Food Standards Agency Ratings - How clean are your favourite establishments???

I found a link to this via the Manchester Confidential mailout.

I have found it totally addictive.  The Food Standards Agency has put the results of its inspections online.  You can find your local cafe, restaurant, pub and more to see how clean their facilites were when they were inspected.  The scores range from zero to five.  Zero being 'Urgent Improvement Necessary'  and Five 'Very Good'.

I had a good scout around my regular haunts.  Some of the results were quite offputting.  I won't be eating in some of them again.  Luckily though quite a lot scored 4 or 5.

The visits range from very recent to 2 years ago. I'm not sure how often food supplying businesses are checked.

Below is an explanantion.  Go on you know you want to check your local!  http://ratings.food.gov.uk/AdvancedSearch.aspx  This works for England and Wales.  The Scottish have a similar scheme though.

The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:

• how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
• the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
• how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

At the end of the inspection, the business is given one of the six ratings. The top rating of ‘5’ means that the business was found to have ‘very good’ hygiene standards. Any business should be able to reach this top rating.

The food safety officer will explain to the person who owns or manages the business what improvements are needed and how they can achieve the top rating of '5'. The local authority will check that these improvements are made.