Food Safety News – July 2010
Eat with their feet? Attitudes to Scores on the Doors
Will scores affect customers? What do businesses think?
The scores on the doors scheme has been slowly growing over the last three years with greater acceptance both amongst councils and consumers. Here we look at how the scheme is viewed from customer and business perspectives.
Scores on the Doors is a voluntary scheme adopted by councils to give a score on the food safety standards of food premises. The predominant scheme is the five star system which gives five stars to those businesses with the highest standards down to no stars for the worst premises. Generally it is considered that councils should be taking further action with businesses scoring one or no stars.
Early in 2006 when the Food Standards Agency was looking at adopting the scheme across the country, a survey undertaken on their behalf identified that all consumers consider hygiene of “extreme importance” and that consumers are unlikely to go back to places with poor hygiene.
At around the same time a Which? Magazine survey of over 200 adults found that 97% felt “entitled” to know how local restaurants had scored.
The system is very popular with EHOs who feel it makes their job of encouraging good standards even easier. Maria Whittaker head of food inspections at Wandsworth described the effect is has had on her local business “businesses ring up and say “next door have got four stars, how can I move up to the next grade?”
Since 2005 the number of councils adopting the scheme has steadily increased. The website www.scoresonthedoors.org is getting over 500,000 hits a month a rise from 100,000 a year ago.
In many cases the revelation of low scores suggests some larger companies might have been embarrassed. On 15th September 2009 the Daily Mail under the headline “one in three supermarkets is failing on the hygiene front” the article highlighted Tesco with only 35% of stores obtaining the highest score and two stores with one star and two stores with no stars. Tesco “tops the league of shame” wrote the paper though other supermarket chains were also criticised.
In East Riding where the scheme is being introduced, the Council’s food services manager, Stephen Headley, said they had already had a lot of people asking when the system was going to be introduced and many food business were also keen. According to the Yorkshire Post he added: “The better food businesses have often said they don’t really feel the benefits from being compliant and running their businesses in the way they should. Overall they are very supportive.”
But do we know what the scores are? According to the Independent, Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Bray is not listed as the local council do not list its hygiene reports. Consumers might have taken heed of the no stars awarded to the Llay Fish Bar in Wrexham which was closely followed by television and the press when it was closed following a suspected E.coli incident, the fish bar later opened as the council could not prove it was responsible for the E.coli.
There is evidence to suggest people talk about the scores that are awarded in their community. It would be interesting to know how many chats I the street were started with “did you hear about that place down the road that got no stars for hygiene?”
But some people do not see the need for scores. As one commentator put it writing about a local eatery which got a zero rating in the Essex Gazette “I personally couldn’t give a **** about what some public body or other thinks about anything. However it’s pretty obvious from visiting the White Hart that it’s a run-down sleazy dump.”
It looks likely now that, when it comes to a National scheme for England and Wales, the five star approach will be adopted. The scheme is due to be launched in Autumn 2010 and with the Food Standards Agency offering councils up to £10,000 funding it is no surprise that more than 100 councils have agreed to be early adopters of the scheme. Whether or not to display the certificate will remain voluntary although in London there are moves afoot to make it compulsory under the London Local Authorities Act. So far this has been repeatedly blocked in Parliament as a result of petitions from the British Hospitality Association and other pressure groups.
In drafting the guidance, businesses and enforcers have clashed. Businesses are keen the national scheme should avoid ‘gold plating (asking for standards over an above that required by law) and the national scheme reflects this by making it easier to achieve 5 stars. Enforcers are particularly concerned that the scheme allows businesses to be re-scored once they have put things right instead of having to wait for their next inspection that could be 18 months away. They are concerned that businesses will not take the scheme as seriously and that the extra inspections will be a huge cost to them. The FSA may decide to allow councils to charge for the re-inspections.
We can offer a range of support to help you make the most out of Scores on the Doors. Please call our team of EHP's at our office on 01727 866779 or email principals@hygieneauditsystems.com
