Food hygiene ratings are public data. They come from your local authority’s inspection of a business, and they are published by the Food Standards Agency. The rating is not a review of the food: it is a snapshot of how well the business was managing food safety on the day it was inspected.
You do not need an account to look any of this up here.
Three ways to check
Search by name or address
Every registered UK food business, including ones that have recently closed, with the full rating history rather than just the current score.
Browse the map
See what is around you with the rating on each pin, filtered by score or by type of establishment: takeaway, restaurant, pub, school, care home and the rest.
Photograph the shopfront
Standing outside somewhere and cannot remember the name? Take a photo with the name in frame and the app looks it up against the FSA register for you.
Each listing links out to the official FSA record, so you can always see the source rather than taking our word for it.
What the number actually means
A rating from 0 to 5 is a single summary of three separate judgements the inspector makes, and the app shows all three rather than just the headline:
- Hygiene and safety: how food is handled, cooked, cooled, stored and reheated.
- Structural requirements: the condition of the building, cleanliness, layout, lighting and ventilation.
- Confidence in management: whether the business has a food safety management system and can show it is being followed. This is the one that the SFBB pack and its records speak to directly.
The app also shows the date of the last inspection, which matters: a 5 from four years ago and a 5 from last month are not the same claim. Ratings in Scotland use a different scheme and are shown as pass or improvement required.
Allergy and recall alerts
The FSA issues alerts when something already on sale turns out to be unsafe: an undeclared allergen, a product recall, or a case where enforcement authorities need to step in. The app can send these to your phone as they are published.
You choose which types you want. If you or someone you cook for has an allergy, the allergy alerts alone are worth the notification permission.
If the business is yours
Owners use the same search to check what is on record for their own business, which is worth doing more often than most people do: the rating that shows up in someone’s search is the one on the FSA register, not the certificate on your wall.
Claiming your business is free and instant. It gives you a public listing with photos, opening hours, menu and allergen information, and it unlocks the SFBB side of the app: the diary, the temperature records and the rest of the pack. The work you do for your pack fills out your public profile at the same time.
Keep reading
Check before you order
Free on iOS and Android, and free to use without an account.
