Food and You 2 FHRS Wave 8: 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 (57%) reported that they had heard of the FHRS and knew quite a lot or a bit about it, 29% had heard of the FHRS but didn’t know much or anything about it and 14% had never heard of the FHRS ^{(footnote 1)}.

Most respondents in England (86%), Wales (93%), and Northern Ireland (91%) had heard of the FHRS (Figure 1)**.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

Knowledge of the FHRS varied by country. Respondents in Wales (74%) and Northern Ireland (66%) were more likely to report that they had heard of the FHRS and had at least a bit of knowledge of it compared to those in England (56%).

Knowledge of the FHRS also varied between regions in England. For example, 62% of respondents in North-West England, 60% of those in the East Midlands, 59% in the East of England and 58% of those in South-East England reported having some knowledge of the FHRS, compared to 47% in London.

Respondents aged between 25 and 74 were more likely to have at least a bit of knowledge of the FHRS than those aged 75 or over. For example, 65% of those aged 45 to 64 reported knowledge of the FHRS, compared to 45% of those aged 75 or over (Figure 2).

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

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, 61% of those in intermediate occupations and lower supervisory and technical occupations) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those who were long term unemployed and/or never worked (40%).
• Responsibility for cooking: respondents who were responsible for cooking (59%) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those who do not cook (34%). 
• Responsibility for shopping: respondents who were responsible for food shopping (58%) were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than those who do not shop for food (41%). 
• Ethnic group: white (60%) respondents were more likely to report knowledge of the FHRS than Asian or Asian British (46%) respondents. 

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 (85%). 36% of respondents had come across the FHRS on a food business’ website, 22% of respondents had come across the FHRS on a food ordering delivery website or app (for example, Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats), 16% of respondents had come across the FHRS by word of mouth, and 16% of respondents had come across the FHRS on the FSA’s website (Figure 3) ^{(footnote 2)}.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

Most respondents in England (85%), Wales (90%) and Northern Ireland (89%) 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 (37%), Wales (38%) and Northern Ireland (29%) was on a food business’s own website**.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

There were age group differences in where respondents had come across the FHRS: 

• Respondents under 65 were more likely to have come across the FHRS via a sticker in a food business than older adults. For example, 91% of those aged 45 to 64 had come across a sticker in a food business, compared to 78% of those aged 65 to 74. 
• Younger respondents were more likely to have come across the FHRS via a food ordering website or app than older adults. For example, 39% of people aged 25 to 34 had come across the FHRS via a food ordering website or app, compared to 6% of people aged 65-74 and 3% of people aged 75 and over. 
• Respondents aged 16 to 24 were more likely to have come across the FHRS via social media (24%) than people aged 25 and over. For example, 8% of respondents aged 45 to 64 had come across the FHRS via social media. 
• Respondents aged 75 and over were more likely to have come across the FHRS in a local newspaper (14%) or in an advert or magazine article (13%) than those aged 16-24 (1% for either location). 

Recognition of the FHRS

When shown an image of the food hygiene rating sticker, 89% of respondents reported that they had seen the food hygiene rating sticker before. Recognition of the food hygiene rating sticker was slightly higher in Wales (95%) and Northern Ireland (94%) than in England (89%) ^{(footnote 3)}**.

Younger respondents were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than older respondents. For example, 96% of those aged 16 to 24 reported that they had seen the sticker, compared to 69% of those aged 75 and over (Figure 5).

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

Recognition of the food hygiene rating sticker also varied for the following groups:  

• Household size: respondents in households with 3 or more people (for example, 95% of those in 4-person households) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those living in 1 person households (80%). 
• Annual household income: respondents with an income of more than £96,000 were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker (97%) than those with an income of less than £19,000 (86%).
• Responsibility for cooking: respondents who were responsible for cooking (90%) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker than those who do not cook (80%). 

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 (84%), in cafés (72%), or in takeaways (65%) (Figure 6) ^{(footnote 4)}.

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8

Most respondents had seen the food hygiene rating sticker in restaurants in England (83%), Wales (85%) and Northern Ireland (85%)**. Respondents in Wales were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker in takeaways (76%) and coffee or sandwich shops (68%) compared to respondents in England (takeaways 64%, coffee or sandwich shops 56%). Respondents in Wales were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker in pubs (65%) than those in Northern Ireland (42%) and England (52%). Respondents in Wales (37%) and Northern Ireland (37%) were more likely to have seen the food hygiene rating sticker in hotels and B&Bs than respondents in England (23%) (Figure 7).

Source: Food and You 2: Wave 8