Should you be eating at your local takeaway?

► Find out how clean your local takeaways & restaurants etc are
http://10ws.co/1w1l8UV or third party site (with app) > http://10ws.co/1w1kN4x

Ratings are given to places where you can eat out such as restaurants, takeaways, cafés, sandwich shops, pubs, and hotels.

Ratings are also given to other places you eat away from home, such as schools, hospitals and residential care homes.

Places where you shop for food, such as supermarkets, bakeries, and delicatessens are also given a rating.

What we found amazing is the varied locations with poor ratings, for instance a pub we visit often and have eaten at is only a 2!

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is run in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A similar scheme is run in Scotland.

A food safety officer inspects a business to check that it meets the requirements of food hygiene law. The officer is from the local authority where the business is located.

At the inspection, the officer will check:

• how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
• the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
• how the business manages what it does to make sure food is safe and so that the officer can be confident standards will be maintained in the future

Each of these three elements is essential for making sure that food hygiene standards meet requirements and the food served or sold to you is safe to eat.

More questions are answered on their Frequently Asked Questions page