Food hygiene officers in Swansea are calling on residents and visitors to look to the stars for assurances on food hygiene in the city.
Swansea Council has been running a Scores on the Doors food premises rating system for a number of years and is one of only two Councils in Wales to offer the star rating guidance on the hygiene levels of food businesses visited by environmental health officers.
Food businesses in Swansea including restaurants, fast food outlets and food manufacturers are inspected regularly by the Council’s Food and Safety Team.
Following the inspection, the business is given a special star rating which is then posted to a dedicated website.
The public can then access the information on the website and check out details of the inspection and how many stars have been issued.
Concerns have recently been raised by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Wales after a survey found that some food businesses were not investing time or money into proper food handling training for its employees. And this could lead to widespread food poisoning problems in the long-term
The Council says that the Scores on the Doors rating system takes into account things such as food handling skills and this is reflected in the inspection results.
Kath Johnston, Swansea Council’s Food and Safety Divisional Officer, said: “The food premises rating scheme we currently operate gives the public a great insight into how individual food businesses run their day to day operations.
“Hygiene levels are a major part of our inspections. Star ratings awarded to food businesses give people the opportunity to see if a business they are eating at or plan to visit has good hygiene levels.
“In terms of food handling training, we always remind businesses that this is a legal requirement and failure to have properly trained staff could result in the business receiving a hygiene improvement notice being served.”
In October Swansea, along with every other Council in Wales, will switch to a new food hygiene rating system that’s being introduced by the Food Standards Agency.
Visit www.swansea.gov.uk.scoresonthedoors for more information on Scores on the Doors.
