The people who protect your plate: National Food Safety Week

We love our food, there’s simply no denying it. In fact, as a nation, we spent over £203 billion on food and drink last year alone. But food safety is often something we take for granted.

So this week, as part of National Food Safety Week (4 June – 10 June 2018), Shropshire Council is partnering with the Food Standards Agency to shine a light on food safety and the team working behind the scenes in Shropshire to help ensure that the food we buy and eat is safe and honest.

People who protect your plate logo

There are a whole host of people that work to keep food safe.  Shropshire Council has a team of dedicated team of professional and technical officers whose job it is to inspect local food businesses to ensure hygiene standards are up to scratch. Around 94% of businesses inspected in Shropshire received a food hygiene rating of 3 (generally satisfactory) or above, under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. The scheme covers businesses supplying or serving food direct to consumers such as restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, food vans or stalls, canteens, hotels, supermarkets, schools, hospitals and care homes.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme helps people choose where to shop for food and where to eat out by giving them clear information about the business’ hygiene standards. There are six hygiene ratings ranging from ‘0’ (urgent improvement required) at the bottom to ‘5’ (very good) at the top. Businesses are given green and black stickers for display at their premises and all ratings are published online, so people can make more informed choices about where to buy and eat food. The vast majority of food businesses in and around Shropshire are ranked generally satisfactory, good or very good.

Matthew Aldridge from Shropshire Council’s health protection team said:-

“We have a dedicated team that work hard to ensure that food is safe in Shropshire so that residents and visitors can dine out with peace of mind. Research shows that food hygiene when eating out is the UK’s number one food safety concern ² so we are really pleased that the majority of our local food businesses hold a rating of 3 or above.”

Angela Towers, Head of the Food Hygiene Rating Team at the Food Standards Agency, said:-

“Working in partnership with Shropshire Council and their expert officers, we are dedicated to ensuring that people can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and honest. Our Food Hygiene Rating Scheme empowers the public to make informed decisions about where to buy and eat food: it’s also proved hugely effective in driving up standards in food businesses across the country.”

Shropshire Council offers training and advisory services to food businesses within Shropshire to ensure food is safe to eat. See https://shropshire.gov.uk/environmental-health/food-safety/
For more information on Food Standards Agency visit food.gov.uk
For more information on Food Hygienge Rating Scheme visit food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/food-hygiene-rating-scheme

There’s also of short video of our food safety team in action:

httpv://youtu.be/fuidWKEgZjk