Food and You 2 FHRS Wave 6: Chapter 4 - Attitudes toward display of FHRS ratings

Food businesses are provided with a sticker which shows their food hygiene rating. In England businesses are encouraged to display their food hygiene rating sticker at their premises, however in Wales and Northern Ireland food businesses are legally required to display their FHRS rating ^{(footnote 1)}. 

Views on mandatory display 

Respondents were asked whether they thought that food businesses should be required by law to display their food hygiene rating at their premises, or if it should be up to the business to decide whether to or not. Of the respondents who had heard of the FHRS, 93% thought that food businesses should be required by law to display their food hygiene rating on the premises, and 4% thought it should be up to the business to decide whether to display their food hygiene rating. 3% of respondents didn’t know whether this should be a legal requirement or up to the business to decide. This finding was similar across all three countries; most respondents in England (93%), Wales (94%) and Northern Ireland (94%) thought that food businesses should be required by law to display their food hygiene rating at their premises** ^{(footnote 2)}.

Respondents were also asked whether they thought businesses providing an online food ordering service should display their food hygiene rating where it can clearly be seen by customers before they order food. Of the respondents who had heard of the FHRS, 94% thought that businesses providing an online food ordering service should display their food hygiene rating where it can clearly be seen by customers before they order food, 1% did not and 5% said they didn’t know. This finding was consistent in England (94%), Wales (95%), and Northern Ireland (94%)** ^{(footnote 3)}.

Views on where food hygiene ratings should be displayed

Figure 19. Locations where respondents think food hygiene ratings should be displayed.

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Location	Percentage of respondents (%)
Food business's social media site	81
Supermarket's own website	84
Food ordering/delivery companies' apps/websites	91
Takeaway's own website	93
Restaurant's or cafe's own website	94
Hotel's or B&B's own website	94

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Source: Food & You 2: Wave 6

Respondents were asked where they thought hygiene ratings should be displayed, from a given list of locations. Most respondents thought that food hygiene ratings should be displayed on restaurant or café websites (94%), on hotel or B&B websites (94%), takeaway websites (93%), and on the websites or apps of food ordering and delivery companies (91%). Around 8 in 10 respondents thought that food hygiene ratings should be displayed on supermarket websites (84%) and on food business’s social media sites (81%) (Figure 19) ^{(footnote 4)}.