F&Y2 Wave 7-8 NI: Chapter 4: Eating out and takeaways

Introduction

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) helps people make informed choices about where to eat out or shop for food by giving clear information about the businesses’ hygiene standards found at the time of local authority food hygiene inspections. Ratings are given to places where food is supplied or sold directly to people, such as restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, hotels, schools, hospitals, care homes, supermarkets, and other retailers.

The FSA runs the scheme in partnership with district councils in Northern Ireland, and with local authorities in England and Wales. In Northern Ireland, district council food safety officers are responsible for checking food hygiene standards at food premises to assess compliance with legal requirements through unannounced hygiene inspections. Businesses are given a rating from 0 to 5. A rating of 5 indicates that hygiene standards are very good and a rating of 0 indicates that urgent improvement is required.

Food businesses are provided with a sticker which shows their FHRS rating. In Northern Ireland and Wales food businesses are legally required to display their FHRS rating, however in England businesses are encouraged to display their FHRS rating. ^{(footnote 1)}  FHRS ratings are also available on the FSA website and via other third-party apps.

This chapter provides an overview of respondents’ eating out and takeaway ordering habits, the factors that are considered when deciding where to order a takeaway from, and recognition and use of the FHRS.

Prevalence of eating out and ordering takeaways

When asked where they had eaten out or ordered food from in the previous 4 weeks, around 6 in 10 respondents reported eating in or taking food out from a café, coffee shop or sandwich shop (62%), and/or having eaten in a restaurant (58%), and/or having ordered a takeaway directly from a takeaway shop or restaurant (56%) (Figure 8). ^{(footnote 2)}

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 8

Older respondents were less likely to have eaten food from a takeaway (ordered directly or online) in the last 4 weeks than younger respondents (Figure 9) ^{(footnote 3)}.  For example, 25% of those aged 75 or over had eaten food from a takeaway in the last 4 weeks, compared to 77% of those aged 25-34 years. There were no significant differences by age for eating out in a restaurant, pub or bar.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

The prevalence of eating out in a restaurant, pub or bar or eating food from a takeaway (ordered directly or online) in the previous 4 weeks also varied between different types of people in the following ways:

• household size: respondents who lived in larger households were more likely to have eaten food from a takeaway than those who lived in smaller households. For example, 77% of respondents living in a household with 4 people had eaten food from a takeaway compared to 43% of respondents living alone
• children under 16 years in household: respondents who had children in the household (71%) were more likely to have eaten food from a takeaway than those who did not have children aged 16 years or under in the household (61%)
• annual household income: respondents with a higher household income (for example with an income of £64,000-£95,999) were more likely to have eaten out in a restaurant, pub or bar (81%) and to have ordered a takeaway (76%) in the previous 4 weeks compared to respondents with an income below £19,000 (48% and 54% respectively)
• food security: respondents with high or marginal food security (68%) were more likely to have eaten out in a restaurant, pub or bar than those with low or very low food security (54%). However, the prevalence of ordering food from a takeaway did not differ between those with high/marginal food security (63%) and those with low/very low food security (68%)
• long term health condition: respondents without a long-term health condition (67%) were more likely to have eaten out in a restaurant, pub or bar compared to respondents who had a long-term health condition (55%). However, the prevalence of ordering food from a takeaway did not differ between those with (60%) or without (66%) a long-term health condition

Eating out and takeaways by mealtime

Respondents were least likely to eat out or buy food to take out for breakfast, with 48% of respondents never doing this. Around half of respondents (52%) reported that they ate out or bought takeout food for lunch 2-3 times a month or less often (Figure 10). 60% of respondents reported eating out or buying food to take out for dinner 2-3 times a month or less often. ^{(footnote 4)}

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 8

Factors considered when ordering a takeaway 

Respondents were asked which factors, from a given list, they generally considered when deciding where to order a takeaway from. Of those who ordered food from takeaways, the factors most considered when deciding where to place an order were the respondents’ previous experience of the takeaway (78%) and the quality of food (73%). In addition, 37% of respondents considered the food hygiene rating (Figure 11). ^{(footnote 5)}

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 8

Awareness and recognition of the FHRS

Most respondents in Northern Ireland (91%), England (86%) and Wales (93%) had heard of the FHRS (Figure 12). ^{(footnote 6)}

In Northern Ireland, 66% of respondents reported that they had heard of the FHRS and knew a bit or quite a lot about it, less than in Wales (74%) and more than in England (56%). ^{(footnote 7)}

When respondents were shown an image of the FHRS sticker, recognition was slightly higher in Northern Ireland (94%) and Wales (95%) than in England (89%). ^{(footnote 8)}

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

FHRS usage

Respondents in in Northern Ireland (49%) and Wales (58%) were more likely to have checked the food hygiene rating of a business in the last 12 months than those in England (41%) (although respondents in Wales were also more likely than those in Northern Ireland to do this).** ^{(footnote 9)}

Respondents who said they had checked the hygiene rating of a food business in the last 12 months were asked what types of food businesses they had checked. In Northern Ireland, the most common types of food business which respondents had checked the food hygiene rating of were restaurants (74%) and takeaways (73%) (Figure 13). ^{(footnote 10)}    

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 8