This week the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched their national food hygiene rating scheme nationwide.  Finally, there’s no need to be concerned about the standard of food from that dodgy burger van in town, your local Chinese takeaway or that grotty-looking greasy cafe in your village!   Instead, you’ll be able to see the ‘scores on the doors’ for all food establishments, from shopping centers to high street pubs and restaurants.

The FSA, in partnership with local authorities, will assign stickers to restaurants, takeaways, cafes and supermarket for display on their shop front.  The stickers are bright green and black, and show a rating of 0 – 5 in the new national food hygiene rating scheme.

Early adopters of the food hygiene rating scheme published their ratings on line at food.gov.uk/ratings earlier this year.   The outstanding authorities are expected to join and post their scores over the coming months.

How it works:

After an inspection by the local council’s food safety officers, food establishments will receive their stickers for display, which will tell visiting consumers if the inspection found that ‘urgent improvement’ is necessary or if standards are ‘very good’.

The stickers feature five circled numbers, with that particular establishment’s rating clearly highlighted (see picture: right).

Food safety officers will check how hygienically food is handled, how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored. They’ll also look at the condition of the building, its facilities and how it manages food safety (for example, fridge temperatures and staff training).

The aim of this exercise, according to the FSA, is to cut reported one million food poisoning cases, which are reported every year.

The food hygiene rating system will help to reduce food poisoning cases by letting potential customers view establishments’ rating.  This should encourage owners to be more vigilant with their food hygiene practices and allow people the opportunity to reward highly rated establishments with their custom.

The roll out of this scheme replaces the many ‘local’ schemes many authorities operated across the UK, as many of the grading schemes were inconsistent (different methods and symbols).  The new scheme will help to avoid confusion and provide clarity and consistency for customers.

A high proportion of surveyed members of the public  (86%) believe that food hygiene standards are very important when they’re eating out.

In addition, 23% of people indicated that they’ve sent back undercooked poultry when eating out.

If you’ve scoffed at the pointless health and hygiene campaigns from the Food Standards Agency (FSA)  (you know the ones, they tell us to ‘eat healthier snacks, cook turkey correctly and hilariously, drink beverages other than beer for World Cup matches) you’ll probably be outraged to learn how much those campaigns cost us, the taxpayer.

Yesterday, the Telegraph reported that we’ve paid out the following astounding sums for these ridiculous marketing/awareness campaigns:

• £554,000 on Christmas Food Hygiene Campaign, which was designed to stop families undercooking turkeys

• £3.47 million pounds on the ‘salt awareness’ campaign, which included a quiz asking the following question, “too much salt is bad for your heart.  a. True b. False.”

• Plus over £3 million on further advertising and PR campaigns

Ouch.

You’ll probably be angered to learn that the FSA’s total budget was £152 million last year – that’s £152 million pounds of the taxpayers money that could have made a big impact on our society’s health in more beneficial ways.  What about subsidised gym memberships for the less fortunate?  Free cooking lessons for young Mums?  Activity days for the underprivileged?

But… Are the campaigns doing us good?

In defense of the campaigns, it looks like the salt campaign may have had a small effect.  Health Minister Anne Milton claims that recent urinary analyses have shown a significant fall in the population’s average daily salt intake since the campaign in 2008.  She also argues that nowadays, more people are checking food labels to see how much salt and fat they’re eating.  So this sounds positive, right?

But Tim Cox, of the Liberal Democrat group ‘Liberal Voice’ disagrees.  He’s campaigning for lower taxes and thinks that the £6 million + pounds spent on the campaigns is “scandalous.”

He states that:

“The British public do not need bureaucrats in Whitehall to tell them when to have dinner, or to advise them on what to eat during the World Cup. This is patronising, self-serving nonsense. The Coalition should cut all similar activities immediately.”

What do you think?

Are you happy to pay taxes that contribute to such initiatives, or do you simply think they’re a waste of time, effort and money?  Have you taken any of the adverts seriously, or do you think the FSA are well off the mark?  How would you invest the money to make Britain healthier?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Concerned about food hygiene? Ensure your team are up to speed – they can get a food hygiene certificate in just two hours online! Find out more: click here.

Last week the Food Standard’s Agency wrote to all the local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to inform them of a brand new launch this autumn.

From the 1st of October the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) will be rolled out by all 22 local authorities in Wales and by many ‘early adopter’ local authorities in England too.

The new scheme has been re-branded for the launch, which aims to make the food hygiene ratings system easier for consumers to use.  It’s been reported that the old ‘star’ rating has gone and a numerical scale will take its place.

Catriona Steward, Head of the 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 new ratings scheme is a welcomed development for most restaurant and cafe owners, who find the current service confuses consumers.

The Swindon Reporter last week quoted Phil Saunter calling the system “confusing”:

“Customers thought it had something to do with the quality of the food whereas it was just about how clean the premises were.  You had Michelin starred places only getting two stars because they didn’t keep their fridge temperature records properly, but McDonald’s getting five stars for instance. “

But Mr Saunter also thinks the total re-branding is a little unnecessary:

“They are also going to be changing all the branding, signs and letterhead, which sounds to me like a complete waste of money, especially when the Government announced that it is going to scrap the FSA.”

Swindon isn’t one of the early adopters of the new scheme and Phil Thomas, head of commercial regulation at Swindon Council, said:

“We will explore this option further and see if it is something we wish to adopt in Swindon when clearer proposals have been presented by the FSA.”

What do you think?

Are you happy the FSA are re-launching the scheme or do you think it’s just a waste of time and money?

Let us know in the comments!

Food Hygiene Certificates:

If you own a restaurant or cafe, you may wish to ensure your team are fully trained so your own establishment scores highly on the ‘Scores on the Doors’ scheme.  You can get a food hygiene certificate in as little as two hours by visiting our website: click here.

Four years ago, the Food Standards Agency recommended the creation of a set of principles to apply to front-of-pack labelling, to help consumers make quick, healthy and informed choices regarding nutrition. Although the majority of the food industry now adheres to some form of FOP labelling, there are still no set principles – making the conflicting labelling somewhat confusing for consumers. For example, altthough all FOP labels reflect the same nutrients – salt, sugars, fat and saturated fat – various schemes use colours other than the recommended green-yellow-red traffic light system. This means it takes longer for cosumers to compare product at a glance, defeating part of the point of clear FOP labelling.

However, in 2009, in independent study discovered the most popular and ease-to-use combination of labelling was the traffic light system with the words ‘high, medium and low’ and % Guideline Daily Amounts. Hence, this week the Food Standards Agency will dicuss proposals for a unified, but flexible system of FOP labelling that will require manufacturers and retailers to use a combination of these labelling techniques. Chief Executive, Tim Smith, said the FSA “appreciate and understand that food businesses are starting from different positions. Our proposals respond to what consumers want but also provide some flexibility for business.”

Cookits are sets of cooking equipment for schools, designed to help children learn the basics of cooking. Each set has enough equipment for a class of a dozen children and now the FSA is offering grants to half the cost of these sets for primary schools! To apply for one of these grants, simply fill in this form and send it off by the 19th March 2010.

Since there is more to cooking than the practical element, Cookit sets also contain recipes, activities and food hygiene advice, designed to give children a well-rounded nutritional education. It is hoped that, by gaining these skills at a young age, children will be inspired to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle for the rest of their lives.

Anita Cormac, Executive Director for Focus on Food, said “The Cookit is a fantastic concept that has been really well received by all primary schools [...] We also understand how carefully schools need to manage their budgets. The Cookit has been carefully designed and trialled to ensure it effectively supports cooking in schools. The equipment is robust, made to high safety specification and represents good quality and value.”

This project to bring food hygiene and nutrition further into the education system, without putting undue extra stresses on budgets, is a fantastic step forwards in many respects.

Tuesday 9th March will see the Food Standards Agency put on a debate to investigate the public’s attitude toward food, food hygiene and nutrition, as well as the role of the government and food industries in creating decent attitudes towards food. Everbody is invited to the lecture (though obviously not everybody will fit into the British Library), which is called ‘Are We What We Eat?’ and will likely be a great insight into our changing attitudes towards nutrition.

Although the FSA is currently running multiple projects and food awareness campaigns, this particular event is being held as part of the ‘Myths and Realities’ series of debates at the British Library; events that challenge everyday myths in a wide range of subject areas, as a way of educating the population and finding solutions to common problems. Leading figures featuring in this debate will include University Professors, freelance medical writers and members of the FSA. Although most have impressive titles, I can’t help but be dubious about the University of Nottingham’s ‘Special Professor of Sociology’… A ‘Special Professor’ sounds bizarre enough, let alone one in the pseudo-field of Sociology – but that’s not the point of this post.

The point is that this is likely to be a fasincating insight into the reality behind the nonsense we read in the press every day.

On average, whole milk is 3.5% fat, semi-skimmed is about 1.7% and skimmed is just 1%. Despite this, millions of people continue to drink whole and semi-skimmed milk, instead of skimmed milk – which contains all “the important nutritional benefits of milk, including calcium, protein, minerals and vitamins, but with half the fat of semi”. Why? We’re not sure…

The Food Standards Agency’s saturated fat campaign has recently released research into this subject. The study revealed that, although 56% of people could taste a difference between semi-skimmed milk and skimmed milk, 75% of consumers liked the taste just as much and 94% found it an acceptable alternative to semi-skimmed across a range of uses. The study conclude that many people in the UK would be happy to change to drinking 1% fat milk instead of semi-skimmed, greatly improving our nation’s health, food safety and awareness.

FSA’s Head of Nutrition Dr. Clair Baynton, said ‘Our research shows that people are prepared to consider switching to 1% fat milk and those who regularly use semi-skimmed like the taste as much. We tend to use milk on a daily basis so this small step will make a big contribution to reducing our saturated fat”.

Today the Food Standards Agency will launch a phone application, designed to help people take a 21-day long challenge to cut thier saturated fat intake. The idea is to help people come to better understand the different levels of saturated fat in various food products, hence helping them make better choices about what they consume. All you need to use the application is a web-enabled phone, an iPhone or an iPod Touch; simply donwload the application from the Apple App Store or http://www.food.gov.uk/satfatapp to get started!

The 21-day challenge involves making a small daily change to your diet, to cut down on consumption of saturated fat. These changes can also be shared with friends via Twitter, should you desire to do so. You pick you own challenge for each of the 21-days, which can be something as simple as having skimmed milk on your breakfast on monday, instead of semi-skimmed. Once complete, you can Twitter your success to your friends.

To find out how people are getting on, check out http://www.food.gov.uk/satfatchallenge.