South Buckinghamshire implements successful food hygiene scheme

South Buckinghamshire District Council is the latest local authority to join the Food Standard Authority's (FSA's) Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS).

Originally titled 'Scores on the Doors', the system is run in conjunction with the FSA and local councils who have signed up. South Buckinghamshire now joins nearly 160 other councils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland who are implementing the programme.

The FHRS measures a business on a scale of zero to five based on food safety standards and has continued to successfully prosecute people who fail to meet them as well as celebrate those businesses that do since it began.

Sarah Daniels, a chartered health practitioner and co-founder of health and safety advisory body Redcat.gb.com, argued that the FHRS was useful for businesses from a trading standpoint as "it has a great commercial advantage".

"Businesses always want to do better than their competitors," she added, with the FHRS providing a useful way to stand out if ratings are high enough.