Watford restaurant and cafe hygiene scores revealed (From Watford Observer)

Watford restaurant and cafe hygiene scores revealed

5:10pm Friday 10th February 2012 in News By Adam Binnie

With Valentine's Day approaching quickly, reservations for tables in Watford's restaurants will be filling up with couples and would-be lovers on first dates.

Thanks to a rating system used by councils across the country, customers can get a look behind the scenes and see which outlets are up to scratch when it comes how hygienic the kitchen is.

View the scores here.pdf

Watford Borough Council's Environmental Health Officers inspect food businesses every one to three years.

As well as checking standards they also provide the “scores on the doors” scheme, which ranks the business out of five, and is displayed on the door and on a website.

The rating is based on three areas, including hygiene, the building itself and the competency of the management. They range from the “excellent” five stars, to the “poor” no star rating.

In Watford, 18 restaurants and cafes have been given no stars for poor standards and examples of “major non-compliance” with food hygiene.

However, more than 80 have been given five stars, which is the rating given to food establishments which have gone above and beyond the standards set by the council.

Richard Brown, from the council's environmental health team, said: “We look at things like whether they are cooking things properly, if they're keeping things cool in storage and cleaning things properly, and person hygiene too.

“We also look at the building, at drainage, whether it's pest proof and clean, and also whether the management is competent.

“Four star is fully compliment with the law, but to be five star the business must include some good practices as well.

“The businesses at the lower end would need more attention.”

The Food Standards Agency is currently working towards making a nation version of the scheme, which Watford will join, early in April.