Check out your favourite restaurant's hygiene score

10 August 2012

Customers visiting food outlets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are being encouraged to check out premises' hygiene ratings on the Food Standards Agency website www.food.gov.uk/ratings

The Council's Environmental Health Officers inspect all restaurants, takeaways and pubs in the borough to check that their hygiene standards meet the legal requirements. They are then rated on a scale ranging from 0 at the bottom, which means `urgent improvement necessary', to a top rating of 5 which means `very good'.

The ratings are intended to give consumers a glimpse of what is going on in the kitchen when they eat out, or behind the scenes at the places they shop, so decide about which place they prefer to visit.

After the inspection all businesses are given a sticker and certificate and encouraged to display it prominently at the entrance.

Mrs Fiona Gooley from W8 Catering in Abdingdon Road, Kensington which received a top rating after it was recently inspected said: `We are delighted to achieve a 5 out of 5 rating, it is nice to know that food businesses such as us receive recognition for our efforts. We hope it will lead to increased customers who will choose W8 with confidence and provide an incentive for other food businesses to improve their standards in turn.

Councillor Fiona Buxton, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Cabinet Member for Environmental Health, said: "This is a very useful scheme which allows residents to make informed decisions about which restaurants they visit or which food outlets they choose to shop at. The ratings are based on findings of inspections by the Council's Environmental Health Officers who will often make surprise visits so they can to get a proper view of what goes on in the kitchens and back rooms. It also helps officers in their work as it highlights premises which need attention."