Restaurants to display food safety results
Restaurants and other food premises across the country may be obliged to visibly display their food inspection reports, whether they be good or bad, delegates will be told at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Bournemouth 5 to 7 September.
A London-wide pilot Scores on the Doors scheme will be introduced in January, and if successful, will be rolled out across the country in a single nationwide scheme.
Jenny Morris, CIEH Policy Officer, said, "We are delighted that after many years of campaigning consumers will soon be able to exercise choice about where they eat based not only on the menu but also on knowing how conscientious the restaurants they choose to frequent are in maintaining good food hygiene.
“A study of food-borne disease hospitalisations following the introduction of a restaurant grading system in Los Angeles County in 1998 suggested that such systems can lead to a reduction in cases of food-borne illness.”*
At present a star rating system is being proposed which would encourage businesses to improve standards.
Several different Scores on the Doors schemes are currently operating in the UK.
In some parts of the USA premises have to display a scorecard with capital letters A - E indicating the level of hygiene standards at the premises. A indicates high standards of food safety and hygiene and E poor standards. Closer to the UK, Denmark operates a Smiley scheme whereby food premises that practice good hygiene are given a happy face and those that don’t are given a sad face.
Several local authorities have already developed their own schemes using different rating systems.
Article source: http://www.cieh.org/
Carl Smith, a well-known restaurant manager in Mayfair, London, is supportive of the “scores on the doors” scheme:
Restaurant manager judges chefs on good food, good profits and good hygiene
Comment by Newsquoter — September 12, 2006 @ 3:09 pm