Home News ‘Scores on the doors’ food hygiene ratings must be mandatory, say councils

‘Scores on the doors’ food hygiene ratings must be mandatory, say councils

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All food premises should be forced to display ‘Scores on the Doors’ ratings to drive up standards and protect people from the risk of eating poorly prepared food cooked by rogue operators in unsafe and unhygienic kitchens, council leaders said today.

Council environmental health teams score outlets from zero to five based on factors such as kitchen cleanliness, cooking methods and food management. However, in England, businesses do not have to display the ‘Scores on the Doors’ rating they have been awarded.

Compulsory ‘Scores on the Doors’ ratings already exist in Wales and Northern Ireland will follow suit in October this year.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England, is calling for mandatory display to be legally extended to England to help raise food hygiene standards at restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops, supermarkets and delicatessens, to improve transparency and reassurance for consumers. It believes that failure to comply should result in either a fine or prosecution.

Councils regularly take action against poor hygiene and safety standards at food outlets. Recent cases have seen them prosecute food outlets infested with cockroaches, dangerous structural and electrical failures and mouse droppings in food preparation areas.

Forcing food outlets to display their ‘Scores on the Doors’ rating would not only improve consumer confidence and raise standards, but would reduce the need for and cost of enforcement action by councils, the LGA insists.

Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:

“Anyone in England who sees a business without a hygiene rating sticker currently has to decide if they want to eat or buy food there without knowing what’s going on in the kitchen.

“It’s not always easy for people to judge hygiene standards simply by walking through the front door of a premise and know whether they are about to be served a ‘dodgy’ burger or kebab that could pose a serious risk to their health.

“Councils always take action to tackle poor or dangerous hygiene and improve conditions and see first-hand what shockingly can go on behind closed doors at rogue food premises.

“Forcing all food outlets in England to display a hygiene rating would help to crack down on and expose businesses that flout the law and put people at risk by incentivising them to improve or maintain high hygiene standards and show customers how seriously they take the issue.

“A good food hygiene rating is good for business and people in England should also now be able to use it to decide if they are happy with their choice of food outlet, or would prefer to go somewhere else with higher standards.

“With mandatory hygiene rating display already in force in Wales and becoming law in Northern Ireland this year, it is time the legislation was extended to England as well.”/

Case studies

Croydon

103 food premises in Croydon failed to meet satisfactory standards (three stars) in 2015. Of these, 15 got a rating of zero out of five – the lowest possible score, meaning they need urgent improvement. In one street alone – London Road – 22 food outlets got two stars or below.

myinforms.com/en-gb/a/25317366-named-and-shamed-the-103-croydon-businesses-with-the-worst-food

The owners of a Croydon restaurant that had a catalogue of food hygiene and health and safety failures, were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling almost £93,000. Croydon Council officers reported sightings of live cockroaches and mice, rodents’ droppings, unacceptable cleaning standards, poor structural conditions, electrical safety issues, cigarettes butts in the kitchen and a chef smoking in the kitchen. In December 2015 they were sentenced on a total of 36 charges and a Hygiene Prohibition Order was made against one of the owners, banning him from managing any food business until such time as the order is rescinded by the courts.

news.croydon.gov.uk/doctor-and-ex-wife-fined-more-than-90000-for-filthy-eatery

One of the largest fines ever levied for food hygiene-related offences was imposed on a company operating two Croydon discount stores. In November 2015 the company was fined £154,000 after admitting seven breaches of food safety and hygiene laws. Both shops were found to have large mouse infestations when Croydon Council food and safety officers visited. One store had mouse droppings across the floor, rodent-gnawed packets of biscuits and a food storage area contained fruit fly-infested rotting fruit. The second store, where 20 mice were caught overnight, had crisps covered with mouse urine and droppings on food packaging which had been gnawed.

news.croydon.gov.uk/154000-fine-not-such-a-bargain-for-99p-stores

Greenwich

Eighty food outlets in Greenwich Borough were judged as needing at least major improvement in the past two years. Four received zero stars and 76 received one-star ratings.

bit.ly/242fB5z

Liverpool

Liverpool City Council health inspectors found a mice infestation at a city centre coffee venue which was fined £13,200 in court on March 10, 2016. Droppings were found across the premises – including on a cake. The business agreed to a voluntary closure and admitted three charges of breaching food safety and hygiene laws at court. It has since been awarded a five-star hygiene rating by Liverpool council after successfully dealing with the problem.

www.liverpoolexpress.co.uk/coffee-shop-had-mice-infestation

Birmingham

Environmental officers at Birmingham City Council forced the temporary closure of a fast food outlet after discovering a mice infestation during a routine inspection. Officers found mouse droppings in the food preparation and storage areas, as well as evidence of inadequate cleaning and food exposed to risk of contamination. The business, which admitted four breaches of food safety and hygiene laws, was fined £12,000 in January 2016. It reopened to the council’s approval and now has a five-star food hygiene rating.

birminghamnewsroom.com/popular-city-burger-bar-fined-12000

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