Scores on the Doors

On the 16 March 2009 we launched a 5 star rating scheme which tells you about food hygiene standards in restaurants, cafes, takeaways, pubs and other eating places.

We carry out hundreds of food hygiene inspections every year. We do this to make sure that places where food is either handled, processed or sold from are hygienic and that the food is safe for you to eat.

How do premises get a star rating?
During our inspections, the environmental health officers check premises’ compliance with food hygiene laws. When environmental health officers inspect a premises they look at a range of things including:

• The cleaning systems
• Staff training
• Handling and storage facilities for food
• The management systems which are in place (food risk assessment)

The score we give a premises is based upon the level of compliance with the law on the day we last inspected it. The rating scheme is as follows:

     5 stars Excellent

     4 stars Very good

     3 stars Good

     2 stars Fair

     1 star Poor

     No stars Major improvement required.

Some premises will not be given a star rating. These will be labelled as “AES” meaning alternative enforcement strategy. We have given this rating to premises which pose a very low risk, such as pubs which only sell drinks and dried foods such as crisps and nuts.

How can I find out the rating of my favourite restaurant?
There are a number of ways you can find out the scores of premises. We have issued all premises which are included in the scheme and have a star rating with a sticker and a certificate. It is not a legal requirement for premises to display these, however we hope that premises will want to show how they have done.

Other ways of finding the score:

Follow the link below 
Text SOTD, followed by the business name and town to 60060. Calls currently cost 50p plus one SMS message at your network rate
By WAP at www.sotd.tv
Via Google searches – eg restaurant Buckingham

Areas the scores do not cover
The score is not a reflection on the quality of the food served – you can make up your own mind about that. Please do not confuse the stars we give with the stars issued by other organisations for fine dining or hotel facilities.

I can’t find the rating for a food premises
At the launch we have not included all food businesses. We have excluded premises which primarily retail food such as newsagents, supermarkets, butchers etc and therefore they may not be listed. We hope to expand the scope of our scheme in the future.

If there is a premises which you feel should be part of the scheme but cannot find, please email us at envhealth@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk .

Where can I find more details?
Attached is a document with full details of the scheme so you can see the areas we look at during inspections and more details about what the score actually means.