Tips to improve your Scores on the Doors rating

Sept. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- With some 80 local authorities in the UK having implemented the Scores on the Doors food hygiene scheme and a further 167 planning to join in the future, the UK’s food businesses will soon have an additional compliance burden on their shoulder.

Scores on the Doors is a new government initiative where the public can access the official local authority hygiene ratings, a ranking of zero to five stars, for food businesses in their area.

However, while the scheme may sound like an additional worry for food business managers, Sarah Delaney, Head of Compliance Services at Manchester Food, Fire and Health and Safety Consultancy, Shieldyourself, believes Scores on the Doors is something food businesses should welcome.

“Scores on the Doors is all about driving improvements in food hygiene by letting customers see how hygienic a food establishment is via a simple to understand stars rating,” She explained.

“All ratings are available to the public online and can be displayed on the premises too so businesses can how they are scoring in comparison to their competitors and, if your rating is better than the rest, it can put you one step ahead of the game.”

Sarah believes the best way a food business can prepare for the legislation coming into place in their local authority area is to ensure they are meeting all the criteria before the inspector calls.

Here are Sarah’s top five top tips to improving your Scores on the Doors star rating:

   
1.   Have a written food safety management system, which is kept on-site, is fully implemented and is being followed by your staff.  There is no point having a great food safety file gathering dust in a forgotten drawer.

2.   Make sure all staff are trained in both food hygiene practices and the food safety management system, which can be via internal or external,  accredited training courses

3.   Keep your premises clean.  It may sound obvious but there are no short cuts, cleanliness is imperative and your cleaning system should include regular cleaning of hard to access areas, e.g. behind equipment and above head height, as well as areas that are not used very often.

4.   Keep the business well maintained.  Implement a maintenance regime to ensure you keep on top of all the big and small jobs.  This helps ensure you are ready to deal with any major issues that suddenly crop up.

5.   Work with the Environmental Health Officers (EHO); they are not there to cause trouble and, if treated with respect, are an excellent source of free advice and information.

Shieldyourself can provide food businesses with an in-depth audit, which provides information on the number of stars a business would achieve if Scores on the Doors were operational in their local authority. For more information please visit www.shieldyourself.co.uk or call 0870 011 8250.

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A legal compliance consultancy based at Manchester Science Park, Shieldyourself focus on providing legal compliance solutions across the disciplines of health and safety, food safety and fire safety to businesses across the UK.

Shieldyourself’s Scores on the Doors audit system uses criteria used by Environmental Health officers to assess a business’ hygiene standards, structural compliance and food safety systems.

The Scores on the Doors top rating of excellent/five stars is limited to businesses that have a fully integrated and working documented HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) based food safety management system which has consistently demonstrated continuing compliance with food hygiene requirements.

For further information on Shieldyourself or to arrange an interview with Mark Flanagan, Shieldyourself Managing Director, please contact Richard Dawson at Shieldyourself on r.dawson@shieldyourself.co.uk or call Richard on 0870 011 8250.

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Shieldyourself are a legal compliance consultancy based in Manchester. They specialise in delivering Food, Fire and Health and Safety solutions to a wide range of businesses across the UK specialising in the Leisure and Hospitality sectors.