Cooked?How London food hygiene ratings work
London food hygiene ratings explained in plain English: the official scale, what each result means, and how Cooked maps it to clean, mid or cooked.
The short version
the FSA rates 0–5 (higher is better): clean = 4 or 5, mid = 3, cooked = 2 or below.
| Official result | What it means | Cooked comparison |
|---|---|---|
| 4 or 5 | Good or very good | clean |
| 3 | Generally satisfactory | mid |
| 0, 1 or 2 | Improvement is necessary | cooked |
How London actually grades restaurants
London runs the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, where every food business gets a single number from 0 to 5 and higher is better: 5 is very good, 3 is generally satisfactory, and 0 means urgent improvement is necessary. The rating combines three judgements made on the day — how hygienically food is handled, the condition of the premises, and how much confidence the inspector has in management. Each of the 33 London boroughs employs its own inspectors, but the scale is identical everywhere. The FSA publishes the rating and its date, but not the individual issues found.
What the public record can tell you
UK Food Standards Agency + London borough councils does not publish itemized findings in this feed. Cooked can show the official result and date, but cannot honestly say which individual issues an inspector found. The dated result is useful evidence about what an inspector observed, but it is not a promise about every meal served before or after that visit. Ratings can also reach the public days or weeks after the inspection itself, so Cooked displays the authority’s inspection date rather than pretending the record arrived in real time.
Why Cooked adds a traffic light
The clean, mid and cooked labels are a comparison layer, not replacement grades. The official rating remains visible everywhere. That makes it possible to compare cities without suggesting that unlike systems are identical—and keeps pending, unrated and unavailable information separate from a failing result.
Corrections and updates
Published 8 August 2026. No corrections recorded.