Welcome to Safe Food Mitra

safefoodmitra.com · 2023-05-02 18:10:50

Participants often described FHRS ratings as making little difference to decisions about buying food from different kinds of businesses even if they were familiar with the system. Other factors, such as the personal experience of a food business and the amount of choice in their area, were of greater importance. Respondents also said ratings were based on inspections that happened several years ago and expressed concern they may not reflect current food safety practices.

Participants across the three nations were generally not aware that rating display is voluntary in England. This was often viewed as limiting the potential value and effectiveness of the system. It is mandatory in Wales and Northern Ireland.

They expected that food businesses would be inspected regularly – with this ranging from a few times a year to every two years.

People were open to the idea of using third-party independent and internal audits but they wanted FSA oversight. They were strongly against remote inspections as an alternative to physical ones, particularly for businesses that prepare fresh food.

Many consumers supported using a reduced inspection regime as an incentive to recognize compliant businesses and encourage them to maintain high standards. However, they didn’t want very low-risk businesses, such as corner shops selling pre-packed food, removed from FHRS.

Views were mixed on supermarkets and other large or multi-site firms being assessed as a whole, rather than as individual stores. While some said it would reduce costs and enable a focus on higher-risk businesses, others raised concerns about poor-performing premises benefitting from an overall rating that did not reflect their practices. They also worried about fairness for smaller companies if larger competitors had a different inspection regime.

A public comment period on modernized food hygiene delivery is open until the end of June. Proposals seek to enable local authorities to spend more time on businesses that are non-compliant or pose a high risk to public health and reduce regulatory burdens on compliant or low-risk firms.

Private sector perspective
Many businesses were positive about the value of FHRS. However, a few felt that it offered limited or no value to their operations. A total of 56 participants took part in the research from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and 10 large firms operating across all three nations.

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