Sample food hygiene rating system

Every person working in a food-handling area must maintain a high level of personal Hygiene. Besides making sure that your staff are wearing suitable, clean, and protective clothing, how you should prepare your food should also be taken into consideration.

Before anything else, you should ensure that your staff follow these basic rules:

  • keep hair tied back and wear a suitable head covering, e.g. a hat or hair net
  • not wear watches or jewellery (except a wedding band)
  • not touch their face and hair, smoke, spit, sneeze, eat or chew gum

If you’ve already settled these basic requirements, then you may now proceed with these specific regulations:

Handwashing

All staff that work with food must wash their hands:

  • when in the kitchen or preparation area
  • before preparing food
  • after touching raw food
  • after handling food waste or emptying a bin
  • after cleaning
  • after blowing their nose
  • after touching phones, light switches, door handles and cash registers

Fitness for work

 You must not allow anyone to handle food or enter a food handling area if they:
  • are suffering from, or carrying, a disease likely to be transmitted through food
  • have infected wounds, skin infections or sores
  • have diarrhoea

Training

Food businesses must make sure that any staff handling food:

  • are supervised, instructed and trained in food hygiene
  • have relevant training for the job

Health and Safety 

The health and safety of your employees and customers are very important.

If you have five or more employees, you must have a written health and safety policy that describes the arrangements in place.

In need of a credible and knowledgeable Food Hygiene and Health & Safety consultant for your business? With over 30 years of experience working in the catering environment and in different areas of speciality, Sylvia A Consultancy offers services that are tailored specifically to meet business requirements. Whether you are developing a new training programme, getting ready for an Environmental Health Officer visit, launching a new product or having a once-off promotional event, we will offer you cost-effective and timely support. For more information, call us on 020 8687 0654 or email us at enquiries@sylviaaconsultancy.co.uk.