Eat Safe Awards

The Eat Safe award provides consumers with a recognisable sign of excellence in food hygiene practices

Raw chicken breast being cut into pieces on a wooden chopping board

What is the Eat Safe Award?

The Eat Safe Award is designed to promote excellence in food hygiene.

Food businesses must achieve food hygiene standards beyond those required by law. For consumers, it provides a recognisable sign of excellence in food hygiene practices.

When eating out, we all want to know that hygiene, cleanliness and food safety are top priorities in our favourite places to eat or buy food. Whether it’s a sandwich or a four-course meal, we should always be confident that the utmost care has been taken in the preparation of the food we eat.

The Eat Safe Award makes it easy for you to know which restaurants, cafés, takeaways and food shops achieve exceptional food hygiene standards, beyond those required by law.

The Award is open to all types of food outlets, from casual cafés to five-star restaurants. Outlets are assessed for the award by their Local Authority Environmental Health Officer during their regular food hygiene inspections.

Check if a food business has an Eat Safe Award

Food Hygiene Information Scheme and the Eat Safe Award

The Eat Safe Award and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) run side by side.

The Food Hygiene Information Scheme rates food outlets based on their most recent food hygiene inspection while the Eat Safe Award recognises the businesses that go over and above the legal minimum standards.

When you see the Eat Safe logo or the Eat Safe certificate, you can be assured that the food you're eating has been prepared in conditions that are above those required by law.

Each of the local authorities in Scotland runs a programme of inspections carried out by the Environmental Health Services to make sure that the required hygiene standards are being met. During these inspections, the premises will be also assessed by the inspecting officer for the Eat Safe Award.

Councils present the Award, and the scheme is run in conjunction with Food Standards Scotland.

Yes. All areas of the food outlet are inspected, including toilets, food storage units and staff rooms.

Does Eat Safe guarantee that I will not get food poisoning?

Eat Safe is a sign that the food outlet is taking every precaution to prevent food poisoning. It recognises that the highest standards of Food Safety Management have been put in place on the premises. However, as so many factors can contribute to food poisoning, there is no absolute guarantee.

Yes! If standards at the food outlet are not kept, the Council’s Environmental Health Service will remove the Eat Safe Award.

Contact the Environmental Health Service of the local authority in question and provide the reasons why you feel it’s inappropriate for the food outlet to have the Eat Safe Award.

All operating food outlets SHOULD be following legal requirements and therefore should reach certain hygiene standards. The Eat Safe Award shows that the business has exceeded these requirements. However, as the inspections are on a rolling programme, there may be some outlets that deserve the Award, but have not yet been inspected.

More information

You can check if a food business has an Eat Safe Award as well as search for its Food Hygiene Information Scheme rating.

For questions about the rating of a food business, contact the Environmental Health Service of your Local Authority.

Search Eat Safe Awards

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