Bury restaurants to improve food hygiene

Restaurants and pubs across Bury are set to improve their food hygiene standards by signing up to a local council scheme that will monitor and publish their effectiveness in this area.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme has been launched in the borough this month and it will highlight to consumers the establishments that are performing best and worst in terms of delivering products that are fit for consumption.

Steve Hoyle, food safety unit manager at Bury Council, said: "The public will be able to use the ratings when deciding which outlets to visit and we hope that food companies will recognise that displaying a good hygiene rating is good for business."

Ratings can be found at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website and premises will be given a certificate of their score, which they will be obliged to display to the public.

Meanwhile, the FSA is presently monitoring all food imports from Japan in the wake of the natural disasters that befell the country last month.

Produce is being tested for levels of radiation after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused damage to nuclear facilities at Fukushima.