We regularly talk about food hygiene— quite simply because it is so important. The food we eat needs to be safe; if it isn’t people can suffer food poisoning, get sick and, in rare cases, even die.
Unfortunately we only felt able to put a score of 2 as the heading of this blogpost — Birmingham is definitely in need of improvement!
5,963 registered food businesses in Birmingham have received a food hygiene inspection. 860 (14%) of these did not demonstrate acceptable food hygiene standards at their last inspection – they were given a ‘non-compliant’ Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) score – 2 or less. This is cause for concern, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) report that nationally, just 7% of food businesses receive ‘non-compliant’ scores.
Birmingham doesn’t fare all that well against other ‘core cities’ either:
Food hygiene is particularly important in schools, nurseries and care homes, due to the more vulnerable nature of those eating there. Non-compliance across these sectors in Birmingham stands at 2% compared to 1% nationally.
So is there any good news? Well we’re really pleased that a number of the schools, nurseries and care homes we’ve contacted recently, because of their non-compliant FHRS scores, have been reassessed, with some now demonstrating the very highest food hygiene standards.
So a huge thank you and well done to:
- UK Asian Women’s Centre, Hockley
- Little Folks Day Nursery, Kingstanding
- Looby Lou’s Nursery, Longbridge
- Minnie Mouse Day Nursery, Handsworth
- Banners Gate School, Sutton Coldfield
And a plea to many others to raise their game. They know who they are, you can find out too by checking the scores on the doors website – make sure you do before eating out or selecting a school, nursery or care home for a loved one . . .