The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has ditched a stars-based format for its ‘Scores on the Doors’ national hygiene scheme to avoid confusing the public.
Newly published research from the FSA found the use of stars to illustrate a premise’s hygiene rating might lead consumers to wrongly associate the score with other aspects of the operation, such as food quality or the dining experience.
To avoid this, the FSA will instead use a scale running from zero to five (also featuring a fail) when the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is launched this October.
Scotland will continue to use its own rating scheme of simply pass or fail.
Cautious welcome
The British Hospitality Association gave the confirmation of the arrival of a national scheme a cautious welcome as it believes it will provide consistency amongst local authorities, but argued a six-tier format was still unnecessarily complicated.
“But we welcome the decision not to award stars to each rating, which was another of our principal concerns,” said John Dyson, the BHA’s technical adviser.
“It is far more satisfactory to have a simple numerical scale and descriptors such as “satisfactory or “very good”.
The FSA decided on a six-tier ‘Scores on the Doors’ scheme to show premises’ hygiene scores in December 2008.
For more on related topics take a look at our special feature on Hygiene for more.