Information on Loughborough

local food establishments to display their ratings

Posted on 07/06/2007
Loughborough Newsdesk

plate of food So you know that Environmental Health Officers visit food establishments on a regular basis but do you know what the findings are? Well shortly you will know. A scheme designed to allow public access to the star ratings awarded to all catering premises by Environmental Health Officers goes live this month.

Charnwood, together with six other Local Authorities in the Leicestershire region have signed up to the Leicestershire Food Groups rating system. This means that all pubs, restaurants, cafes, schools and care homes will all be inspected and their star-rating will have to be clearly displayed on their premises. The information will also be held on a national database.

Business can score between 0 stars (failing) to 3 stars (good).

The scheme coincides with the National Food Safety Week which is between the 11th and 17th June 2007 and currently in its 15th year. For 2007 the focus is on the 4 Cs. (In case you were wondering  the four Cs are Cleanliness, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination). Further information on the national scheme can be found on www.foodlink.co.uk

Cllr David Slater (Conservative Councillor for Quorn & Mountsorrel Castle), Charnwoods Lead member for Housing and Health, said: "The scheme aims to provide diners with easy-to-understand information about how clean the catering premises they are about to eat at is.

"Making this information about catering premises available to the public should also make businesses more aware of their responsibilities in food safety.

Matt Holford, Charnwood Borough Councils Head of Environmental Health, said: "Our food safety team is glad that the scores awarded to premises will now be in the public domain for all to see.

"Our aim is to make all premises ultimately accountable to the public for their hygiene standards which will inevitably drive up standards