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Sneeze guard buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You are about to order a clear sheet for a café, a bakery, a shop counter or a desk, and the titles all sound like the same product. A sneeze guard buying guide puts the job first, then the width of the open food, then the height, then the thickness and the way the sheet stands. The [sneeze guard comparison](/hub/occupational-safety/sneeze-guard) is the amazon.co.uk table captured on 20 October 2026, with shelf prices in pounds. Which row fits a long counter, and which is the thicker short lip, is on [best sneeze guard](/hub/occupational-safety/sneeze-guard/sub/sneeze-guard-best). We did not lab-test the sheets. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are about to order a clear sheet for a café, a bakery, a shop counter or a desk, and the titles all sound like the same product.

Our top picks

Plasticraft Plasticraft 400 mm food screen, 5 mm

Best overall

Plasticraft Plasticraft 400 mm food screen, 5 mm
6.9/10about £24.26
View offer
Plasticraft Plasticraft 1000 mm food screen

Rank 2

Plasticraft Plasticraft 1000 mm food screen
7.6/10about £58.93
View offer
Plasticraft Plasticraft 500 by 340 mm food screen

Alternative

Plasticraft Plasticraft 500 by 340 mm food screen
5.1/10about £40.27
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Width and height
  3. 3.Thickness and fixing
  4. 4.What the listing must show

What you are actually buying

Start by naming the hazard in one sentence before you look at a star rating. If customers can touch or sneeze over unwrapped food, you are shopping for a food lip. If two people sit across a desk or a till, you are shopping for a small face-to-face panel. If the sheet is meant to hang behind a driver's headrest, you are shopping for a vehicle partition, and the fitting rules live on the taxi page, not here. In this capture the food lips are U-shaped Plasticraft screens with open sides and an open back. The desk example is the SUPVOX panel, about 40 cm square, at £11.89. The vehicle examples are the Ecoodisk sheet at £67.50 and a generic partition at £59.99.

Width and height

Measure the open food, not the whole counter. The food screens kept here are 400 mm, 500 mm or 1,000 mm wide, and either 250 mm or 340 mm high. The 400 by 250 mm lip in 5 mm is £24.26. The 500 by 250 mm lip in 3 mm is £34.50. The size line that says 500 by 340 mm in 3 mm is £40.27, and that title also says 340 mm wide, so the capture does not settle which number is the height. The 1,000 by 340 mm lip in 3 mm is £58.93, and that title does state 1,000 mm wide by 340 mm high. Open cakes, the fruit exception and chilling sit on sneeze guard for bakery.
Plasticraft Plasticraft 400 mm food screen, 5 mm

Testsieger

Plasticraft Plasticraft 400 mm food screen, 5 mm
6.9/10about £24.26
View offer

Thickness and fixing

The only 5 mm food lip in this set is the 400 by 250 mm screen at £24.26. Every longer food lip here is 3 mm. Five millimetres is worth it on a short run where people rest a hand on the lip. It does not become the right buy when the cakes stick out past 400 mm. All of the food lips here are freestanding. You can lift them off to wipe the counter, and a light foot can also tip. Washing the acrylic is on how to clean an acrylic sneeze guard. Screwed aluminium uprights, such as the Luminati counter screens with a panel around 350 mm high, are a fixed alternative this basket does not contain.

What the listing must show

Food hygiene in a title is a claim, not a certificate. None of these listings states a food-contact declaration or a British Standard. The 500 mm and 1,000 mm Plasticraft rows repeat the same part number, the same rank and the same two short UK reviews, a 3.8 from 5. That is one block, not two tests. Check four lines before you pay. The size line should agree with the title. The thickness should be a millimetre figure, not a vinyl phrase fighting a 3 mm claim, which is what the Ecoodisk file does. The mount should say freestanding, ties or screws. The price on amazon.co.uk is the shelf price. Plasticraft's own site lists similar sizes excluding VAT, so those figures are not the pounds in this table.

Common questions

Do I measure the whole counter or only the open food?
Measure the stretch where unwrapped food sits and where a customer can reach or lean. A wrapped shelf and the till can stay outside the lip. Write the width and the height of the tallest item before you compare 400 mm, 500 mm and 1,000 mm.
Is 250 mm high enough for cakes?
It can be enough for low trays. It is not enough for a tall stack, because the cake then sits above the lip. The 340 mm listings are taller only where the page actually settles which number is the height. Neither figure is a screen for two standing people.
When is 5 mm worth it against 3 mm?
Five millimetres is the stiffer short lip in this set, at 400 by 250 mm and £24.26. Three millimetres is every longer food screen here, including the 1,000 mm sheet at £58.93. Choose 5 mm when the run is short and people lean. Choose the longer 3 mm sheet only when coverage matters more than stiffness, and treat seller notes about 4 mm past about 800 mm wide as a rule of thumb.
Should the screen be freestanding or screwed down?
Freestanding feet lift off for cleaning and can tip if someone knocks them. Screwed or clamped uprights are a different product, and this amazon set does not include them. If you would have to drill someone else's counter, ask the landlord or a fitter before you order a lip that cannot be fixed.
What if the title says both car and reception?
Treat that as an unsettled listing. The generic partition at £59.99 describes a sheet between the front and rear seats in the bullets and a reception desk in the title, and it gives no size. It is not a measured food lip, and it is not an approved taxi screen. Pick the job yourself, then leave that row.
Is there a legal millimetre minimum?
No source used here names a legal height or width for a sneeze guard. Food businesses still have to protect unwrapped food from contamination. A lip only helps when it actually blocks the reach you measured. The bakery page is where that duty is set out.

Related pages

Sneeze guard car partition

Sneeze guard

Sneeze guard for bakery: open food, height and chill

Best sneeze guard for a long counter or a short one

How to clean an acrylic sneeze guard and keep it clear

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest, last checked on 20 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures in the display file. The price bands are this set, not a market average.

  1. FSA: SFBB retailers, good housekeeping (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  2. FSA: SFBB chilled storage and display (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  3. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter IX (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  4. Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  5. GOV.UK: food hygiene cleaning (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  6. HSE: coronavirus advice for workplaces (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  7. EMG S1321: screens and barriers (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  8. GOV.UK: safety screens for taxis and PHVs (retrieved 20 October 2026)