Food and You 2 FHRS Wave 6: Chapter 1 - Awareness and recognition of the FHRS

Awareness of the FHRS

Most respondents (86%) reported that they had heard of the FHRS. Over half (55%) reported that they had heard of the FHRS and knew a lot or a bit about it, 31% had heard of the FHRS but didn’t know much or anything about it and 14% had never heard of the FHRS ^{(footnote 1)}.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 6

Most respondents in England (86%), Wales (92%), and Northern Ireland (91%) had heard of the FHRS (Figure 1)**. 

Awareness and knowledge of the FHRS varied by country. Respondents in Wales (69%) and Northern Ireland (65%) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those in England (54%). 

Awareness and knowledge of the FHRS also varied between regions in England. For example, 62% of respondents in Yorkshire and the Humber and 61% of those in the East Midlands reported having some knowledge of the FHRS compared to 44% in London.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 6

Respondents aged between 25 and 64 years were more likely to have at least a bit of knowledge of the FHRS than those aged 16 to 24 or aged 80 years or over. For example, 65% of those aged 55 to 64 years reported knowledge of the FHRS, compared to 33% of those aged 80 years or over (Figure 2).

Awareness and knowledge of the FHRS also varied between the following groups of people:

• National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC): respondents in occupational groups (for example, 60% of those in managerial, administrative, and professional occupations) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than full-time students (42%) and those who were long term unemployed and/or never worked (31%).
  Household size: those in households of 3-persons or more (for example, 59% of respondents living in households with 5 or more people) were more likely to report having knowledge of the FHRS compared to those in 1 -person households (47%).
  Responsibility for cooking: respondents who were responsible for cooking (57%) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those who do not cook (33%). 
  Responsibility for shopping: respondents who were responsible for food shopping (57%) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those who never shop for food (34%). 
  Ethnic group: white (57%) respondents were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than Asian or Asian British (43%) respondents.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 6  

Respondents who had heard of the FHRS were asked where they had come across the FHRS. The most common place was a food hygiene rating sticker displayed at a food business premises (83%). Almost 4 in 10 (38%) respondents had come across the FHRS on a food business’ website, 23% of respondents had come across the FHRS on a food ordering /a delivery website and/or app (for example, Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats), 17% of respondents had come across the FHRS by word of mouth, and 14% of respondents had come across the FHRS on the FSA’s website (Figure 3) ^{(footnote 2).}

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 6 

Most respondents in England (82%), Wales (87%) and Northern Ireland (88%) had come across the FHRS via a sticker in a food business (Figure 4)**. The second most common location respondents had come across the FHRS in England (38%), Wales (36%) and Northern Ireland (32%) was on a food business’s own website.

Recognition of the FHRS

When shown an image of the food hygiene rating sticker, 87% of respondents reported that they had seen the food hygiene rating sticker before. Recognition of the food hygiene rating sticker was similar in England (87%), Wales (91%), and Northern Ireland (93%)** ^{(footnote 3)}.

 Source: Food and You 2: Wave 6

Those under the age of 55 were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those aged 80 or over. For example, 94% of respondents aged 25 to 34 years reported that they had seen the food hygiene rating sticker, compared to 57% of those aged 80 years and over (Figure 5).

Recognition of the food hygiene rating sticker also varied between the following types of people:

• Household size: respondents in households with 2 or more people (for example, 94% of those in 4-person households) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those living in 1 person households (76%). 
• Children under 16 years in the household: respondents with children (under 16 years) in the household (95%) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those with no children in the household (84%).
• NS-SEC: respondents in some occupational groups (for example, 93% of those in lower supervisory and technical occupations), were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those who were long term unemployed and/or never worked (75%).
• Annual household income: respondents with an income of more than £64,000 (for example, 94% of those with an income between £64,000 and £95,999) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those with an income of less than £19,000 (84%).

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 6

Respondents were asked where they had seen the food hygiene rating sticker in the last 12 months. Most respondents had seen the sticker in restaurants (83%), in cafés (75%), or in takeaways (69%) (Figure 6) ^{(footnote 4)}.

Source: Food & You 2: Wave 6

Most respondents had seen the food hygiene rating sticker in restaurants in England (83%), Wales (88%) and Northern Ireland (82%)**. Respondents in Wales were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker in cafés (86%) and coffee or sandwich shops (70%) compared to respondents in England (cafés 74%, coffee or sandwich shops 54%). Respondents in Wales (72%) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker in pubs than those in Northern Ireland (43%) and England (53%) (Figure 7).