An EHO checklist is the environmental health officer's three areas turned into the lines a business walks before the visit. The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme guidance, cited below, says 5 is top of the scale, meaning the hygiene standards are very good and fully comply with the law, and 0 is at the bottom, meaning urgent improvement is necessary; the inspector looks at how hygienically the food is handled, the physical condition of the business, and how the business manages ways of keeping food safe, looking at processes, training and systems. They watch the handling, walk the premises and read the records, and the third is where a well-run kitchen most often drops a point. The food safety audit checklist on this site prints the walk in their order, free and without an account; the paid product keeps the completed checklists.
What they watch
The probe at cooking, cooling timed, raw and ready-to-eat separated, hot holding read, reheating probed, hand-washing, date labels. The same guidance gives the cooking standard as 70°C for 2 minutes, or the equivalents it lists, 75°C for 30 seconds among them. They compare what they see with what the plan says.
What they walk
Structure, cleanliness, pests, ventilation, lighting, equipment, storage, waste, hand-wash basins. Room by room, including the dry store, the bin area and the staff toilet the kitchen forgets. The premises lines of the audit checklist on this site are that walk, with a pass or a fail per line.
What they read
The plan, current; the temperature records, complete; the corrective actions; the allergen matrix, dated; traceability; training; probe calibration; cleaning sign-offs. The gov.uk guidance for food businesses, cited below, says a food safety management system must meet the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles, and describes critical control points as the points when you need to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard in your work process.
Before they arrive
Inspections are unannounced, so the checklist is walked monthly and the records kept where they can be produced for a date range. ProbeLedger Pro keeps the set; the free tools print each part. FoodDocs lists its Lite plan at $99 per site per month billed monthly or $79 billed annually, and its Standard plan at $199 per site per month, with a free 14-day trial, on its pricing page cited below. ProbeLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole site.
Questions people ask about eho checklist
Can I refuse an EHO entry?
No; the officer has a right of entry to a food business.
Will the EHO tell me the score on the day?
The rating follows the visit on the scheme's process; the officer will say what was found.
Is the checklist free?
Yes, without an account.