Preparing for an EHO Visit

Preparing for an EHO Visit

This module pulls the rest together. If you have worked through the others, you have already done most of the work.

What They Are Assessing

An inspector scores three things:

1. Hygiene — food handling, cooking, cooling, storage, cross-contamination
2. Structure — cleanliness, layout, ventilation, pest control, condition of the premises
3. Confidence in management — your records, your procedures, and whether the person in charge knows what is going on

The third is the one Culinary Key most affects, and it is the one that moves a rating fastest. Two kitchens can be equally clean; the one that can evidence how it stays clean scores higher.

What They Will Ask For

Expect to produce:

• Temperature records, including how out-of-range readings were resolved
• Opening, closing and cleaning records
• Your safe methods
• Allergen information
• Delivery records and supplier details
• Cleaning schedules, including periodic work
• Pest control records
• Training records
• Your COSHH register

All of it is in Culinary Key. The Audit Tool will produce it as a PDF, or you can give an inspector a read-only Inspector login and let them look directly.

The Day Itself

Be straightforward. Inspectors are experienced and they can tell when they are being managed.

• Show them what they ask for without editing it first
• If a record has a gap, say so and say why — do not invent an explanation
• If you do not know something, say so and find out
• Take notes; verbal advice is often the most valuable part of the visit

The instinct to hide a bad record is a serious mistake. An inspector who finds a gap you disclosed sees an honest operator. One who finds a gap you concealed starts questioning everything else, and rightly.

Afterwards

Record the visit in Inspection Records — the outcome, the rating, the inspector, and everything raised.

Then fix what was raised, and fix it somewhere permanent. Update the safe method, add the checklist item, create the scheduled task. Record what you changed and when.

The next inspection will very likely start with the last one's points. Being able to show each one addressed, with dates, is the strongest possible opening.

The Honest Version of Preparation

There is no way to make three months of missing records appear the night before.

What genuinely prepares you is the ordinary work: checks completed daily, gaps explained rather than hidden, critical readings resolved, reviews that record real problems and real fixes. That is the whole system, and it is why the daily routine matters more than any preparation you could do in the final week.

If your records are honest and current, an unannounced visit is an ordinary Tuesday with a visitor. That is the entire goal.