Maria Battle, Senior Director at Consumer Focus Wales, said:
‘Consumer Focus Wales has long argued that Wales can and should lead the way in the UK when it comes to food safety and now the opportunity has arrived. The consultation presents a great opportunity for the people of Wales to voice any concerns they have about food safety and to press the government to make further improvements.
‘The over-whelming majority of people in Wales have told us they want a simple and transparent food hygiene standards system with mandatory display of food hygiene ratings. They also said they want to be able to download inspection reports from the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme website, while more than half of people told us they want to simply pick up the phone or write to their local council to obtain the information. We are pleased that a question on the public availability of inspection reports has been asked as part of the consultation.
‘We also welcome on-the-spot penalties to deal with any food businesses who are unhappy displaying poor ratings on their premises. Similar schemes that ran in New York and Toronto have been successful and helped to deter businesses from non-display in the first place and drove up standards.
‘We hope the Welsh Government listens to what the people want and grasps this chance to make Wales a beacon of food safety.’
Notes to editors:
- The consultation document is available at Wales consultation and closes on 7th March 2012
- Link to Consumer Focus Wales Food Hygiene survey findings http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/wales/news/welsh-consumers-want-easy-access-to-food-hygiene-reports
