An exploration of the England, Wales and Northern Ireland based mandatory public food hygiene safety scoring

Compliance in food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is captured at a point in time through the Food Standards Agency (FSA)/local authority partnership Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), sometimes also colloquially described as Scores on the Doors (SOTD). All food businesses are regularly inspected to ensure compliance with statutory requirements. This inspection covers a number of prescribed areas including: compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures which in turn includes food and method of handling, method of processing, and number of consumers at risk; compliance with structural requirements; and confidence in management/ control procedures (CIM) with a score is assigned to each category, with a higher numerical value signifying greater risk. The aim of the FHRS is to provide information on hygiene standards to consumers allowing them to make an informed choice as to where they may wish to eat or purchase food. However evidence suggests that hygiene scores are just one factor in such choices. Equally there is little evidence to support the role of SOTD on future business compliance or investment. For those involved in the measurement and auditing of compliance it is recognised that the judgement of standards is influenced by business response and socially constructed positions that can, in turn, be influenced by factors outside of the FHRS. With this in mind this paper looks into the use and scope of this outward facing record of compliance, and explores the issues from the perspective of regulators, the regulated, and consumers, all of whom are users of the scheme