Following Cheshire East Council's adoption of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme the first set of star ratings for Alderley Edge food businesses are now available.
Overall Alderley food businesses have rated highly following inspections, with 38% receiving 5 stars (very good) and 34% receiving 4 stars (good).
10% were considered generally satisfactory and awarded 3 stars, whilst 3% were awarded 2 stars (improvement necessary) but 3 of the 29 businesses inspected (10%) were awarded 1 star and considered to require major improvements.
One Alderley Edge food businesses, out of the 29 inspected so far, was rated 0 because urgent improvements were considered necessary.
The ratings of just under 1,600 businesses in Cheshire East have gone live on the Food Standards Agency website. This first group includes food businesses where you would expect to buy and consume food on the premises, including pubs, cafes and restaurants.
The remaining food businesses in the Borough will join the scheme on a rolling programme over the next few months.
The three scoring areas used for the rating scheme are: how hygienically the food is handled – how it's prepared, cooked, cooled and stored; the condition of the structure of the building – the cleanliness, lighting, layout and ventilation and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.
All of the businesses have been written to, informing them of their rating, and they have also been sent a certificate and a window sticker, which they can display.
Of the businesses inspected so far across Cheshire East: 573 were rated as five; 557 were rated as four; 234 were rated as three; 83 were rated as two; 119 were rated as one; and 12 were rated as zero.
Councillor Rachel Bailey, Cabinet member with responsibility for safer and stronger communities, said: "This new food hygiene system will let Cheshire East residents make an informed choice about where they go to eat out or shop for food. A high rating will also act as a good advertisement for the business and reassure customers.
"The scheme will also help our officers in their work of improving food hygiene standards. It will highlight which premises need our attention and assistance moving forward.
"The initial inspections show that nearly 70 per cent of our businesses achieved the top two ratings and we will seek to build on these impressive figures over the coming months."
To see the ratings for local businesses visit the Food Standards Agency website and type Alderley Edge into the search box.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Eastern Revive 0
Heddys 1
Horseshoe Farm Cafe 1
Chilli Jacks 1
Prontofresco 1
Drum & Monkey 2
I hope they have improved !
They replied saying "the website is incorrect" and they forwarded me a certificate showing they had been awarded 5 stars.
Looking at the certificate again and the comment on the Food Standards Agency website I noted their 5 star rating was issued 8th May 2012 and the inspection on the Food Standards Agency website was dated 29th November 2011.
So I assume they have addressed the concerns of the inspector and since been re-assessed.
Can I ask why?
Please bear with me, I run the 4 sites myself Steve, working 70-80 hours a week, dealing with hundreds of emails a day and writing 150 to 200 articles a month.
Sometimes I also deliberately spread similar articles out across the sites.
Articles about these ratings will be published on both prestbury.com and knutsford.com later today.