Displaying your food hygiene rating on social media

Many food businesses use social media to promote their products and take online orders. 

When applying the guiding principles of ‘readily seen, easily read prior to the point of order' (for example, in a conspicuous place which is easily seen by a potential customer), you should treat your social media business pages as the main point of sale for your customer.

As with a physical premises, we recommend that you display your rating across all social media channels you have a presence on, including where orders can be placed via messaging service.

There are many different options for online display across social media. Below we provide recommendations for how you can display your rating  across different social media platforms.

The images on this page are for illustrative purposes only.

Facebook - displaying your food hygiene rating 

Some businesses may take orders by direct message on Facebook or through Facebook Marketplace. 

When selling food through Facebook, you should ensure: 

• a permanent, fixed display of your rating on your profile that can be seen by a customer when they visit your page
• adequate sizing of the rating so that it can be easily read and is not significantly reduced in size when accessing via a mobile device

This can be achieved through displaying your rating as part of your Facebook profile’s cover image, as a pinned Facebook post or in the Facebook Marketplace listing. 

Facebook cover image 

You can prominently display your rating by embedding the relevant rating image in your profile cover image. This should be added to the right hand side of the cover image so that it does not conflict with your profile image. 

The rating can be easily embedded on your cover image by using free online image editing tools such as PIXLR or Canva.

Pinned Facebook post 

You can upload your rating as an individual post as long as it is pinned to your profile so that it appears prominently at the top of your page. 

Failure to pin the post will mean that future posts will send the rating further down your page feed and make it difficult for customers to find your rating. This would not meet the FHRS display guiding principles. 

By adding a pinned post you can provide a permanent place for your rating on your profile and provide any additional context in the accompanying text. 

Facebook Marketplace

Some food businesses and individual users sell food directly through Facebook Marketplace. 

To display a rating on Facebook Marketplace, you should include your rating image in each listing post and accompanying text. 

This can be done by adding the rating as an overlay to the first image in the listing, or by including an image of the full rating in the carousel. 

The rating image can be easily added to a listing image using free online image editing tools such as PIXLR or Canva. 

Instagram – displaying your food hygiene rating

On Instagram, there should be a prominent fixed display of your rating on your profile. 

Visual display can be supported by including a written description of your FHRS rating in your account biography, but text should not be seen as an alternative to using an image of your rating.

Like Facebook, you can also pin a post to the top of your Instagram profile.

If you don't pin the post, any future posts will push your rating further down your page feed. This would make it difficult for customers to find your rating and would not meet the FHRS display guiding principles. 

By adding a pinned post, you can provide a permanent place for your rating on your Instagram profile.

X/Twitter – displaying your food hygiene rating

When applying the guiding principles to your business’s X/Twitter profile page, there should be: 

• a permanent, fixed display of your rating on your profile
• adequate sizing of the rating so that it can be easily read and is not significantly reduced in size when accessing via a mobile device

This can be achieved through displaying your rating as part of your profile’s header image or as a pinned post. 

X/Twitter header image

You can prominently display your rating by embedding it in your profile header photo. This should be added to the right-hand side of the header photo so that it does not conflict with your profile photo. 

Choosing suitable photos to embed the rating in can enhance your promotional activity and make it clear for customers when they access your page. 

The rating image can be easily added using free online image editing tools such as PIXLR or Canva. 

Pinned post on X/Twitter

You can add your rating as an individual post, but this should be pinned to your profile so that it appears prominently at the top of your page. 

Failure to pin the post will mean that future posts will send the rating further down your feed and make it difficult for customers to find your rating. This would not meet the FHRS display guiding principles. 

By adding a pinned post you can provide a permanent place for your rating on your profile and provide any additional context in the accompanying text.