Food safety expert reveals where most venues slip up on ratings

A food hygiene consultant revealed the most common places venues slip up when it comes to ratings.

Katy Elliott, owner of 5 Star Food Safety, has more than 25 years of experience in the food industry and offers businesses a bespoke, easy-to-use food safety system that "guarantees" a five-star rating every time.

Also offering audits, random inspections, allergen and nutrition labelling and staff training, Katy has helped countless hospitality businesses — turning some around from a zero rating to five stars.

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Katy said: “It all began back in 2000 when I supplied healthy meals to children’s day nurseries. My business grew and resulted in me having to become a food manufacturer and working even more closely with Wirral EHO (Environment Health Office).

"I’ve worked in the food industry ever since and founded 5 Star Food Safety in 2020. I've witnessed many businesses fail and realised I can help. The food hygiene guideline is very complex but my systems are so much easier to follow. Environmental Health visits are one of the biggest worries of every hospitality business owner so I put measures in place to guarantee they get five stars if they follow them.”

Businesses achieving a five-star food hygiene rating often use it as a valuable marketing tool to attract customers, whereas a poor rating can be catastrophic. Bad practices and poor hygiene can ruin a hospitality business overnight, killing its reputation. Revealing the most common areas venues slip up on their hygiene, Katy said: "Some restaurants get a bad food hygiene rating because they find the Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) on