Terms and conditions

The Food Standards Agency websites are maintained for your personal use and viewing. Access and use by you of these sites constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. This includes a privacy statement, cookie information, copyright statement, disclaimer and hyperlinking policy.

Linking to and from our sites

Hyperlinking to us at the Food Standards Agency

We encourage users to establish hypertext links to the site. You do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on the website. We do not object to you linking directly to our information, but you should obtain permission if you intend to use our logo.

However, we do not permit our pages to be loaded into frames on your site. The Food Standards Agency pages must load into the user's entire window.

Hyperlinking by us at the Food Standards Agency

We are not responsible for the contents or reliability of external websites and do not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Links to external sites should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.

You must obtain permission if you intend to use our logo. The copying and use of the FSA logo and other FSA-related logos is not permitted without approval of the FSA.

Using food.gov.uk content

The material featured on this website is subject to Crown copyright protection unless otherwise indicated.

Using food hygiene ratings information and services

Use of proprietary food hygiene ratings information and services is subject to the terms of the Open Government Licence (OGL).

The ratings are subject to change as they are regularly updated to reflect the standards found when a business is inspected by a local authority food safety officer. Users are reminded that displaying or otherwise using an invalid or inaccurate rating may constitute a criminal offence and/or expose the user to potential civil liability. It is the responsibility of users to ensure that the current rating is used or to indicate the date when the information was updated.

The FHRS imagery and the FSA logo (together the "Imagery") are protected by registered UK trademarks and other intellectual property rights and are owned and controlled by the FSA.

In order to ensure that the public is not confused or misled, the rules below must be followed at all times whenever the Imagery is used in any way including in: stickers and posters at premises, printed menus, leaflets and flyers, social media posts, websites and any electronic platforms or any other promotional activity and material.

The Imagery must not be altered or amended without our prior written permission. Permission for any change can be sought from the Food Standards Agency by contacting HygieneRatings@food.gov.uk.
The FHRS name and the FSA logo are an integral part of the Imagery design. They may be used in this context but must not be used in any other way without our prior written permission.
The use of the Imagery in any promotional activity and materials is not and must not be presented in any manner that might be seen as the FSA endorsement of any individual food business, chain of food businesses, website, online application or other activity. Only the actual rating issued under the FHRS may be used.
Should the rating of any food business change at a subsequent inspection only images of the new rating must be used and any images of previous ratings must be immediately updated or removed from all promotional activity and materials in which they feature.
The FSA may grant, withhold or make conditional its permission for any of the above at its sole discretion. All other rights are reserved in full.

By downloading and/or using the Imagery each food business expressly accepts and agrees to comply with these rules in full.

FHRS stickers incorporating the Imagery are subject to all the rules above but are issued only by local authorities operating the scheme. Stickers must not be acquired from any other source, nor should any unauthorised source reproduce the stickers.

Displaying or using an invalid rating in any promotional activity or material is a breach of the above rules and the FSA's rights. If the above rules and/or the FSA's intellectual property rights are breached the FSA may require any use of the Imagery to stop immediately without limitation of the FSA's other legal remedies.

It may also constitute an offence under trading standards legislation, for example under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. In Northern Ireland it is an offence under the Food Hygiene Rating Act (NI) 2016. In Wales it is an offence under the Food Hygiene Ratings (Wales) Act 2013.

Disclaimer

Every effort is made to ensure that the information provided on this site is accurate and up to date, but no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors, omissions or misleading statements.

It is the Food Standards Agency's policy to obtain permission to link to other web sites, and contextual links are provided to such sites where appropriate to Food Standards Agency business. The Food Standards Agency is not responsible for, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of, information on sites that it does not manage; nor should the inclusion of a hyperlink be taken to mean endorsement by the Food Standards Agency of the site to which it points.

Virus protection

The site operators make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It's always wise for users to run an anti virus program on all material downloaded from the internet.

The FSA cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material from the FSA website.