Preparing for an EHO Inspection: Complete Checklist

What the officer is actually assessing

An Environmental Health Officer arriving at your premises is scoring three separate things, and understanding the split tells you where to put your effort. The first is hygiene: how the food is handled, cooked, cooled, stored and kept apart. The second is the structural condition of the premises: the state of surfaces, equipment, layout, ventilation, pest-proofing and cleaning. The third, and the one operators most often neglect, is confidence in management: whether you can prove through records and answers that you understand your risks and control them consistently. You can have a spotless kitchen and still lose marks badly on the third element if your paperwork is thin or your staff cannot explain what they do.

Visits are usually unannounced, so "ready" has to mean ready on an ordinary trading day, not ready after a weekend deep clean you knew was coming.

The documents to have ready to hand

Officers expect to see your food safety management system and the records that show it is being used. Have the following accessible, current and filled in up to the day of the visit:

• Your written food safety management system, most commonly Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) with the diary completed, or a HACCP-based plan for larger operations.
• Temperature records: fridge and freezer checks, cooking and reheating core temperatures, and hot-holding logs where relevant.
• Cleaning schedule showing what is cleaned, how often, with what, and initials confirming it was done.
• Delivery records and supplier details, so provenance can be traced.
• A completed allergen matrix covering every dish and the 14 regulated allergens.
• Staff training records and evidence of food hygiene qualifications.
• Pest control documentation, including any contractor reports and actions taken.

Blank or back-filled diaries are transparent to an experienced officer and undermine the management-confidence score more than an honest gap would.

Walk your kitchen the way the officer will

Do your own inspection following the path food takes. Start at goods-in: are deliveries checked and temperatures recorded, is stock in date, is packaging intact? Move to storage: raw meat stored below and separate from ready-to-eat food, everything covered, dated and labelled, no raw marinating chicken sitting above prepared salads. In a curry kitchen the classic risks are cooked rice and reheating, so check that boiled rice is cooled quickly and either used or chilled, and that reheated food reaches a proper core temperature rather than being warmed through.

Look hard at cross-contamination controls: separate boards and utensils for raw and cooked, colour coding actually followed rather than just displayed, and no shared tools between raw meat prep and the tandoor pass. Check hand-washing: a dedicated wash-hand basin that is accessible, not blocked by a bin or stacked pots, with hot water, soap and a hygienic means of drying.

Structure, cleaning and the details that lose marks

Structural condition is scored on what officers can see and touch. Common findings in curry kitchens include heavy grease build-up around the tandoor and extraction canopy, damaged or unsealed worktops, cracked tiles and gaps where the wall meets the floor, and sticky residue behind and beneath equipment that never gets moved. Pull equipment out and clean behind it before the visit, because the officer will look there.

Check the extraction and ventilation: greasy canopy filters are both a hygiene and fire concern. Inspect for pest evidence, droppings in dry stores, gnaw marks on packaging, gaps under doors, and make sure external bin areas are tidy and lidded, as an overflowing yard bin is often the first thing an officer notices on the way in.

Brief your team before the day, not on the day

Staff answers carry real weight. Every food handler should be able to explain, in their own words, how they keep raw and cooked apart, the fridge temperature they work to, what they do with leftover rice, how they find allergen information for a customer, and what they would do if they felt unwell. Nominate who will accompany the officer, who can locate the records, and make sure someone senior can speak to the management system. Rehearse the allergen question specifically: a customer asks whether the korma contains nuts, and the handler should know exactly where to look rather than guessing.

During and after the visit

When the officer arrives, be co-operative and open. You can ask for identification. Accompany them, take notes on anything they raise, and answer honestly; defensiveness reads worse than a candid "we can improve that." If they point out a problem you can fix on the spot, fix it while they are there, as demonstrating responsiveness supports the management score.

At the end they will explain their findings. You are entitled to understand what was good, what needs improving and what the timescales are. If enforcement action or a poor rating results, you generally have avenues to respond: the right to reply, the option to request a re-visit once improvements are made, and an appeal route against a rating you believe is wrong. Turn any verbal advice or written notice into a dated action list, complete the items, keep the evidence, and use it to prepare for the next unannounced visit, because the surest way to score well is to run every day as though the officer might walk in.