When we visit a local food outlet we expect that the food we purchase is safe for us to eat and that it abides with all food hygiene standard ratings. However, that isn’t always the case; after eating out some of us have been left ill due to being stuck down by food poisoning. There was recently a story we covered about a five year old school boy who died after eating a contaminated school meal that caused those who came into contact with it to suffer from E-coli.
Thousands of pubs, shops and restaurants are now being given a new food hygiene standard rating in a bid to reduce the one million cases of food poisoning each year. Food poisoning can be caused in a number of ways – it may be that those who suffered the disease ate under cooked or out of date food. It may be that those responsible for the food let cooked meat come into contact with raw meat. This latest scheme hopes to crack down on the causes of food poisoning and those responsible for making those much needed changes.
The scheme for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, backed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and local authorities, aims to grade every premises that sells or serves food. Premises being graded include nursing homes, schools, and hospitals, along with conventional food outlets. Consumers will then be able to check an establishment’s hygiene rating before they choose to enter the premises.
The participating food outlets will display a bright green and black sticker at the entrance showing a rating from zero, meaning urgent improvement necessary, to five, meaning very good. The ratings will then be posted on the FSA’s website for consumers to see.
A survey carried out for the FSA found that at least a fifth of people had sent food back in restaurants for hygiene-related reasons, with 29% having been served undercooked meat. Andrew Opie, food director for the British Retail Consortium, told Sky News: “The information is already available to consumers if they are interested in how people are being inspected. We think that at a time when resources are very tight for local authorities, money is best spent targeting the worst performing businesses, and making sure they don’t stay in business.”
There is actually a similar scheme already underway in the Hull region, with many food outlets displaying a numerical quality rating for the public to see.
The scheme conducted by the FSA is not compulsory, and food outlets do not have to display their rating. When we do eat out, we expect that the food we eat will be of a high standard and will not put the health of us or our loved ones at risk. It you have suffered from food poisoning due to the poor hygiene of a food outlet then you may be able to make an injury compensation claim.
