South Häme Environmental Health carried out 395 Oiva inspections in 2025

Have you noticed the Oiva smile on the door when you visit a restaurant, café or shop? The Oiva smile indicates the level of hygiene and food safety. After an inspection, food safety is assessed on a scale of four smiley faces: A excellent, B good, C needs improvement and D poor. The system has been in use for almost 13 years.

There are almost 820 regular food control sites in the South Häme environmental health area. The number of Oiva inspections of sites depends on the nature and scope of the operations. In the area, the largest facilities manufacturing food of animal origin are inspected 6–8 times a year, and the lowest-risk sites are inspected every three years.

Food safety is in order in the majority of locations

In 2025, the environmental health inspectors of South Häme carried out a total of 354 systematic Oiva inspections and an additional 41 follow-up inspections resulting from C or D grades. In the majority of the inspection sites, things were in order: the combined share of Oiva overall grades A and B given during inspections was 89 percent. The grades are also distributed almost the same nationwide.

In Oiva inspections of food premises, the proportion of C-overall grades (to be corrected) was 40 out of all Oiva inspections. The majority, 28 C-overall grades, were for catering establishments and seven for food sales. A D-overall grade (poor) was given in a total of four inspections.

Follow-up inspection for those with poor grades

The most frequent deficiencies observed during inspections were in the cleanliness of premises, equipment and cleaning materials, hand hygiene, temperatures for preparing, serving and storing food, and the provision of mandatory food information. Due to C and D grades, a request is given to correct the deficiencies within a specified period, after which a follow-up inspection is carried out. The deficiencies had not always been corrected by the deadline.

In 2023, the grade for improvement was mostly improved to excellent or good already with the first follow-up inspection, but in 2024–2025, the inspection results in about a third of the follow-up inspections led to a new follow-up inspection.

The Oiva food control inspection assesses, among other things, the operator's own control, the cleanliness and maintenance of the food premises, the activities of the staff, the handling, storage, packaging, packaging labelling, the handling of allergens and materials in contact with food.

The Oiva report is available at the company's entrance or at the sales counter, as well as via a link on the company's website homepage.

The task of the South Häme Environmental Health Service is to ensure a healthy living environment and safe food for its residents. The area of ​​operation of the South Häme Environmental Health Service includes Forssa, Hausjärvi, Humppila, Janakkala, Jokioinen, Loppi, Riihimäki, Tammela and Ypäjä.

The city of Riihimäki is the responsible municipality for environmental health care in South Häme.

Additional information

South Häme Environmental Health Food Control page

You can view the inspection results of all restaurants, cafés and shops in Finland on the website oivahymy.fi.