Wales’ leading consumer organisation will today call for an urgent transfer of legal powers to make it compulsory for food businesses to display their hygiene rating on the premises.
Giving evidence to a National Assembly committee on prevention of E.coli O157 outbreaks, Consumer Focus Wales’ Senior Director Maria Battle will urge AMs to seek the extra powers which would enable them to compel businesses to display their food hygiene ratings where consumers can easily see them.
The Food Standards Agency is currently developing the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme, also known as ‘Scores on the Doors’, but the scheme only allows for voluntary display. Consumers will have to visit a website to find out about poorly performing businesses.
Ms Battle said: ‘There is a consensus in Wales that we want to put consumers in the driving seat, by compelling restaurants and take-aways to display the hygiene ratings given to them by food hygiene inspectors. But the powers to make such a display compulsory are not currently available to the Assembly. I would urge AMs to seek those powers at the earliest opportunity so that Wales can be the lead in protecting consumers.
‘Most international examples of food hygiene rating schemes have got mandatory display and this has proven to be successful at lowering food poisoning hospitalisations as well as increasing the profitability of businesses with good scores.
‘We know that nine out of ten consumers in Wales want the information to be publicly available. The information will only be available on a website – but who, when they’re hungry, thinks to check a hygiene website? And what about the third of people in Wales who do not have access to the internet? Food hygiene ratings need to be available at the point where consumers decide, so they can make informed decisions. The Assembly should acquire those powers so we can act in Wales.’
Recent Food Standards Agency research has shown unanimous support among consumers for mandatory display, and a survey carried out by Consumer Focus Wales in September 2009 found nine out of ten people thought that food hygiene ratings should be publicly available.
Notes to editors
Consumer Focus Wales is giving evidence to the National Assembly for Wales’ Health, Wellbeing and Local Government committee this afternoon. The committee is holding a short inquiry into implementation of the recommendations of the Pennington Report, published in March 2009.
The Pennington Report arose from a public inquiry into the circumstances leading to the 2005 outbreak of E.coli O157 in schools in South Wales.
Consumer Focus Wales has commissioned a legal opinion which advises that Wales could acquire the powers to make display of food hygiene scores mandatory with a Legislative Competence Order.
