New Software for UK Local Authorities Aims to Ease National Food Safety Inspection Backlog
Grape Software has announced the release of a new food hygiene inspection software for UK Local Authorities, designed to simplify the inspection process and help reduce the growing backlog of food businesses currently awaiting an inspection.
According to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), as of June 2025, an estimated 95,000 food businesses are overdue for hygiene inspections, including 841 classified as “high risk.”
Environmental health teams across the country are under increasing pressure, with staff shortages, rising workloads, tighter budgets, and growing public health demands continuing to stretch resources and capacity.
Designed to address this pain-point, Grape INSPECT was purpose-built for Environmental Health Officers across the UK. The software replaces outdated paper-based practices and digitizes the entire inspection process, allowing decisions on food hygiene ratings to be made and published within days rather than weeks.
Users of the software can record and upload notes and photographs during inspections, directly onsite. The system then generates the inspection report with food hygiene rating, with all information being stored securely and easily accessible.
Grape Software collaborated with Environmental Health Officers to develop Grape INSPECT, ensuring the technology is not only efficient, but also user-friendly.
Grape Software is also developing companion food hygiene software for businesses, which will eventually integrate with the Grape INSPECT software, allowing both food businesses and inspectors to manage the inspection process digitally in one connected platform.
Grape Software: www.grapesoftware.co.uk.
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