How to Check a Restaurant's Food Hygiene Rating (2026 Guide)

Quick answer. To check a restaurant’s food hygiene rating, search its name and town on the official Food Standards Agency (FSA) register at ratings.food.gov.uk, or look for the green-and-black sticker displayed in the window. Ratings run from 5 (“very good”) down to 0 (“urgent improvement necessary”) and are set by local-authority inspectors. The whole check takes under a minute and is completely free.

A food hygiene rating tells you how well a restaurant, takeaway, cafe or food shop met official food-safety standards at its last inspection. It is the single fastest way to judge whether a kitchen you can’t see — which is exactly the case when you order delivery — is being run cleanly. Here is how to check one properly, what each score means, and how to use the rating to order with confidence.

Method 1: The official FSA register (most reliable)

The Food Standards Agency runs the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) and publishes every rated business online. To check a rating:

Go to ratings.food.gov.uk.
Type the business name and its town or postcode.
Open the result to see the current rating, the date it was given, and the local authority that inspected it.

This register is authoritative because the data comes straight from the council Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) who carry out the inspections. It covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the parallel Food Hygiene Information Scheme awards a “Pass” or “Improvement Required” result instead of a number. We’ve built a searchable, plain-English version of this data on our own food hygiene ratings directory, organised by local authority and town.

Method 2: The window sticker

Rated businesses are issued a green-and-black sticker showing their score from 0 to 5. In Wales and Northern Ireland, displaying it is legally required; in England it is voluntary. The sticker is handy when you’re standing outside a venue, but it reflects the last inspection only. If a re-inspection has happened since, the online register will be more current. Treat a missing or faded sticker as a prompt to look the business up, not as proof of anything.

Method 3: Inside a delivery app

The best food delivery platforms surface the FSA rating on the restaurant’s page so you can see it before you add anything to your basket. This matters more for delivery than for dine-in, because you can’t glance into the kitchen yourself. On GeraEats, hygiene information is shown alongside each partner restaurant, and our supplier onboarding checks the public FSA record — read more on the restaurant standards page.

What each rating actually means

5 — Very good: Hygiene standards met fully at inspection.
4 — Good: Standards met well, minor issues only.
3 — Generally satisfactory: Acceptable, but improvements needed in some areas.
2 — Improvement necessary: Some major shortfalls.
1 — Major improvement necessary: Serious problems found.
0 — Urgent improvement necessary: Significant risk to public health.

Crucially, the rating measures hygiene and food-safety management — cleanliness, temperature control, structural condition, and how confident the inspector is that standards will be maintained. It does not rate how the food tastes. A beloved local takeaway can have a low rating, and a chain you dislike can have a 5. Read our companion guide on what a hygiene rating of 5 means for the full breakdown.

When to check — and what to do with the answer

Check before you order from a new place, and re-check occasionally for regulars (ratings change after re-inspections). As a rule of thumb: 4 and 5 are reassuring; 3 is acceptable but worth a second look; 0, 1 and 2 deserve real caution, especially for higher-risk foods like raw fish, chicken, rice dishes and anything served lukewarm. Our guide on whether it’s safe to order from a low-rated restaurant covers how to weigh the risk.

Beyond food: checking trust signals on other services

The same instinct — verify before you commit — applies across services you book online. When you book a home tradesperson on GeraHome, you can see verified-provider badges; healthcare professionals on GeraClinic are credential-checked; and eligible bookings across the Gera ecosystem can carry a signed Gera Action Warranty receipt. Checking a hygiene rating is the food-delivery version of that same habit.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I check a restaurant’s food hygiene rating for free?

On the official Food Standards Agency register at ratings.food.gov.uk, which lists every rated business in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is free, updated continuously by local-authority inspectors, and is the only authoritative source. In Scotland, the equivalent scheme is the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS), which gives a “Pass” or “Improvement Required” instead of a 0–5 number.

How long does it take to check a hygiene rating?

Under a minute. Search the business name and town on the FSA register, or look for the green-and-black sticker in the window. On a delivery app, the rating should appear on the restaurant page so you never have to leave the order screen.

Is the food hygiene sticker in the window always up to date?

Not necessarily. A window sticker reflects the last inspection, but ratings change after re-inspections. The online FSA register is always the most current source, so check there if a sticker looks old or is missing.

Can a restaurant refuse to show its hygiene rating?

In Wales and Northern Ireland, display of the sticker is a legal requirement. In England it is voluntary, so a business can legally decline to display it — but the rating is still published online, so you can always look it up yourself.

How to Check a Restaurant’s Food Hygiene Rating