Inspection reports for food establishments

Since 2001, the smiley scheme has been informing consumers and increasing the compliance with regulations of food establishments – thus increasing food safety.

Available to consumers

In Denmark, all food establishments are responsible for complying with the food regulations. All shops, restaurants and other establishments selling foods and beverages are subject to inspections by The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. The resulting inspection reports are made publicly available on findsmiley.dk.

The three smileys

For a food establishment in the retail sector, the result of an inspection is summarised in one of three smileys. The three different smileys signal how well the enterprise complies with food regulations. For food establishments including wholesalers producing and selling food to other establishments, the inspection results are numbers between 1 and 4. This is an overview of the inspection results and sanctions:

Overview of the inspection results and sanctions an a scala from 1 to 4 resulting in 3 different Smileys.

Retail sector

In the retail sector, a smiley label with one of the three smileys are handed out to the food establishment after inspection and must be displayed for consumers to read before they decide to enter the premises. The latest inspection reports or a link to findsmiley.dk must be easily available on the website of the food establishment as well. Examples of food establishments in the retail sector include:

  • Restaurants
  • Supermarkets
  • Bakeries
  • Kiosks

Wholesalers

All food establishments including wholesalers producing and selling food to other establishments must show the last four inspection reports at their website. Examples of wholesalers include:

  • Dairies
  • Slaughterhouses
  • Importers

Purpose of the smiley scheme

There are three main purposes of the smiley scheme:

  1. To inform how well food establishments comply with the rules and regulations, so consumers can make an informed choice of where to purchase food
  2. To give food establishments an incentive to comply with the rules and regulations – thus increasing food safety
  3. Fast publishing of inspection results of food establishments

Inspection reports published

At the website findsmiley.dk, you can find inspection reports for all Danish food establishments and read more about the smiley scheme.

Go to findsmiley.dk