# UK Food Business Data — FSA Hygiene Ratings & Addresses (`foxlabs/uk-food-business-data`) Actor

Search the UK Food Standards Agency register of food businesses by name, town or postcode. Returns business name and type, full address and postcode, hygiene rating with inspection date, the hygiene/structural/management sub-scores, local authority and coordinates.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/foxlabs/uk-food-business-data.md
- **Developed by:** [Berkan Kaplan](https://apify.com/foxlabs) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 company records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## UK Food Business Data — FSA Hygiene Ratings & Addresses

Every restaurant, café, hotel, caterer, retailer and food manufacturer in the UK is registered with the Food Standards Agency and inspected. That register — around 600,000 businesses with addresses, categories and inspection dates — is public, and it is the best free source of UK hospitality and food-trade leads there is.

**No API key · Official source · Pay only for delivered rows · Same schema across the series**

### What data do you get?

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `companyName` | Trading name of the business |
| `registrationNumber` | FHRS ID |
| `industry` | FSA business type |
| `industryCode` | FSA business type ID |
| `address` | Full address |
| `city` | Town or city |
| `postalCode` | Postcode |
| `hygieneRating` | Rating value (0–5, or a Scottish pass/improvement-required value) |
| `ratedOn` | Date of the rating inspection |
| `hygieneScore` | Hygiene sub-score — lower is better |
| `structuralScore` | Structural sub-score |
| `managementScore` | Confidence-in-management sub-score |
| `localAuthority` | Local authority responsible |
| `localAuthorityEmail` | Local authority contact email |
| `schemeType` | FHRS (England, Wales, NI) or FHIS (Scotland) |
| `isNewBusiness` | Whether the business is awaiting its first inspection |
| `latitude` | Latitude |
| `longitude` | Longitude |
| `sourceUrl` | FSA rating page |

Every row also carries `query` (what you asked for), `scrapedAt` (ISO timestamp) and, when a
lookup fails, `error` explaining why.

### Example output

```json
{
  "country": "GB",
  "registry": "UK Food Standards Agency",
  "companyName": "Greggs",
  "registrationNumber": "214159",
  "industry": "Retailers - other",
  "industryCode": "4613",
  "address": "133 High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6EA",
  "city": "Scunthorpe",
  "postalCode": "DN15 6EA",
  "hygieneRating": "5",
  "ratedOn": "2024-03-11",
  "localAuthority": "North Lincolnshire",
  "schemeType": "FHRS",
  "sourceUrl": "https://ratings.food.gov.uk/business/214159"
}
```

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["Nando's","Greggs","Shoreditch"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "includeRaw": false
}
```

| Input | What it does |
|---|---|
| `queries` | Business names (`Nando's`), towns (`Brighton`) or postcodes (`BN1 1AA`). Postcodes and towns return every registered business in the area. |
| `maxResultsPerQuery` | Caps how many rows one query may produce. |
| `maxConcurrency` | How many queries run at once. Lower it if the source starts throttling. |
| `includeRaw` | Attaches the source's untouched record under `raw`, for fields this actor does not map. |
| `requestDelayMs` | Politeness delay between requests. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Optional. The FSA API is open and rarely needs a proxy. |

### What people use it for

- **Hospitality lead generation** — every UK restaurant, café and pub with a verified address, filtered by town and type.
- **Food supply-chain prospecting** — filter to manufacturers, packers and distributors to find trade buyers.
- **Franchise and estate mapping** — search a brand name and get every branch with coordinates.

### Notes and limits

- Scotland uses a different scheme (FHIS): the rating is `Pass` or `Improvement Required` rather than 0–5. `schemeType` tells them apart.
- Sub-scores are inverted — a lower hygiene score is better. That is the FSA's own convention, kept unchanged.
- A new business awaiting its first inspection carries `isNewBusiness` true and no rating.

### Where the data comes from

The Food Standards Agency publishes the whole ratings register as a documented open API with no key. Source: [UK Food Standards Agency ratings API](https://ratings.food.gov.uk/)

### FAQ

#### Is this UK food business scraper free?

The data source is free and needs no API key — you pay only for the rows the run delivers ($0.003 each). Failed or empty lookups are never charged.

#### Do I need an API key or a login?

No. The Food Standards Agency publishes the whole ratings register as a documented open API with no key.

#### What can I search by?

By business name (`Nando's`), by town (`Brighton`) or by postcode. Use the `businessType` and `localAuthority` inputs to narrow a broad search.

#### How current is the data?

Every run queries the source live, so results are as fresh as the source itself. Ratings are published as local authorities upload inspections, usually within weeks.

#### How fast is it, and how many queries can I run?

Queries run concurrently (4 at a time by default, tunable in the input). A prefilled run finishes in seconds; large lists scale roughly linearly and stay well inside a normal run timeout.

#### Can I export the results to CSV, Excel or JSON?

Yes. Apify datasets export to CSV, Excel, JSON, XML and HTML, and can be pulled through the API or pushed to your own storage.

#### What happens when a query returns nothing?

You still get a row, carrying your original `query` and an `error` field explaining why. Nothing is silently dropped, and you are not charged for it.

#### Is scraping this data legal?

Yes. The FSA publishes hygiene ratings under the Open Government Licence so consumers and businesses can check them.

***

Built by [Fox Labs](https://apify.com/foxlabs) — B2B company intelligence from public sources, as clean JSON.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Business names (`Nando's`), towns (`Brighton`) or postcodes (`BN1 1AA`). Postcodes and towns return every registered business in the area.

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

How many rows a single query may produce.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many queries to run at the same time. Lower it if the source throttles you.

## `includeRaw` (type: `boolean`):

Attach the source's untouched response under `raw`. Useful when you need a field this actor does not map.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Politeness delay against a public source. Raise it for large runs.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. The FSA API is open and rarely needs a proxy.

## `businessType` (type: `string`):

FSA business type, e.g. `Restaurant/Cafe/Canteen`, `Retailers - other`, `Manufacturers/packers`. Leave empty for all.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "Nando's",
    "Greggs",
    "Shoreditch"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "includeRaw": false,
  "requestDelayMs": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "businessType": ""
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "Nando's",
        "Greggs",
        "Shoreditch"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("foxlabs/uk-food-business-data").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "queries": [
        "Nando's",
        "Greggs",
        "Shoreditch",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("foxlabs/uk-food-business-data").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "Nando'\''s",
    "Greggs",
    "Shoreditch"
  ]
}' |
apify call foxlabs/uk-food-business-data --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,foxlabs/uk-food-business-data"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/b3ep81wd0qepwDTkz/builds/VFOfo4Rae4MKjuPLN/openapi.json