Our methodology

Where the data comes from

HygieneCheck is built entirely on the Food Standards Agency’s open data. The FSA publishes a bulk open-data file (XML) for every local authority at ratings.food.gov.uk/open-data, updated daily. These files contain the inspection results that councils submit to the national scheme.

How we keep it up to date

A scheduled job runs every day and does the following:

1. Check each authority. We read the FSA’s authority list and the “last updated” timestamp for every council’s open-data file.
2. Download what changed. For any authority whose file has changed, we fetch its latest XML.
3. Upsert by FHRSID. Each establishment has a stable FSA identifier (the FHRSID). We match on it and insert new businesses or update existing ones — the operation is idempotent, so re-running it never creates duplicates.
4. Soft-delete what is gone. If a business is no longer present in an authority’s latest file, we mark it inactive rather than deleting it. Its page still works and shows the last rating we recorded, clearly flagged as no longer listed, so existing links keep working.

What the ratings mean

There are two schemes in the UK, and we always drive the display from the one that applies:

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) — England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A business is given a number from 5 to 0:

• 5 5 — Very Good. Hygiene standards are very good.
• 4 4 — Good. Hygiene standards are good.
• 3 3 — Generally Satisfactory. Hygiene standards are generally satisfactory.
• 2 2 — Improvement Necessary. Some improvement is necessary.
• 1 1 — Major Improvement Necessary. Major improvement is necessary.
• 0 0 — Urgent Improvement Necessary. Urgent improvement is required.

The number is built from three component scores recorded at the inspection — hygienic food handling, the condition and cleanliness of the premises (structure), and confidence in management. For these component scores a lower score is better.

Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) — Scotland. Instead of a 0–5 number, Scottish businesses are shown as Pass or Improvement Required. Because the two schemes are not numerically comparable, we never average a Scottish “Pass” into a 0–5 figure. Learn more on the what the ratings mean page.

How we compute area and type figures

For each local authority, postcode district and business type we pre-compute aggregates so the pages stay fast: the total number of active businesses, the rating distribution (how many are rated 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0), the percentage rated 5 (Very Good) and 0 (Urgent Improvement Necessary), and an average rating.

• Averages are FHRS-only. Average ratings are calculated only from numeric 0–5 results. FHIS (Scotland) Pass / Improvement Required outcomes are counted and shown separately, never folded into a numeric average (this would be meaningless across two different schemes).
• Only active, rated businesses are included in distributions. Businesses awaiting their first inspection, exempt premises and inactive (de-listed) records are excluded from averages but still counted where relevant.
• Type × area figures (for example “takeaways in Manchester”) are computed the same way, so the same number is always derived identically across the site.

Freshness and accuracy

Every rating we display reflects the last published inspection, and we always show its date. Standards can change between inspections, so a rating is a snapshot, not a live guarantee. If you believe a rating is out of date or wrong, the data is owned by the local authority that carried out the inspection — see how to correct a listing.