Quick answer: To get a 5 food hygiene rating, keep every fridge below 5°C, separate raw and ready-to-eat food, complete daily SFBB/HACCP records, train staff on allergens and fix any previous EHO actions before the next inspection.
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Actionable steps to get your rating to a 5. What EHOs actually look for, the quick wins, and the documentation that makes the difference.
Quick answer: To get a 5 food hygiene rating, keep every fridge below 5°C, separate raw and ready-to-eat food, complete daily SFBB/HACCP records, train staff on allergens and fix any previous EHO actions before the next inspection.
Your rating is based on three independent scores. Each area is scored from 0 (best) to 25 or 30 (worst). The total maps to your 0-5 rating — but one bad area can cap your entire rating regardless of the total.
How food is prepared, cooked, reheated, cooled, and stored. Inspectors watch your team at work. They check whether cross-contamination is being prevented, whether temperatures are correct, and whether allergens are managed properly.
The physical state of the premises. Surfaces, equipment, walls, floors, ceilings, hand wash basins, ventilation, lighting, and pest control. A kitchen might handle food well but lose marks if the building is poorly maintained.
Whether you have a documented food safety system (SFBB/HACCP) and whether it is actually being used. This is consistently where businesses lose the most marks — because it requires ongoing documentation, not a one-time setup.
One bad area ruins everything. To get a 5, no single category can score above 5/25. A restaurant with perfect food handling and a spotless kitchen can still get a 3 or lower if they have no documented HACCP records.
These fixes take hours, not weeks, and directly affect your score.
Blueroll does all of this digitally. SFBB checklists, temperature logging, cleaning sign-offs, and allergen matrix — completed on your team's phones, stored automatically, exported as PDF for inspections. Start free trial
Temperature control is a legal requirement and one of the first things an EHO checks.
| Requirement | Temperature | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge | Below 5°C | Legal max 8°C. Best practice 1-5°C |
| Freezer | -18°C or below | No signs of thawing |
| Cooking (core) | 75°C for 2 seconds | Or 70°C for 2 minutes. Centre of thickest part |
| Hot holding | 63°C or above | Must be cooked first, then held |
| Reheating | 75°C core | 82°C in Scotland. Reheat only once |
| Cooling | Below 8°C within 90 min | Then refrigerate immediately |
| Danger zone | 8°C to 63°C | Bacteria multiply rapidly |
| Delivery acceptance | Chilled below 8°C | Frozen below -18°C. Reject if outside range |
The 2-hour/4-hour rule. Food in the danger zone for under 2 hours: refrigerate. Between 2-4 hours: use immediately. Over 4 hours: discard. Record everything.
Under EC Regulation 852/2004, all food businesses must have a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles. For most restaurants, the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack fulfils this requirement. It is free to download from food.gov.uk.
Safe Methods — completed before you start operating. Covers cross-contamination prevention, cleaning procedures, chilling, cooking, and management controls. Must be customised to your business, not left blank.
Diary — ongoing records. Daily fridge/freezer temperatures, cooking temperatures, cleaning sign-offs, delivery checks, staff training, problems and corrective actions, opening and closing checks.
Reviews — safe methods must be reviewed regularly and updated when anything changes (new menu, new equipment, new suppliers).
Keep completed diary pages for at least 12 months.
Not legally required but industry standard and expected by EHOs. Using the wrong board for raw meat is one of the fastest ways to lose marks.
Raw meat always on the bottom. This prevents juices dripping onto ready-to-eat food.
A missing soap dispenser or a blocked handwash basin can drop your rating immediately. EHOs check hand washing first.
Before handling food. After handling raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs. After touching bins. After cleaning. After using the toilet. After blowing their nose. After handling money. After smoking. After touching their face or hair.
No hot water = enforcement action. A business operating without hot water at handwash basins can face an immediate Hygiene Improvement Notice. Empty soap dispensers and missing paper towels are among the most common failures EHOs find.
A cleaning schedule is effectively mandatory as part of your SFBB system. EHOs will mark down businesses that do not have one.
The FSA provides a free cleaning schedule template at food.gov.uk. The principle is: pre-clean, wash with detergent, rinse, disinfect, air dry.
| Level | Who needs it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Induction | All new starters | Within first 4 weeks |
| Level 2 | All staff handling open food | Within 3 months of starting |
| Level 3 | At least one supervisor/manager | Before taking supervisory role |
| Refresher | All trained staff | Every 3 years |
Level 2 courses cost £10-25 per person and take 1-3 hours online (City & Guilds, RSPH, Highfield). EHOs may ask any staff member basic food safety questions — if they cannot answer, your Confidence in Management score drops.
Under Natasha's Law (October 2021), all prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food must display a full ingredients list with all 14 allergens emphasised. For non-PPDS (loose) food, allergen information must be available to customers — best practice is a written allergen matrix.
Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites.
If you did not receive a 5 and have made improvements, you can request a re-rating inspection.
Make sure improvements are genuine and embedded, not cosmetic. The inspector assesses standards generally — not just the areas you told them you fixed. If records show two weeks of perfect temperatures followed by three months of gaps, the rating will not improve.
Write an improvement plan. Document what you changed, who is responsible, and when it was completed. Even if the re-inspection has not happened yet, this documented plan positively influences your Confidence in Management score.