Derbyshire Dales District Council is going to make information on hygiene standards found during food safety inspections of catering businesses available to the public.

At the Community and Environment Committee meeting on 21 June 2007, Members recommended the adoption of a “Scores on the Doors” star rating system for all restaurants and other caterers in the district. The star rating system will be applied to all caterers inspected on or after the 1 September 2007.

Councillor Andrew Lewer Chair of the Community and Environment Committee said: “Hygiene rating scores are held by the District Council and are used to determine the frequency of inspections. The hygiene ratings reflect the standard of food safety and hygiene found during the last full or Primary Inspection. Publishing the scores will mean the public have access to information about food hygiene standards in our restaurants. Evidence from other schemes suggests it will benefit customers, businesses, and the local economy by driving up standards and making food businesses in the district safer places to eat and drink. This scheme encourages greater public access to and awareness of food hygiene standards and is an incentive to achieve the highest standards so key to the economic well-being of the district.”

Principal Environmental Health Officer Mike Parkinson explained how the scoring system works: “The Scores on the Doors website is a national scheme which currently publishes over 43 thousand food business ratings. There are three elements to the star rating score, these are: the confidence in management score; the hygiene and safety score; and the premises structure score. Businesses with very high standards of compliance with food legislation who can demonstrate best practice in managing and achieving this, will be rated as excellent and score 5 stars. At the other end of the scale businesses which generally fail to comply with legal requirements, where there is little or no appreciation of food safety will be rated as poor and receive no stars.”

For more information on the scheme please contact Mike Parkinson, Principal Environmental Health Officer, on 01629 761226 or email mike.parkinson@derbyshiredales.gov.uk.