The awareness of Oiva reports is quite good in the South Häme environmental health monitoring area.

The South Häme Environmental Health Department has implemented a monitoring project to investigate the implementation of the display of Oiva reports in the monitoring area and consumers' knowledge of the Oiva report.

The target of the inspection project was registered food premises in the inspection area, where customers can freely shop, such as restaurants, cafes and shops. The inspections observed the display of Oiva reports in food premises and on the websites of food operators and other sales channels. In addition, a survey aimed at consumers was distributed to Facebook groups in the inspection area and on the website of the City of Riihimäki.

Surveillance results are mostly good

During the monitoring project, 213 food premises and 441 online channels were inspected. Inspections of food premises covered approximately 54 percent of the sites in the monitoring area where customers can freely shop. According to the project results, the display of Oiva reports in the majority of business premises was carried out in accordance with the instructions. Deficiencies in display were observed in 34 inspections, of which in 21 inspections the Oiva report was completely missing from display or was not observed at the time of the inspection. Deficiencies were observed more on websites and electronic sales channels than in business premises.

The consumer survey received 175 responses. According to the results, consumers are quite familiar with the Oiva report and consider it an important and useful source of information. 91 percent of respondents said they knew the Oiva report well or at least in general terms. Only four percent said they were not familiar with it at all.

The results also showed that the Oiva rating influences consumers' purchasing decisions: 115 people answered the purchase decision question about retail premises and 71 people answered the question about online channels. In both questions, over 30 percent of respondents said they had not made a purchase because of the poor rating. Consumer responses expressed the hope that the Oiva report would be more visible in retail premises and that its meaning would be clarified for consumers.

The Oiva report talks about hygiene and food safety

The Oiva report provides consumers with information about the monitoring results of a food company. The Oiva smile tells the customer about the company's level of hygiene and food safety. With the help of Oiva, consumers can assess the reliability of food companies when choosing, for example, a restaurant or café.

In a food company where consumers do business, the latest Oiva report must be displayed at the entrance or in another place visible to the customer, such as at the sales counter. On the company's website, the Oiva report or a link to it must be easily found on the home page.

There are almost 820 regular food control sites in the South Häme environmental health area.

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

You can read more about the project and the results in Ville Pakkanen's thesis on the Theseus service.

Read our previous release (March 2026): South Häme Environmental Health conducted 395 Oiva inspections in 2025

Read our previous press release (February 2026): Survey for consumers on the presentation of the Oiva report

Check out the Food Control page of the Environmental Health Department of South Häme.

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