Hygiene Rating Audit

What is it?

The Hygiene Rating Audit under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an evaluation system designed to assess the hygiene and food safety practices of food establishments. This rating system assigns a hygiene score to food businesses such as restaurants, hotels, food stalls, canteens, and food manufacturing units based on their compliance with hygiene and food safety standards.

Food businesses receive a hygiene rating from 1 to 5 stars:

1 Star: Poor hygiene standards.

2 Stars: Below average hygiene standards.

3 Stars: Average hygiene standards.

4 Stars: Good hygiene standards.

5 Stars: Excellent hygiene standards.

This rating helps consumers make informed choices regarding food safety, and it encourages businesses to improve their practices.

Why is it necessary?

The main purpose of the Hygiene Rating scheme is to –

Encourage food businesses to ensure high hygiene standards and continue maintaining them and showcase the same to their consumers.
Motivate other food businesses having lower hygiene standards to improve.
Allow consumers to make an informed food choice about where to eat and cultivate responsible eating habits.

How to be an Audit Conducted?

The food establishments falling under this scheme will include –

Food service establishments (which include hotels, restaurants, cafeteria, dhabas, etc.),
Bakeries
Meat
Retail shops and
Sweet shops (Mithai Shop)

Suggested man-days for hygiene rating audits –

Food Handlers	Man-days (including reporting time)
<50	0.5
<100	1
>100	1.5

The Assessment and Scoring Process: After the verification process is completed, FBO can download the ‘Verified Hygiene Rating Certificate’ and display.

Scoring System under Hygiene Rating Scheme:

There is a score awarded for compliance of each requirement mentioned in this checklist.
The total score attained is converted into a percentage against which Hygiene Rating is awarded.
The score of the checklist is converted in per cent and numerical score (between 1-5). The table below provides detail of percent score wise rating:

Hygiene No.	Hygiene Rating	Category	% Score
5		Excellent	81-100
4		Very Good	61-80
3		Good	41-60
2		Needs Improvement	21-40
1		Urgent Improvement	20 or below

The audit report will be designed in the format specified by FSSAI. The audit report shall clearly bring out the finding or non-conformities.

The non-conformities of the audit may be classified into two categories, namely:

Major non-conformity – When there is a serious failure in the food safety management system of the Catering Establishment, which may result in adverse health consequence possibly even fatal, the auditor shall report such findings to FSSAI within 24 hours. FSSAI after ascertaining the seriousness of the situation shall take regulatory action against the concerned food business operator.The software application should trigger an automated e-mail with audit finding to FSSAI as soon as the auditor submits the report online and the data syncs with the server.
Minor non-conformity – When there is a shortcoming in the food safety management system or regulatory contravention of the Catering Establishment, which may not cause any adverse health consequence, the auditor shall set up an appropriate timeframe for its rectification and follow up, so that the non-conformance could be rectified.