Tips to Start Your Restaurant

Until recently if you lived in the UK and wanted to find out about restaurant hygiene standards from the public health authorities, you could forget it! All information was deemed “commercially confidential” and closely guarded by local councils. Now everything has changed with the Freedom of Information Act, and you can ask for the latest inspection report for any food business anywhere in the country.

At first some councils refused requests, fearing either legal action by angry restaurateurs, or that their relationships with businesses would be damaged. The Information Commissioner, a government watchdog, made a ruling in late 2005 which means that all councils should now respond to requests. There is no charge for requests on a small scale, but if you ask for reports on every restaurant in your town, expect to be advised that there will be a substantial charge!

But lets face it, who wants all the hassle of making a formal written request anyway, especially if it might trigger a charge? There is an easier way, as many councils are now publishing summary versions of inspection reports on the web. At the moment the numbers are growing rapidly, and include some large councils such as Birmingham, Bristol and now London and seaside resorts such as Weymouth and Great Yarmouth.

Most councils use symbols such as stars to give ratings, with the most common ratings being based on stars, usually five in number. A word of warning though! The councils use slightly different scoring systems, so check what they mean on each site. Generally the more stars or other symbols the better. A low number of symbols may mean the premises had some poor hygiene at the last inspection, so on a five star based scheme look for at least three stars. Of course, the rating is based on a single inspection on a particular day, so things may have changed since the last inspection, for good or worse.

It’s not just restaurants you can check out. The hygiene standards of school kitchens, day nurseries, hospitals, flight catering, and your local takeaway are just a few clicks away. One of the easiest way to find out which councils are publishing is to go to www.hygienewatch.co.uk where they are all listed.

So before you book a table next time, or head out for a takeaway, check out the latest hygiene report on-line.

This article was written by Stewart Brock, who has over twenty-five years experience as an environmental health practitioner, specialising in food safety and occupational health & safety, and has recently completed a Master’s degree in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He can be contacted via http://www.hygienewatch.co.uk

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Filed under: Restaurant Health & Sanitation Management