Assessing the Need for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS): An Investigation into the Association between the Compulsory FHRS and Third-Party Accreditation/Certification in Food and Drink Manufacturing and Processing Businesses (FDMPB) in Wales, UK

Introduction: Welsh FDMPBs were required by law to have a FHRS score on display before anywhere else in the UK. The FHRS is now established in Wales and is achieved by inspection of FDMPB facilities, conducted by an Environmental Health Officer (EHO). FDMPBs are often required to have third-party accreditation/certification by retailers and the foodservice. The main third-party accreditations recognized by the industry are British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Safe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA). The UK Government is investigating third-party accreditation/certification can be used to benchmark hygiene standards in FDMPBs therefore negating the requirement for FHRS in certified businesses.

Purpose: An investigation into whether there is an association between FHRS and third-party accreditation/certification, to determine the requirement for an additional FHRS inspection.

Methods: Using a desk-based research approach, a comparison of all FDMPB in Wales that have achieved third-party accreditation/certification were analyzed against their FHRS score.

Results: Cumulatively, 17.3% of all FDMPB in Wales (n=121) have third-party accreditation (BRC-72.5%, SALSA-27.5%). Many of these businesses (41.9%) who have achieved third-party accreditation were also inspected for the mandatory FHRS (meat and dairy businesses excluded due to sector specific hygiene audits). More than half of the BRC certified FDMPBs achieved accreditation on an ‘unannounced’ audit. Analysis shows that there is an association between FHRS score and the BRC grade. FDMPBs with a grade-5 FHRS were associated (P<0.05) with the highest BRC grades.

Significance: Given the significant associations determined in this study, findings suggest that third-party accreditation/certification grade can be used to determine FDMPBs FHRS-scores. This would negate the requirement for FHRS inspections in third-party accredited/certified FDMPBs, thus reducing the burden of multiple-inspections on FDMPB and having a positive impact on EHO time allocation/workload. Furthermore, findings indicate a need to obtain an in-depth understanding of the drivers to obtain third-party accreditation/certification in Welsh FDMPBs.