Come dine here - food hygiene ratings now visible when eating out
10 February 2012
Local residents will now be better informed when eating out in the Wycombe district, following the launch of a new national scheme which tells them about the hygiene standards of food outlets.
Wycombe District Council launched the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) across the Wycombe district earlier this week. This national scheme, developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities, provides information on food hygiene standards to help people to choose where to eat out or shop for food.
Food outlets such as restaurants, takeaways and pubs, are inspected by food safety officers from Wycombe District Council to check that their hygiene standards meet legal requirements. The hygiene standards found at these inspections are rated on a scale ranging from zero at the bottom (which means "urgent improvement necessary") to a top rating of five ("very good"). The ratings for more than 1,000 food outlets in the Wycombe district are available to view on Wycombe District Council's free online mapping service, My Wycombe - as well as on the FSA website. In addition, every food business has been given a sticker and certificate and encouraged to display these at the entrance to their premises. This means that customers can easily see them and decide if they want to go in.
Cllr Ian McEnnis, Chairman of Wycombe District Council, helped to launch the scheme earlier this week by presenting certificates to some of the food outlets that received a top rating of five. He commented: "We have joined the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme as we can see the benefits for local food businesses and the people that eat and shop in them. The public will be able to use the ratings when deciding which outlets to visit and we hope that food companies will recognise that displaying a good hygiene rating is good for business. When customers expect to see a rating, there is a real incentive for food businesses to seek to make improvements to their hygiene standards."
Catriona Stewart, Head of the Food Hygiene Ratings Team at the FSA added: "We are encouraging as many local authorities as possible to run the FHRS, so it's great news that Wycombe District Council are the latest to take part in the national scheme. Around one million people suffer from food poisoning every year and our aim in introducing the scheme is to reduce this. The ratings will give consumers a glimpse of what is going on in the kitchen when they eat out, or behind the scenes at the places they shop, before they make their decision about which place they prefer to visit."
More about the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.