National food hygiene scheme starts 1 October

Thousands of pubs will have their hygiene ratings made public from 1 October.

Dozens of local authorities are to be "early adopters" of the Food Standards Agency's Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, known as 'scores on the doors' during trials.

The scheme will go live from 1 October in all 22 local authorities in Wales.

In England, councils in the south west, and east and south east will also join then. Others will join at a later date.

Hygiene ratings will be shown on a numeric scale.

A rating of five indicates very good food hygiene standards, four means good, three is generally satisfactory, two shows improvement necessary, one is urgent improvement necessary and a zero rating is urgent improvement necessary.

Ratings will be indicated at a pubs' business through logos, certificates and stickers.

The scheme aims to help consumers choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving them information about the hygiene standards in pubs, restaurants, cafes, takeaways, hotels, supermarkets, and other places they eat out and buy food.

Catriona Stewart, head of the FSA's Food Hygiene Ratings Team, said: "We are very pleased with the look and feel that the new branding gives to the scheme as it makes it easy for consumers to see at a glance what the hygiene rating is."

The FSA also announced that the IT system for the scheme - including an online consumer search facility and local authority data upload system - is now in the testing phase.

The search facility will allow consumers to search for hygiene ratings of businesses in areas where the scheme is run.

The systems are being tested by consumers and local authorities and are expected to go live in mid-September.