Originally Posted by
emma69
My point was that health scores on an open restaurant don't mean very much to me at all.
I'm saying that I eat at restaurants, food trucks, friends' kitchens, without paying much attention to the hygiene levels for any of them. I may love my friends dearly, but on occasion I'd swear they were trying to kill people so don't necessarily trust them on a food safety level (trying to pop the cooked bbq food back on the same tray they brought the raw food out on, until I intervened, for example) but still eat at their houses, trusting that my fairly robust immune system will survive.
Same with restaurants in the UK, if they are open, then chances are I will be fine, they will not allow a premises that they consider dangerously unsafe to continue operating. Absolutely takeaways are normally low down the list (you also find a lot of 'old men local pubs' pretty far down the liŷst too) because their staff are not professionally trained for the most part (no legal requirement in the UK for them to even do the basic food handling certificate, which, personally, I do think should be mandatory and would do a lot more for food safety in the UK than posting scores does). It would be interesting to see what the program does for businesses financially, but I suspect it won't change things considerably (I wouldn't look up my local Domino's score before deciding whether to order from them or Pizza Hut, and I am not sure many others would).
A low score does not necessarily mean you are going to get sick. I had a quick look at the scores for places I eat at on a regular basis when I am back home in the UK. I was pleasantly surprised that my regular Indian takeaway had a score of 5, as did the fish and chip shop I often go to. Not a great surprise, but one of the 'post-pub' takeaways that always has a line out of the door on a Friday and Saturday night scored a 1 - it's only open late at night a few times a week (I'd guess around 10pm-3am without checking), the staff don't speak English, so I am putting money on them not keeping logs, dating and rotating food correctly, the actual set up of the very small space would almost certainly score poorly. I am guessing that on any given inspection night, they would get very low marks for their refrigeration - they are simply so busy they pull things out of the fridge and leave them on the side to expedite service. The floor would be disgustingly dirty during the middle of a shift, because no one is squeezing in to try and mop / sweep dropped food during the rush. Hot food ( kebab meat, etc.) is likely not kept at a high enough hold temperature (sitting on a tray once it has been removed from the grill for example), but the place is so busy, food is moving through so quickly, nothing is getting to dangerous temperature levels sitting on the side. No, it doesn't get good marks, but do I think, from personal experience it is likely to cause food poisoning issues, no - I will still pop in for my chips in a naan next time I am in town.
To that extent, 'scores on the doors' doesn't make the food businesses any safer to eat at IMO - there have been health inspections for years, it is just that they have decided to post rankings now so people can see the difference between a place that prides itself on food safety, and those who scrape through. The ones that would have been shut down before still are, and the ones that are open are considered by the inspectors to be adequate enough not to be a danger to the public.
Thanks, yes - you've already said all that You basically are saying that there is nothing useful for you in seeing a kitchen has a 0 or 1 hygiene rating rather than a 5 rating. You are happy to eat in a place with a 0 rating because it hasn't been closed down. I'm not.
Actually, I think many people are concerned about how filthy or clean kitchens are and how much they can rely on their owners. Luckily this scheme incentivates poor unrelaible owners that before the scheme had no real reputational risks. This scheme is a great part of informing customers many will make choices tsking this into account. As you know unsafe kitchens can remain open if the inspector believes a promise to put things right immediately.
Each to their own.
More about hygiene ratings
The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.
The rating given shows how well the business is doing overall but also takes account of the element or elements most in need of improving (see ‘How is a hygiene rating worked out?’ above) and also the level of risk to people’s health that these issues pose. This is because some businesses will do well in some areas and less well in others but each of the three elements checked is essential for making sure that food hygiene standards meet requirements and the food served or sold to you is safe to eat.
To get the top rating of ‘5’, businesses must do well in all three elements.
Those with ratings of ‘0’ are very likely to be performing poorly in all three elements and are likely to have a history of serious problems. There may, for example, be a lack of sufficient cleaning and disinfection, and there may not be a good enough system of management in place to check and record what the business does to make sure the food is safe.
Businesses given ratings of ‘0’ or ‘1’ must make urgent or major improvements to hygiene standards. The local authority food safety officer will use a number of enforcement tools as well as giving advice and guidance to make sure these improvements are made.
The food safety officer will also tell the business how quickly these improvements must be made and this will depend on the type of issue that needs to be addressed.
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme means that people can choose instead to eat out or buy food at places with higher ratings and businesses with low ratings are in danger of losing customers and so will be encouraged to improve standards more quickly and to maintain these in the future.
If the officer finds that a business’s hygiene standards are very poor and there is an imminent risk to health – this means food is not safe to eat – the officer must take action to make sure that consumers are protected. This could mean prohibiting part of an operation or closing the business down.