The importance of food hygiene ratings

Food hygiene ratings are grades awarded to food processing businesses when evaluated for compliance with food safety laws. The organisation receives a rating based on the inspection.

You can see on the Food Standards Agency website that businesses give you an extensive overview of the evaluated categories.

Area inspected by food safety officer:

Hygienic food handling

Hygienic handling of food, including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage. Very good

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene. Very good

Management of food safety

System or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future. Good

The total rating:

You can see the detailed result of the Oh Lily! inspection from 30th November 2021 on the website of the Food Standards Agency.

Interview with Govinda Cortier (COO) about the food hygiene rating.

Peakfood: Govinda, you just received the certificate from the Food Standard Agency with a rating of 5. What does it mean to you and the brand Oh Lily! ?

Govinda: When we started Oh Lily!, we were making our products in our home kitchen. Our kitchen was certified, and we got all the qualifications, as food hygiene is essential for our production.

Back then, we already got 5 stars, which is a recognition of the care we give to our products, as all our Oh Lily! products are handmade and with natural ingredients. Having the highest rate in food hygiene is a way to show our customers our dedication to offering the best quality of products.

So when we needed a more extensive production unit to follow the growing demand for our water lily seeds, we needed to maintain the same highest standards in food hygiene and guarantee the same quality of our products.

Naturally, we went through the same inspection process with the FSA with our new bigger production unit. We are very proud to announce that we got rated with 5 stars. It shows that we manage to keep the same highest hygiene standards to produce our water lily seeds snacks. It also gives the customers proof of trust in the products. We are proud of that.

Moving to a bigger production unit has been a stepping stone for Oh Lily! as it is the result of the growth of our brand. Getting the highest rate of food hygiene certification for our production unit shows that our effort to offer the best quality has paid off, and we are very proud of that!

As food business entrepreneurs, our most important responsibility is to deliver the safest products for our customers to consume.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

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