The Food Standards Agency is celebrating the success of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme which was launched five years ago this week, releasing information that breaks down its food hygiene ratings to coincide with this milestone.
The Food Standards Agency has published figures that show 83.7% of outlets owned by the biggest high street food chains were given the best food hygiene rating of five. The data gives the percentage of 0 – 5 ratings of the top 20 biggest high street chains (in terms of the number of branches they have).
Wetherspoon’s and Pret A Manger lead the way
The FSA found that of the largest twenty food chains, Wetherspoon’s and Pret A Manger had the highest proportion of 5s (93.1%).
Catriona Stewart, who heads up the FSA’s Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme said:
“Our latest data shows how seriously high street chains take food hygiene. We want to build on the success of the scheme over its first five years and reduce consumer risk even further by encouraging people to ‘look before they book.’
“Telling people about hygiene standards in food outlets in a way that is clear and easy to understand has made a real difference. We’ve seen standards improve and more and more businesses are able to show their customers that they take food hygiene seriously. It’s really easy to check the hygiene rating of a food business just go to the Food Standards Agency website.”
You can also look for the green and black sticker on display and if you can’t see one – just ask the staff. The ratings are determined by local authority food safety officers and run from 0 – 5, with a 5 rating meaning very good food hygiene standards.
Of paramount importance
Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said:
“Food hygiene is of paramount importance to our customers and rightly so.
“Our pub management and staff work hard to ensure that our pubs offer customers the highest levels of food hygiene at all times. We are extremely pleased that our pubs offer the best standards of food hygiene in the FSA ratings over the past five years and we will strive to maintain and improve our ratings in the coming months and years.
“Wetherspoon has 950 pubs across the UK and our aim is to maintain the highest standards at each and every pub.”
If you don’t see a green and black sticker in the window or you spot a low rating online, you can choose somewhere with a better rating.
For more information click here
See the rated establishments of the biggest high street chains here