How do you get an FSSAI hygiene rating for your restaurant? You book an audit with an agency that FSSAI recognises. Its auditor checks your kitchen against 47 questions. If you pass every critical one that applies to you, you get 1 to 5 smileys, valid for two years.
Before you book, you need a valid FSSAI licence or registration, a trained Food Safety Supervisor and a kitchen that follows FSSAI’s hygiene rules. This rating is also the certificate a restaurant earns under FSSAI’s Eat Right India programme. That is why some owners search for it as “Eat Right certification”.
This post covers the five steps, how the score is worked out, and the 10 questions that decide it. It also covers what a low rating means, how long a rating lasts and who sets the audit fee.
Key Takeaways
- Put your licence, a trained supervisor and the hygiene basics in place first. The auditor notes all three first.
- You can no longer rate yourself. Only an audit agency can, so fix the gaps before you book.
- Ten critical questions decide the result. Pass every one that applies, and a good rating can hang at your door for two years.
How to Get an FSSAI Hygiene Rating in 5 Steps
Getting an FSSAI hygiene rating takes five steps, and the first three happen before anyone audits you. This section walks through them in order, from your licence to the certificate.
1. Check your FSSAI licence or registration is valid
The audit starts with your licence. The auditor notes your licence number, the outlet’s name and its validity. The very first question on the checklist asks that your licence is current and on display.
If you are not sure which licence you hold, check it on the Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS). Our guide to the FoSCoS portal shows how.
2. Appoint a FoSTaC-trained Food Safety Supervisor
FSSAI asks for at least one Food Safety Supervisor for every 25 food handlers. This person must be trained under FoSTaC, short for Food Safety Training and Certification. They watch hygiene on the floor and train the rest of the staff.
The course is booked on the FoSTaC portal. Keep the certificate number handy. The rating portal now checks your supervisor’s details online against that number.
3. Put the hygiene basics in place
The rating checks the hygiene rules in Schedule 4 of FSSAI’s licensing regulations. Our post on FSSAI Schedule 4 explains what they cover. Three extra items are named in the scheme itself:
- A Food Safety Display Board (FSDB). This is the FSSAI notice on food safety. It also shows your licence number.
- Food and water tested at an FSSAI-approved lab, if you hold a licence.
- Water reports kept on file. The audit checklist asks for a water test every six months.
4. Book an audit with a recognised agency
You choose a Hygiene Rating Audit Agency (HRAA) from FSSAI’s list of approved agencies. The list gives each agency’s address and contact. Then you book the audit through the Hygiene Rating portal, and the agency assigns one of its auditors to your outlet.
This step has changed. The portal no longer lets an owner rate their own outlet. A notice on its home page says the self-inspection step has been removed. Only agencies complete the inspection now. On 8 October 2026, the portal showed 42 agencies and 324 auditors.
5. Get audited and receive your certificate
The auditor visits, goes through the checklist and sends the report to the agency. Once the agency approves it, the agency downloads your certificate and sends it to you.
The certificate shows your rating, outlet name, location, licence number and end date. It also has a QR code. Guests can scan it to check those details.
Is the FSSAI Hygiene Rating the Eat Right Certificate?
The FSSAI hygiene rating is the certificate a single restaurant can earn under Eat Right India. This section explains where the two names come from.
Eat Right India is FSSAI’s food safety movement. It runs several certifications, and most of them are for places rather than single outlets. There is Eat Right Campus, Eat Right Station, Eat Right Street Food Hub, Eat Right Place of Worship and a few more.
For single outlets, the Eat Right India site sends restaurants, cafés and caterers to one thing. That is the hygiene rating. So if you run a restaurant and want an Eat Right certificate, this is the one.
How Is the FSSAI Hygiene Rating Scored?
The FSSAI hygiene rating is a percentage score turned into smileys. The auditor goes through 47 questions, worth 114 points in all. Each is marked yes, no or not applicable. This section shows how those points become a rating.
Each “yes” earns the points next to that question. Most questions are worth 2 points. The 10 critical ones are worth 4. Your score is then turned into a percentage, using the table below from FSSAI’s hygiene rating guidance.
| FSSAI hygiene rating | Category | Score needed |
|---|---|---|
| 5 smileys | Excellent | 81% to 100% |
| 4 smileys | Very Good | 61% to 80% |
| 3 smileys | Good | 41% to 60% |
| 2 smileys | Needs Improvement | 21% to 40% |
| 1 smiley | Urgent Improvement | 20% or below |
One detail helps smaller outlets. If a question does not apply to you, it comes out of the total. A restaurant with no delivery vehicle is not marked down on the vehicle question, one of the critical ten.
Here is how that works. A South Indian restaurant in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, scores 90 points (an example). It passes every critical question that applies to it. It has no delivery vehicle, so the 4-point vehicle question drops out and the total becomes 110.
90 ÷ 110 = 81.8%, which is 5 smileys. Had the question stayed in, 90 ÷ 114 = 78.9%, and the same kitchen would get 4.
The points are not spread evenly. The chart below shows where they sit across the checklist’s five sections.
Control of operation carries the most weight. It covers receiving, storing, cooking, holding and transporting food. It holds 46 of the 114 points and 6 of the 10 critical questions. That is where most marks are won or lost.
Which 10 Questions Decide an FSSAI Hygiene Rating?
Ten questions on the checklist are marked as critical, and each can stop your FSSAI hygiene rating outright. This section lists all ten in plain words.
The rule is in the checklist itself. Failing any one of them means “non-compliance”, and no rating is issued. A spotless dining room cannot make up for a cooling step nobody follows. Here are the ten, as questions to ask yourself before the audit:
- Is the water you use safe to drink, and tested every six months? Any water that touches food must be drinking quality, with the test reports on file.
- Do you thaw frozen food safely? Meat, fish and poultry are thawed in a fridge at 5°C or below, or in a microwave. Thawed food is never stored for later.
- Is food cooked hot enough at the centre? Veg to 60°C for 10 minutes or 65°C for 2 minutes. Non-veg to 65°C for 10 minutes, 70°C for 2 minutes or 75°C for 15 seconds.
- Do you cool cooked food fast enough? It must go from 60°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then to 5°C within 2 more hours.
- Do you hold food at the right temperature? Hot food at 65°C and non-veg at 70°C. Cold food at 5°C or below, and frozen food at -18°C or below.
- Do you reheat food properly? To 75°C at the centre for at least 2 minutes. No reheating under a bain-marie, a lamp or with hot water.
- Do your vehicles keep food safe on the way? Vehicles stay clean, with hot food at 65°C, cold at 5°C and frozen at -18°C. Or the food reaches the guest within 2 hours of cooking.
- Is your premises free of pests? There must be no sign of pests anywhere, such as eggs, larvae or droppings.
- Do your food handlers keep themselves clean? Clean clothes, trimmed nails, covered cuts and washed hands, with no smoking or spitting.
- Do you keep the records for at least a year? The auditor wants the paperwork behind all of the above.
Watch one trap here. The rating checklist is stricter than Schedule 4 in two places. Schedule 4’s catering rules use 60°C for hot food and 74°C for reheating. The rating asks for 65°C and 75°C, so set your kitchen to the higher figure.
Pests are the other critical question that catches kitchens out. Our pest control audit checklist lists what each treatment visit should leave on record.
Our guide to food storage temperature rules covers the fridge and freezer side in more detail.
Where Restaurants Lose Marks on the FSSAI Hygiene Rating
Most lost marks on an FSSAI hygiene rating come from missing proof, not from a dirty kitchen. This section covers the three gaps that come up most.
An audit goes easier when a restaurant always knows what is in its stock, runs on set systems, and gives staff a simple way to log their work. Then many of the checks are already in order.
A restaurant POS with inventory keeps purchases and stock in one place. A task app like Petpooja Tasks turns the daily hygiene and temperature checks into a checklist that staff finish with photo proof.
While talking to restaurant owners using Petpooja, the same three problems keep coming up before an audit. None of this is survey data. It is what owners tell us when they talk about getting ready for one.
Supplier records spread across bills
The checklist asks for a record of where each raw material came from. That means the supplier, the batch, the expiry date and the quantity. Most kitchens have the bills, but in a drawer, not in one place.
Take a bakery in Sector 17, Chandigarh, that buys from six suppliers (an example). It can still lose a full day finding its March 2026 bills.
What I would set up first. I would enter every supplier delivery in the billing system’s stock purchase screen. I would do it the day it arrives, not on the 30th of the month. Then the supplier record the auditor asks for is one report, not a pile of bills.
Restaurant inventory software keeps each purchase next to your stock. The record builds as you buy.
Temperatures checked but not written down
Six of the ten critical questions involve a temperature. A chef may check every batch by hand, but the auditor needs to see a log. A blank log reads the same as no check at all.
A biryani kitchen in Hosur can probe every handi as each kitchen order ticket (KOT) comes in, and still lose the cooling question. If the 3 pm line on the log sheet is empty, there is nothing to show (an example).
No clear way to handle complaints
One question on the audit checklist asks whether you have a working way to handle customer complaints. A comment book nobody reads is a weak answer. So is a complaint that lands in the manager’s WhatsApp group and stops there.
A feedback QR code on the table or the bill gives you a record of what guests said and when.
Our guide on how to take customer feedback covers the options.
What Happens If Your FSSAI Hygiene Rating Is Low?
A low FSSAI hygiene rating is not a fine, but it starts a clock. This section explains what follows a score of 1 or 2 smileys, or a failed critical question.
First, the auditor shares the report and points out the gaps. You fix them and apply again, but only after three months. FSSAI’s guidance asks only outlets with 3, 4 or 5 smileys to display their certificate. Outlets below that are expected to improve and reapply.
If the score is low again after those three months, the auditor tells the state food safety department. The guidance then lets the state issue an improvement notice.
An improvement notice is a formal warning, and ignoring one is among the violations that get a licence suspended.
So a low rating is a warning you can act on. Walking your own kitchen before the audit costs less than a second audit. Our restaurant pre-inspection checklist covers much of the same ground.
How Long Is an FSSAI Hygiene Rating Valid?
An FSSAI hygiene rating is valid for two years. A rating issued in November 2026 runs to November 2028. This section covers what can cut that short and how to display it.
The two years are not guaranteed. FSSAI’s guidance lets the inspecting officer or agency schedule a fresh audit during that time if complaints come in.
The scheme is voluntary. FSSAI’s own papers call it that. As of October 2026, we found no central rule that makes it a must.
If you display the certificate, FSSAI sets a few rules for it:
- Print it at the minimum size in FSSAI’s guidance, and mount it.
- Put it where guests can see it.
- Put up the door sticker too. It comes in the rating kit, which you can download or order from FSSAI’s printing partner.
Who Sets the FSSAI Hygiene Rating Audit Fee?
The audit agency you choose sets the FSSAI hygiene rating audit fee, because FSSAI does not publish one. This section covers what that fee should and should not include.
FSSAI’s guidance draws one line. An auditor may not ask for anything beyond the audit fee, such as travel or hotel costs, unless you have agreed to it beforehand. FSSAI does not control those arrangements, so put them in writing.
Ask two or three agencies from the portal’s list for a quote before you book. The other costs sit outside the audit: the supervisor’s training, the lab tests and any repairs the audit turns up.
Conclusion
To get an FSSAI hygiene rating, sort your licence, train a Food Safety Supervisor and fix the hygiene basics. Then book an audit with a recognised agency. You can no longer rate yourself, so fix the gaps before the first audit, not after it.
Start with the 10 critical questions. They decide whether you get a rating at all. Most of them are about temperature and records, so the logs matter as much as the kitchen.
A hygiene rating rewards the kitchen that can show its work. The auditor asks where your raw material came from and how you handle complaints. Your purchase entries and guest feedback can both sit in the restaurant POS you already bill on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The scheme covers registered businesses as well as licensed ones. FSSAI’s guidance says that for petty food businesses, the auditor logs in to the portal on their behalf and submits the checklist.
Yes. Each outlet is audited and rated on its own, so a 5-smiley outlet does not lift the others. Plan the audits outlet by outlet, starting with the one in best shape.
Besides restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and dhabas, the scheme covers bakeries, sweet shops and meat retail shops. Sweet shops and meat shops are audited on their own versions of the checklist.
No. It is a separate, voluntary audit. A food safety officer can still inspect your outlet under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006, whatever rating hangs at your door. Our food safety rules checklist covers what that inspection looks at.
