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How businesses in Groby rate for food hygiene
Apr , 2011 Whether you go out for a meal, for a drink or opt for a takeaway, or arrange for your child to have school dinners, you assume that the establishment will take it's hygiene responsibilities seriously. But around one million people suffer from food poisoning every year, and the Food Safety Agency(FSA) has developed the Food Hygiene Rating System to try and reduce the number of cases which result from poor standards outside the home. The ratings will help consumers make an informed choice about where they eat or shop.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has switched to this national rating scheme and locally food outlets, such as restaurants, takeaways and pubs, are inspected by Environmental Health Officers 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’).
Groby Ex-servicemens Club on Leicester Road was pleased to announce recently that it had gone through the inspection process last January and had emerged with a top rating of 5. “Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council's Environmental Health Inspector inspects everything down to the rubber seals on fridge doors, under cabinets, ensures meticulous food records are being kept, and temperatures observed,” explained a spokesman for the Club.
“Having a single nationwide scheme will mean a level playing field for businesses across the country, and consumers will be able to recognise and use the ratings in their own area, as well as further from home,” explained Catriona Stewart, Head of the Food Hygiene Ratings Team at the FSA. “So it’s great news that Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council have switched to the new national scheme.”
The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:
how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.
Businesses given ratings of ‘0’ or ‘1’ must make urgent or major improvements to hygiene standards. The local authority food safety officer will use a number of enforcement tools as well as giving advice and guidance to make sure these improvements are made.
If the officer finds that a business’s hygiene standards are very poor and there is an imminent risk to health – this means food is not safe to eat – the officer must take action to make sure that consumers are protected. This could mean prohibiting part of an operation or closing the business down.
The good news is that the Club is not the only organisation to score the top rating and 88% of the premises rated in Groby were satisfactory, good or very good with 65% getting the top score. When inspected one local outlet was reported as being in need of improvement and one needed major improvement, but as this was in 2010 no doubt the Inspector will have worked with the owners to improve the situation.
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is a ‘national scheme’ run in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with a similar scheme run in Scotland. The scheme is not running in all areas as each local authority can choose whether or not it wants to take part or run their own local schemes.
The Agency is encouraging as many local authorities as possible to run the ‘national scheme’ to enable consumers to be able to compare hygiene ratings of food businesses both in the local area and further away from home.
It's easy to find out if a business has been inspected and rated under the scheme by using the search facility on the FSA website. It's not so easy to get more detailed information about a particular business’s hygiene standards. Although more detailed information will be included in the food safety officer’s inspection report if you want to see this the FSA suggests you make a ‘Freedom of Information’ request to the local authority that carried out the inspection.
You can search the ratings database by using this direct link.