I have a passionate interest in environmental health from a close family experience.
The Food Safety Agency working with local councils have a scheme for giving ratings to all food establishments – based on hygienece, cleanliness, process, training. You can see their ‘Scores on the Doors’ on line and Android and Apple apps. The ratings go:
| 0 | – Urgent improvement necessary (8) |
| 1 | – Major improvement necessary (48) |
| 2 | – Improvement necessary (26) |
| 3 | – Generally satisfactory (34) |
| 4 | – Good (81) |
| 5 | – Very good (35) |
Amazingly businesses don’t have to display their scores in a visible place or schools having to tell parents. In Wales the devolved government is planning to make is compulsory. Frankly it should be UK law.
Frankly all food establishments should be able to reach a score of 5. In the SE22 East Dulwich area we have 232 rated food places, 35 with 5*, 81 with 4*, 34 with 3*, 26 with 2*, 48 with 1* and 8 with 0*’s. Some really low scoring places are local schools!
Until all food establishments have to display their scores they don’t have to try very hard to keep the public safe.
Do you think all scores should have to be displayed?
Getting food safety wrong can be fatal and cause lasting life changing health issues.
You have a very very strange world view. It actually got funny at the word ‘amazingly’. Food establishments have to work hard to keep the public safe, because they are liable if they harm anyone. Council scores are unnecessary and given the standard of training and expertise in councils anyone who takes them in the least bit seriously is making a grave mistake.
The rest of us are obliged by law to pay for all this uselessness. Don’t you get the slightest moral pang at the thought of how much we have to cough up?