If you’re planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out for a nice dinner, the last thing you want to worry about is whether or not the restaurant takes food hygiene seriously. Fortunately, the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme does all that for you.
The Food Standards Agency is urging you to ‘look before you book’ and check the food hygiene rating before deciding where to go for your special date.
The truth is, you can’t tell a restaurant’s hygiene standards by how clean and tidy the staff look or by how romantic the décor and ambience is.
It’s the things you can’t see – like germs spread by bad hygiene practices – that you need to consider. There’s one easy way to set your mind at rest – check the food hygiene rating. This tells you about hygiene standards in restaurants and other food businesses.
It’s really simple to check. Just go online and visit http://ratings.food.gov.uk/authority-search/spelthorne or, if you’re out and about, look for the green and black sticker. If you can’t see one just ask the staff.
The ratings are determined by local authority food safety officers and range from 0 to 5, with a 5 rating meaning very good food hygiene standards.
In Spelthorne, 93% of food businesses are rated as satisfactory, good or very good so there are plenty of places with good food hygiene standards you can choose from. This means you can easily avoid taking your special date to those places not meeting the grade.
Cllr Jean Pinkerton OBE, Cabinet Member for Health said: “When planning your meal out, make sure you check the hygiene ratings online and choose a restaurant that takes food hygiene seriously. This is also an important time for local food businesses as a good food hygiene rating is something to be proud of. Accountability is one of Spelthorne Council’s key values so we are encouraging all food businesses in Spelthorne to display their rating.”
For more information about the scheme visit www.spelthorne.gov.uk/foodhygiene
