EHO inspection checklist: how to prepare for an HSE food inspection in Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, restaurants, cafés, pubs serving food and most caterers are supervised by the HSE, and it's an HSE Environmental Health Officer (EHO) who walks through your kitchen door. How they inspect is set out in the FSAI's Guidance Note 1: Guidance for the Health Service Executive on the Inspection of Food Businesses (Revision 3). Knowing what's in it takes most of the mystery out of the visit.

How often, and with how much warning

Warning: generally none. Guidance Note 1 says inspections must, in general, be carried out without prior warning, with limited exceptions. Some contact is arranged, such as advisory visits, but a planned inspection usually arrives unannounced.

Frequency: set by risk. Each business gets a risk profile based on:

• the type of food handled;
• how it's handled or processed;
• the scale of the operation;
• whether customers are vulnerable (an "at-risk" group).

That gives a risk category from 1 to 6. Under Guidance Note 1, the standard frequency runs from two planned inspections a year for category 1, the highest risk, down to one planned inspection every two years for category 5. Category 6 is inspected as required. A good compliance history can reduce the frequency; non-compliances increase it. Complaints, food alerts and outbreaks can trigger an extra visit at any time.

What the EHO looks at

Guidance Note 1 splits an inspection into elements:

During the visit itself, the guidance lists what an inspection may include. In plain terms, expect the EHO to:

1. Talk to the person in charge about the purpose and scope of the visit.
2. Confirm your details, including your HSE registration.
3. Ask about the business: what you serve, to whom, how much, and whether you deliver.
4. Examine your HACCP-based procedures.
5. Watch staff working.
6. Assess the hazards in your operation and how well you understand them.
7. Assess training, supervision and instruction of staff.
8. Look at your documents and records, including supplier control.
9. Talk to the staff who do the monitoring and corrective actions, to see if the controls work in practice.
10. Physically examine the premises, equipment and facilities.
11. Take samples or measurements, such as probing food temperatures.
12. Hold a closing discussion setting out any failures, non-compliances and what's needed.

Points 6, 7 and 9 matter more than most operators expect. A perfect folder doesn't help if the commis chef on the fryer can't tell the EHO what the hot-hold limit is.

Records to have ready

Keep these where the person in charge can find them in under a minute, on any shift:

• HSE acknowledgement of notification letter (your registration)
• Completed Safe Catering plan (or equivalent) and the signed Declaration of Completion and Review
• Temperature records: fridges and freezers (SC2), cooking, cooling and reheating (SC3), hot holding (SC4), or the all-in-one SC8
• Delivery checks (SC1) and supplier list
• Cleaning schedule and sign-off records
• Hygiene inspection checklists (SC5) with actions taken
• Training records for each staff member (SC6 or the FSAI Employee Training Record)
• Fitness to work forms (SC7), kept privately
• Pest control contractor reports, if you use one
• Allergen information for every dish and drink, and where customers find it
• Probe calibration record
• Maintenance records for fridges and key equipment

See our guide to the Safe Catering record sheets for what each SC form covers.

How the visit is graded

Guidance Note 1 gives five inspection outcomes, and the action that follows each:

These grades are internal to the HSE's inspection process. They aren't published as a score and there's no sticker. What does become public is formal enforcement: the FSAI publishes closure, improvement and prohibition orders. See FSAI enforcement orders explained.

Is there a food hygiene rating in Ireland?

No. Ireland has no food hygiene rating scheme and no window stickers. Customers can't look up a score for your restaurant. They can look up whether you've had an enforcement order, because the FSAI publishes them monthly on fsai.ie.

A walk-round you can do this week

Do this on a normal service day, not a quiet Monday:

• Handwashing. Is the wash-hand basin clear, with hot water, soap and paper towels? Is it used only for hands?
• Fridges. Probe a dummy food in each. Do the readings match today's records?
• Raw and ready-to-eat. Separated in fridges, on boards, in prep areas?
• Hot hold. Probe the food in the bain marie. Above 63°C?
• Cooling. Is anything sitting out that went off the heat more than an hour ago?
• Labels and dates. Is everything in the walk-in labelled and in date?
• Cleaning. Behind and under equipment, extraction canopies, door handles, seals.
• Pests. Droppings, gnaw marks, dead insects, gaps under doors, fly screens in place.
• Allergens. Pick a dish at random. Can a server tell you its allergens and show you the written information a customer would see?
• Staff. Ask two people what they'd do if a fridge read 9°C, and what they'd do if they had vomiting the night before a shift.

On the day

• Be welcoming and cooperative. Obstructing an authorised officer is treated seriously.
• Have the person in charge go round with the EHO. They should know the plan.
• Answer honestly. "I don't know, let me find out" beats a guess.
• Take notes of anything raised and agree what's needed and by when.
• Fix small things on the spot where you can (a missing soap dispenser, an unlabelled tub).

After the inspection

• Read the report carefully and diary every deadline.
• Fix, then record the fix, with dates and photos where useful.
• Update your Safe Catering plan if the visit exposed a gap in it.
• Brief the team at the next shift.
• Write back if the report asks you to confirm actions.

If a notice or order is served, it will explain your rights, including any right of appeal. Closure orders and compliance notices under the 2020 official controls regulations can be appealed to the District Court within 7 days.

How ShiftComplete helps on inspection day

ShiftComplete keeps the daily records in one place on a phone or tablet: fridge, freezer and hot-hold readings with out-of-range flags, opening, closing and cleaning checklists with named and timestamped ticks and optional photos, incidents and maintenance with status and resolution notes, and allergens for every menu item. The 7-day rolling view and full audit log are there when the EHO asks.

It's how our own hospitality group in Oswestry, Kirkham Hospitality, works: "The rota stopped being a Sunday-night argument the week we switched over. The chef stopped being the only person who knows what's in the kitchen. And the EHO turn up to a screen, not a box file." Graeme Kirkham, Owner, The Lounge Oswestry & Knock & Snitch.

It helps you keep the records an EHO asks to see; it doesn't replace your Safe Catering plan, and you remain responsible for food safety. ShiftComplete costs €1.99 per active staff member per month, free for 60 days, no card and no contract. Start a free trial or book a set-up call.