Food hygiene training · Cardiff

Food hygiene training in Cardiff

Cardiff feeds a capital city with a stadium in the middle of it. Cardiff Market, the bars and kitchens of Womanby Street, the restaurants along City Road and the units around Cardiff Bay all work around match days that empty and fill the centre. The Food Standards Agency lists 3,476 food businesses. Good Food Hygiene trains staff online, CPD-standard, in 14 languages including Welsh.

3,476 food businesses on the FSA register 70% of rated businesses hold a 5 Inspected by Cardiff Council

Event catering is a bigger part of Cardiff than you would think

Cardiff’s 3,476 businesses are led by 904 restaurants, cafés and canteens, but the second-largest group is other catering at 601: contract caterers, event kitchens and operators who feed venues rather than run a shopfront. In a city that hosts internationals and concerts at the Principality Stadium, that makes sense. There are also 578 shops selling food, 317 hospitals, nurseries and care homes and 180 mobile caterers and street food traders.

Event and contract catering is the hardest kind to keep consistent: temporary kitchens, agency staff, food moved and held rather than cooked to order. Everyone handling open food still needs food hygiene training and the person in charge needs supervisor training. In Wales you have an extra reason to keep it tight, because your rating has to go on the door where customers can see it. The 317 care settings and 164 schools on the list carry the same duty with a more vulnerable audience.

What Cardiff’s ratings say

Of 3,033 rated Cardiff businesses, 2,113 hold a 5, which is 69.7%. That is lower than most English cities on this site, and 560 sit on a 4 with 242 on a 3, so there is a large middle band. At the bottom, 118 are on 0, 1 or 2, or 3.9%, and 10 are on 0. A further 385 are awaiting a first inspection. Because Wales requires you to display the sticker, a 3 is not a private matter here: it goes on the door. Training and records are the fastest route up. (Food Standards Agency ratings data, September 2026.)

Hygiene ratings in Cardiff

Rated 52,11369.7%
Rated 456018.5%
Rated 32428%
Rated 2551.8%
Rated 1531.7%
Rated 0100.3%

3,033 premises with a published result; a further 385 are registered but awaiting their first inspection.

What kind of food businesses

Restaurants, cafés and canteens904
Other catering601
Shops selling food578
Hospitals, nurseries and care homes317
Takeaways and sandwich shops277
Pubs, bars and clubs193

Source: Food Standards Agency ratings data, September 2026, for Cardiff. Figures move as new inspections are published. A rating is the inspector's decision and Good Food Hygiene cannot predict it.

Registering in Cardiff, and the Welsh display law

Food safety in Cardiff is delivered through Shared Regulatory Services, the joint team working for Cardiff Council alongside Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan. Register your business at least 28 days before you open. Registration is free and cannot be refused. Contact [email protected] or use www.srs.wales. The important difference from England: since 2013, Welsh law has required food businesses to display their rating sticker where customers can see it as they come in, and failing to display it is an offence in its own right.

Training for Cardiff kitchens, online

Ten CPD-standard courses from £15: Food Hygiene Levels 1 to 3, HACCP, Food Allergy Awareness, Health & Safety, First Aid, Manual Handling, COSHH and Equality & Diversity. Every course is complete in 14 languages, works on a phone, and ends with a certificate the inspector can check online. There is a free taster of each, so a Cardiff business can try one before training the whole team.

The paid courses are with CPD for accreditation review and are not yet open to new enrolments. The free taster courses are open now.

Browse courses Talk to us

Cardiff questions

Do I have to display my food hygiene rating in Cardiff?

Yes. Wales has required it since 2013, unlike England where it stays voluntary. The sticker must be shown at the entrance, or somewhere customers can readily see it as they come in, and failing to display is an offence in its own right. If you sell at a distance, be ready to give your rating to customers who ask for it.

Which team inspects food businesses in Cardiff?

Shared Regulatory Services, the joint regulatory team for Cardiff, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan. Its officers carry out food hygiene inspections in Cardiff on behalf of the council, register new businesses and issue the ratings that go on your door. You register with them at least 28 days before opening, and registration is free.

Can my Cardiff staff take food hygiene training in Welsh?

Welsh is one of the 14 languages every Good Food Hygiene course runs in, complete rather than as a translated front page. Staff take the same assessment whichever version they use. For Cardiff kitchens with staff from further afield, the same courses are available in Polish, Romanian, Arabic, Bengali and others, with the certificate issued in English.

What training do event caterers working at Cardiff venues need?

The same as a fixed kitchen. Cardiff has 601 businesses in other catering, largely contract and event operators, and every person handling open food needs food hygiene training, and the supervisor needs supervisor training. Temporary kitchens still need a written food safety management system, records for the days you trade, and certificates you can produce on site.