Scores on the Doors rollout begins
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today launched the roll-out of its pub and restaurant hygiene rating system that allows the public to see each score.
The Food Hygiene Rating System (FHRS), or Scores on the Doors, uses green and black stickers, usually presented in venues' windows, showing their hygiene score.
The ratings range from zero to five — zero means urgent improvement is necessary and five means standards are very good.
Local councils must decide whether to join the voluntary system. Council food safety officers will then inspect venues and award a rating.
Six authorities s in England and 12 in Wales are currently using FHRS ratings but the FSA expects around 170 local authorities to take up the scheme by June 2011.
Results are available for anyone to view at www.food.gov.uk/ratings.
The aim of FHRS is to reduce the one million cases of food poisoning suffered each year.
A recent survey carried out for the FSA found that 86% of people consider hygiene standards to be extremely important when eating out, outweighing other issues, such as price and location.
At least a fifth of people said they had sent food back for hygiene reasons, such as undercooked poultry (23%) and dirty plates (22%) and 29% reported sending back undercooked meat.
"Many people suffer from food poisoning every year, but we shouldn't feel we are gambling with our health when we eat out," said FSA chair Jeff Rooker.
"In developing this scheme, we wanted to give people the ability to judge for themselves whether they considered the hygiene standards of a food outlet to be good enough. If customers are looking for a hygiene rating, this will drive businesses to improve their standards."
