Number of food establishments compliant with food hygiene law climbed: FSA

More businesses are given food hygiene ratings of 3, 4 or 5.

Food Standards Agency has reported that food businesses that are “broadly compliant” with the food hygiene law edged up to 90.7% in the year-ending March from 90.2% in the previous year.

Such establishments are identified to have food hygiene ratings of 3, 4 or 5.

The percentage of planned food hygiene interventions undertaken by local authorities also rose to 86.3% compared with 85.1% in 2017/18.

However, planned food standard controls, which covers authenticity and food fraud, slipped to 40.8% from 42.3% over the same period.

“To address this long standing issue, we are working closely with local authorities to develop a new sustainable model for food standards interventions which will include a mix of inspections and the use of better intelligence and surveillance,” Maria Jennings, FSA director of regulatory compliance, said in a statement.