Do you know that Regulation (EC) 852/2004 make the training of food handlers compulsory. The training needed, will depend on the type of business, the foods prepared or served and the type of work the person does. Manager and supervisors may not handle food but will have a direct effect on the way the business is run so they should also have food safety training. Forest of Dean District Council, like many other Gloucestershire Councils has joined up to the "Scores on the Doors". Scores on the doors is a national public information service where you can find the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses. The ratings are publically available to be searched at: http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.ukWhen food safety officers inspect premises they score food hygiene standards against 3 criteria: - - standard of the structure, equipment and cleaning
 - food handling practices
- confidence in food safety management
The rating is as follows: The aim is that the information will: - allow customers to make an informed choice about where they eat
- encourage food businesses which have high standards to continue to maintain them
- encourage those food businesses that have poor standards to improve.
Caterers have also been given window stickers showing their individual star rating but they are not obliged to display them. What do the scores mean? It is important to remember that premises with 3 stars are good and 2 star premises will generally comply with the law (but there will be some minor contraventions that require attention). Premises with 1 star or no stars will have been required to carry out significant work to ensure food safety. Businesses are not re-scored after completing the work; they must maintain the standards until the next inspection. To get 5 stars, everything needs to be virtually perfect when the inspector calls unannounced. This is hard to achieve in a busy kitchen. Some premises may not be able to achieve 5 stars without substantial investment (for example, if the kitchen is small or the layout is poor. These problems can usually be managed but it is not ideal so they won’t get 5 stars).
Source: Forest of Dean District Council. For more information visit their website: http://www.fdean.gov.uk |
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