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Img: Checkit |
As a part of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), food businesses across the UK are routinely visited
and rated based on cleanliness. Ratings fall on a scale
from zero to five where five is very good and zero indicates a need for urgent
improvement. FHRS applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, giving
consumers an inside look at their favourite food joints. These nationwide
ratings serve to educate consumers and encourage food businesses to improve
their overall cleanliness.
Food Standards Agency (FSA) runs the scheme, stating that it is in place to
“help you choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving you information
about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, hotels and
other places you eat, as well as supermarkets and other food shops.”
Depending on the kind of business it is,
inspections vary in frequency. A restaurant handling raw and cooked foods may
be inspected every six months while a purveyor selling pre-packaged
refrigerated foods may not see an inspector for a couple years. Basically, the
rate of inspection is determined by the risk factor of the business.
As it stands, food businesses are not
required to share their hygiene rating with the public, rather “businesses in
England are encouraged to display these [hygiene rating] stickers.” If a
consumer is interested in the rating a business received, FSA recommends that
they ask staff. Imagine walking into a restaurant and asking for their hygiene
rating. Depending on how you present yourself as the inquirer, moods of the
staff, and business at the moment the entire interaction could end very badly.
Really, the suggestion to ask seems ill advised. Even if the question is
well-received, the staffer may not know the hygiene rating with 100% certainty.
This is an unreliable method at best.
Rather than suffer potential embarrassment
and poor service by asking a restaurant outright what their rating is, search
the establishment here. New
businesses or those under new ownership will have a placeholder in lieu of a
hygiene rating.
Change on the Horizon
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Img: Bassetlaw |
The situation is handled differently in
Wales and Northern Ireland where “businesses that get a new rating after 28
November 2013 and 7 October [2016] respectively, must by law display a sticker
showing their rating in a prominent place – such as the front door, entrance or
window. They must also provide information on their rating verbally if you
ask.”
New legislation may be steering England towards the same mandatory requirement.
NFU Mutual, an insurance agency, published its free Food Hygiene Ratings Report
on 6 February. The report provides “hospitality business owners with insight
into the potential impact of future legislation for compulsory display of food
hygiene ratings.” Following the release, several regional newspapers across
England have estimated the impact mandatory sticker display would have on their
region (1,
2,
3,
4).
While this may seem like bad news
initially, forcing food businesses to share their hygiene rating with potential
customers will encourage them to do better in future. Improvement will bring in
more customers and foster a more sanitary work environment.
Jacqui Litvan
Jacqui
Litvan, wielding a bachelor's degree in English, strives to create a world of
fantasy amidst the ever-changing landscape of military life. Attempting to
become a writer, she fuels herself with coffee (working as a barista) and music
(spending free time as a raver).
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