this by completing the early publication of a rating request form (see downloads at bottom of this page). The form should then be e-mailed to environmentalhealth@salford.gov.uk. You should be aware that if you submit this request you waive your right to an appeal, if you believe the rating to be unfair or wrong.

Downloadable documents

If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.

This page was last updated on 1 August 2026

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