EHO inspection: what happens, how you're scored and how to prepare

An EHO inspection is a visit from your council's environmental health officer or food safety officer to check that your food business is safe and legal. It's usually unannounced. The officer looks at three things: how you handle food, the condition of your premises, and how you manage food safety. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland that gives you a food hygiene rating from 0 to 5. In Scotland you get "Pass" or "Improvement Required". This guide walks through the day, the scoring, your right to appeal, and a checklist to get ready.

This guide explains how inspections usually work. It is not legal advice. Your council runs the inspection and can tell you its own process and fees.

What is an EHO?

EHO stands for environmental health officer. Councils employ them to enforce food hygiene and health and safety law. Your inspection may also be done by a food safety officer. Both are authorised by the council and follow the same national code of practice, so this guide just says "officer".

Officers inspect restaurants, cafés, pubs, takeaways, food vans, market stalls, caterers, care homes and home food businesses. If you've registered a food business with your council, you're on their list.

Do EHOs give notice before an inspection?

Usually not. GOV.UK says businesses are normally not told an inspection is going to happen. The Food Law Code of Practice says checks are done without prior notice unless notice is needed for the check to work, so some businesses (for example, some run from home) may be told in advance. Officers also have legal powers to enter food premises.

That's why the best preparation isn't a big clean the night before. It's daily habits that mean any day is inspection-ready.

How often are food hygiene inspections?

It depends on your risk. Higher-risk businesses can be inspected every six months. Lower-risk ones may wait two years or longer (up to three years for the lowest-risk category in England). The council looks at:

• the type of food you handle (raw meat and high-risk foods score higher)
• who you serve (for example, care homes or nurseries)
• your processes (cooking, cooling, reheating, vacuum packing)
• how you did last time

A new business usually gets its first inspection within a few weeks or months of registering. Register with your council at least 28 days before you start trading.

What happens in an EHO inspection, step by step

1. Arrival. The officer shows ID and asks for the owner or manager. If you're not there, a senior staff member can lead.
2. A short chat. What you sell, who you serve, how many staff, any changes since last time.
3. Walk-round. Kitchen, stores, fridges, freezers, toilets and handwash basins, bins, back yard. They may watch staff at work.
4. Checks. They might probe food temperatures, look inside fridges and dry stores, check date labels and look for signs of pests.
5. Paperwork. Your food safety management system (such as Safer Food, Better Business or a HACCP plan), temperature records, cleaning schedules, training records, pest control reports, supplier details and allergen information.
6. Questions for staff. "How do you know this chicken is cooked?" "What would you do if a customer said they had a nut allergy?"
7. Evidence. Officers can take photos and food samples.
8. Feedback. Most officers tell you what they found before they leave, and what you need to fix.
9. The written result. You'll get your rating and the reasons for it in writing, at the visit or within 14 days.

How long it takes depends on the size of your business and what the officer finds. There's no set length.

What EHOs look for during a food hygiene inspection

The rating is built from three elements.

1. How food is handled

Preparing, cooking, reheating, cooling and storing food. Officers check:

• raw and ready-to-eat food are kept apart (separate boards, knives, fridges or areas)
• food is cooked and reheated thoroughly, and hot food is kept hot
• cooling is quick and controlled
• fridges are cold enough and not overloaded
• food is in date, covered and labelled
• staff wash hands properly and wear clean clothing

2. Physical condition of the premises

Cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation, pest control and facilities. Officers check:

• surfaces, floors, walls and equipment are clean and in good repair
• there's a working handwash basin with hot water, soap and paper towels, separate from food sinks
• there's no sign of mice, rats or insects, and gaps are proofed
• bins and waste are managed
• extraction and ventilation work

3. How you manage food safety

Your systems and records, plus the officer's confidence that you'll keep standards up. This covers:

• a written food safety management system based on HACCP principles (Safer Food, Better Business is the FSA's pack for small businesses)
• records you actually keep: fridge temperatures, cooking checks, cleaning, deliveries
• staff training and supervision
• allergen management: accurate allergen information for every dish, and staff who know where it is

Allergens trip up many good kitchens. Keep an up-to-date allergen matrix and make sure your team knows the 14 allergens. If you sell food packed before it's ordered, it needs a Natasha's Law label.

How your food hygiene rating is scored

Officers score each element. Lower scores are better. The scores are added up and turned into a rating.

The "highest single score" column matters. One bad element can pull you down even if your total looks fine. For example, scores of 10 + 5 + 20 = 35 would be a 2 on total, but the 20 is above the limit of 15 for a 2, so the rating drops to a 1.

To get a 5, you need to do well in all three elements. Paperwork alone can cost you a rating: "confidence in management" is often where a clean kitchen loses its 5.

These bands and caps are from the FSA's FHRS Brand Standard (Table 3), which maps the Food Law Code of Practice scores to the 0 to 5 rating.

For a full plan to reach the top score, see our guide to getting a 5-star food hygiene rating.

After the inspection: publication and display

• Rating 5: published online as soon as the council uploads it.
• Ratings 0 to 4: published 3 to 5 weeks after the inspection, to leave time for an appeal.
• In England and Wales you can ask in writing for your rating to be published early.

Do you have to display your rating?

The FSA encourages businesses to show their rating online too, on websites and social media, using its official rating images. Use only your current rating, and don't alter the images.

Scotland: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS)

In Scotland, councils inspect under the same broad principles, but results are shown as:

• Pass: the business meets the legal requirements
• Improvement Required: it doesn't, and must improve
• Awaiting Inspection or Exempt Premises

Results are published online. Businesses get a certificate or sticker for their door or window, but displaying it is not a legal requirement.

FHIS has its own safeguards, with shorter deadlines than the rest of the UK:

• Appeal: in writing to your council's lead officer for food within 14 days of being told your result. You should hear back within seven days.
• Right to reply: any time up until your next inspection. It's published online with your result.
• Re-visit: if you got "Improvement Required" and have made the improvements, you can ask for one re-visit between planned inspections. Food Standards Scotland says re-visits are free at the moment.

If you're in Scotland, ask your council about its FHIS process.

What happens if you fail a food hygiene inspection?

There's no formal "fail", but a low rating (0, 1 or 2 in England, Wales and NI, or "Improvement Required" in Scotland) means the officer found problems. What happens next depends on how serious they are:

1. Advice and a letter. The officer lists what you must fix and by when.
2. Hygiene Improvement Notice. A formal notice setting out what you must do, with a deadline of at least 14 days. Not complying is an offence. If you disagree with it, ask the council how to appeal.
3. Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice. Used only where there's an imminent risk to health. It can stop a process or piece of equipment, or close part or all of the business, at once. The council then has to ask a court to confirm it.
4. Prosecution for serious or repeated breaches.

The officer will usually come back to check that you've made the changes.

Can you refuse an EHO entry? No. Officers have legal powers to enter food premises (Food Safety Act 1990, section 32). If the timing is truly impossible (for example, you're closed for a deep clean), explain politely, but expect them to inspect.

How to appeal or improve your rating

England, Wales and Northern Ireland have three safeguards. Talk to the officer first: many issues are cleared up in a phone call.

How an appeal works

• Write to the council within 21 days. Wales uses a standard form.
• The lead food officer (or a deputy, or an officer from another council) decides, not the officer who inspected you.
• You should hear back within 21 days of the council receiving your appeal.
• Your rating shows as "awaiting publication" until then.
• If you're still unhappy, you can use the council's complaints process, the Local Government Ombudsman (England and Wales) or the Public Services Ombudsman (NI), or seek judicial review.

How a re-rating visit works

• Fix everything in your inspection letter first.
• Send evidence: receipts, photos, new records, training certificates. The council can refuse a request without enough evidence.
• The visit is unannounced.
• Your rating can go up, stay the same or go down. The officer looks at the whole business again, not just what you fixed.
• Timing in England: if the service is free, the visit isn't usually in the first three months after the inspection, and you get one free re-rating between routine inspections. If your council charges, there's no limit, and they aim to visit within three months.
• Wales and NI: you must display your current sticker, and the visit happens within three months of your request.
• Fees are set by each council. Examples we checked on 11 October 2026: East Hampshire £234, Warrington £235.45 (including VAT) and Hackney £342 per visit. Check your own council's page.

EHO inspection checklist

Use this weekly, and before any re-rating visit. To keep a paper copy, print this page or save it as a PDF from your browser.

Paperwork

• Food safety management system (SFBB pack or HACCP plan) is complete and matches what you actually do
• Daily opening and closing checks signed
• Fridge and freezer temperature records up to date (use a fridge temperature log)
• Cooking, cooling and reheating checks recorded
• Cleaning schedule filled in
• Staff training records for every food handler
• Pest control contract and latest report
• Supplier list and delivery checks
• Food business registration with the council

Allergens

• Allergen information for every dish, accurate today (allergen matrix)
• Allergen sign telling guests to ask staff
• Staff know where the information is and who takes allergy orders
• PPDS items carry a full Natasha's Law label
• Online menus and delivery apps show the same allergen details

Food handling

• Raw and ready-to-eat food kept separate, with separate boards and knives
• Chilled food at 8°C or below (the law in England, Wales and NI; recommended in Scotland), with fridges set to 5°C or below
• Hot holding at 63°C or above
• Food covered, labelled and in date. Nothing past its use-by
• Probe thermometer working, cleaned and checked

Premises

• Handwash basin free to use, with hot water, soap and paper towels
• Surfaces, equipment, floors and walls clean and in good repair
• No gaps, droppings or insects; fly screens and proofing in place
• Bins lidded and emptied; yard clean
• Extraction and lighting working

Staff

• Clean uniforms, hair tied back, no jewellery beyond a plain band
• Staff know to report illness (no food handling for 48 hours after sickness or diarrhoea)
• Rota covers a trained supervisor on every shift (our staff rota maker helps)

Keep your allergen information inspection-ready

Officers check that allergen information matches what's in the food today. The hard part is keeping every copy in step: the printed menu, the matrix, the website and the delivery apps.

With Menuthere, your online menu, QR table menu and ordering page all come from one menu. Tick which of the 14 allergens each dish contains, and add its calories and a halal mark if you want, on every plan including Free. Customers see them when they open the dish, in every menu layout and in the digital menu booklet. Change a recipe once and every guest-facing version updates. Keep a printed allergen matrix by the till as well; it can load your dish allergens from Menuthere.

One menu for your tables, collection and delivery, with the 14 allergens tagged on every dish. Free plan: QR codes, unlimited items, allergen and calorie tags, 0% commission.

Create your free ordering page

Want help with the paperwork? Use our free HACCP plan template.