Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) Steering Group

Perth and Kinross authority will be completely covered by the FHIS by Monday 17 March. Fife and Edinburgh would seem to be seeking to expand the existing pilot scheme.

North Lanarkshire Council has introduced a three star web based scheme, similar to the South Lanarkshire system – Surf for food. Both these do not allow for re-inspection and re-grading should businesses not be happy with their rating.

The FSA Board meeting of Wednesday 12 March will be evaluating all the different FHIS/Scores on the Doors Schemes – in excess of 100 – that have sprung up throughout Britain and Northern Ireland. This meeting will be making its decision as we speak but based on the evaluation and conclusions presented in the Board paper, it is recommended that a national Scores on the Doors scheme is based on:

• a 4 tier system (3 tiers + “fail”)
• a star system rating (with accompanying descriptor)
• effective local authority appeals procedures
• arrangements to allow opportunities for rescoring
• voluntary display of scores on business premises

This will not gain very much of a welcome from the business sector but it is felt that possibly there are too many star schemes in England to change direction. Hopefully the option will be available to have a Scottish FHIS scheme.

A consultation will follow on the proposal and we will be able to feed into that and hopefully an option for Scotland to go it alone.

The Agency in Scotland has been working with stakeholders for two and a half years on the development of a hygiene information scheme for consumers. The Food Hygiene Information Scheme pilot was launched in November 2006 with broad consensus from consumer, industry and enforcement representatives that make up the project Steering Group. The scheme is based on is a pass/fail format with the 'Pass' level set at a standard that is intended to reflect compliance with food hygiene regulations. The Steering Group has produced a “One year on Report” which incorporated the findings of an interim evaluation reported in May 2007. The Scottish Food Advisory Committee considered the Steering Group's report (in draft) at its open meeting on February 2008 and agreed its recommendations.

The proposed national scheme is a significant departure from the scheme developed in Scotland and, if the Board accept the above recommendations, the proposal is to consult in Scotland on the scheme set out in the paper and also on their Food Hygiene Information Scheme.

However, prior to consultation, it is proposed that the Agency in Scotland will review the recent Greenstreet Berman and Continental research with the stakeholder Steering Group and consider whether any aspects of the scheme should be amended prior to consultation. This process took place at this meeting

Whilst the proposed national scheme is a departure from the system developed in Scotland, the level of compliance required to achieve a “pass” rating is broadly comparable to the two- and three- star categories proposed in this paper. One of the many flaws in the star scheme is that one star is given in the English scheme where in Scotland that business would not receive a pass!