8:10am Friday 26th June 2009
WEST Oxfordshire District Council chose Kelmscott Manor as the venue for their breakfast launch of Scores on the Doors.
Those attending had been awarded five stars for the excellent hygiene standards within their West Oxfordshire food establishments.
Scores on the Doors is a nationwide scheme, which involves environmental health offices from each district inspecting food premises. Each establishment is given a rating from zero to five depending on how they scored – five being for excellence. During the launch, Paul Hiscoe, from Transparency Data, pressed the start button, and the West Oxfordshire Scores on Doors website went live. Now it is operational, the website enables members of the public to search for the food hygiene ratings of every food establishment in West Oxfordshire (indeed across all of Oxfordshire).
Councillor David Harvey, cabinet member for environment at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “ Whether people are going out for a restaurant meal or simply picking up a pizza, fish and chips, or whatever else to eat at home, they want to be confident that their food has been stored, prepared, and presented to the best possible standards.”
Bill Oddy, head of community services, said many of the establishments that received a lower rating than they had expected were already working towards gaining a higher rating. He is convinced by next year there will be no establishments with zero ratings.
Food and pub writer Helen Peacocke, who gave a short talk on the importance of hygiene, spoke of the way bad hygiene can put customers off visiting a pub more than once. Helen joined Mr Harvey to present five-star certificates to those attending. These included representatives from A&J Catering, Witney; Blue Basil, Chipping Norton; McDonald’s, Witney; The Good Food Shop, Burford; The Pizzeria, Carterton; Lechlade Trout Fisheries, Lechlade; Waitrose, Witney; and Kelmscott Manor, Kelmscott.
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