EHO Inspection Checklist --- What Inspectors Actually Check

EHO inspections are unannounced. You won't get a phone call, a letter, or a heads-up. An inspector can arrive at any reasonable hour during your operating times, and you are legally required to let them in. This means your only option is to be inspection-ready every day --- not the day before you think they might come.

Before the visit happens, make sure these fundamentals are in place: all your SFBB records are current and complete (not backfilled the morning of the inspection), your cleaning schedule reflects what actually happens in your kitchen, your temperature logs show consistent monitoring with corrective actions recorded, your 4-weekly reviews are signed and dated by a manager, and your allergen matrix is up to date for every dish you serve.

Also check the physical condition of your premises: hand wash basins have soap and disposable towels, your wash-up sink is clean and functional, food is stored at correct temperatures with separation between raw and ready-to-eat items, your pest control records are available, and all staff know where key documents are kept. The inspector will ask your team questions --- a confident, knowledgeable team is a strong signal of good management.

EHO inspections cover three areas, and your hygiene rating is calculated from all three. Here's what falls under each:

Each of these three areas is scored, and your overall rating reflects the lowest score. You can't compensate for poor food hygiene practices with a clean building, and you can't make up for missing records with good intentions. The inspector treats all three as equally important.

When the EHO arrives, they will ask to see specific documents. Every inspection includes a records review. Here is exactly what you need to have ready:

Knowing what trips other businesses up is the best way to avoid the same fate. These are the most common reasons food businesses get marked down during EHO inspections:

Incomplete or missing records. By far the most common issue. A diary with gaps, a cleaning schedule that hasn't been signed off in weeks, temperature logs that stop three days ago. The inspector sees an incomplete system as evidence that food safety management isn't embedded in your operation. Paper records are especially vulnerable --- sheets get lost, damaged, or simply forgotten.

Poor temperature control. Fridges running above 5°C, hot holding below 63°C, food left out at ambient temperature for too long. The inspector carries a calibrated probe thermometer and will check your equipment temperatures against your logs. If your records say 4°C and the inspector's probe reads 8°C, you have a problem --- and worse, you have a credibility problem.

Cross-contamination risks. Raw meat stored above ready-to-eat food, the same chopping boards used for raw and cooked items, cloths used across multiple areas without sanitising. Colour-coded equipment reduces this risk, but the inspector will check whether your system is actually followed in practice, not just on paper.

Lack of management oversight. SFBB records that are clearly filled in by staff without any manager review or sign-off. 4-weekly reviews that are missing or generic. The inspector wants to see that a responsible person is actively managing food safety --- not delegating it entirely to junior staff with no oversight.

Allergen failures. Staff who can't answer basic allergen questions, missing or outdated allergen matrices, no system for communicating ingredient changes to customers. Since Natasha's Law came into force in 2021, allergen management has been a major focus of EHO inspections.

EHOs are trained to spot fabricated records. A paper diary where every entry is written in the same pen, with identical handwriting, covering three weeks of records --- that's an immediate red flag. Inspectors know that paper gets filled in retroactively, often minutes before they arrive. A digital system changes the evidence entirely.

With the SFBB Ready digital system, every diary entry, every temperature reading, every cleaning check — they are all time-stamped at the moment of completion. Staff identities are recorded. If a fridge temperature was 9°C at 11am on Tuesday, the log shows not just the reading but what corrective action was taken, who took it, and when. This creates an audit trail that a paper sheet can never match.

Digital records also eliminate the "I forgot" problem. Staff receive reminders on their phones when tasks are due. Managers get alerts when something is missed. The 4-weekly review is prompted automatically. And when the EHO arrives, every record is instantly retrievable --- no scrambling through folders, no water-damaged sheets, no awkward conversations about why last week's diary is empty.