Food certificate scheme 'was too flippant'

Owners of food outlets in Belfast may want to do a distance learning course to ensure they are in line with new regulations.

The Scores on the Doors scheme is being scrapped by Belfast City Council in favour of the Food Hygiene Rating System and a speaker from the Food Standards Agency explained why.

"Consumers told us in research that Scores on the Doors is too flippant for something as important as food hygiene and that the name of the scheme should instead tell exactly what it is about," the representative said.

The ousted ratings system raised controversy when top rankings were awarded to some lesser-known eateries, including takeaways.

Adding that some customers found the Scores on the Doors system confusing, the spokesperson reasoned it was misleading to present stars to businesses that needed to make urgent hygiene-related amendments.

One man who will not have the opportunity to gain a good hygiene rating again is Ramazan Aslan, a chip shop owner who was yesterday jailed and banned from food vending for complacency that lead to an outbreak of E coli in Wales.