The Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) says it is unacceptable that customers can find out more via the internet about the cleanliness of a burger joint in the US than they can about restaurants in Scotland.

They are calling for full inspection reports to be made available to the public and forcing food businesses to display details of transgressions on their premises.

The chairman of the SCC, Graeme Millar, said: “The stark reality today is that consumers in Scotland can log on to the internet and find out about hygiene standards in restaurants in Richmond, Virginia, but they cannot do the same for eating places round the corner.

Hang on a minute, Graeme, that’s not really true is it? The reality is that Scottish consumers have been able to check the scores on our website (and that of FSA and FSS) for well over a decade. Yes we know that for Scotland they can only see Pass or Improvement Required. And yes we know that FSS are considering moving to a more graded scheme like the rest of the UK.

But should full EHO inspection reports be made available to consumers? Well yes of course. And they actually already are. Although they can be quite complex and not easy to understand. Also, a consumer would need to write in to the relevant Local Authority under the Freedom of Information Act to request the document. Which in turn must be provided within 20 days.

Not very handy if you want to decide whether to get a take away from your local chippy tonight though is it? Which is why we introduced to 0-5 star grades online back in – wait for it – 2005.

Now recognised as the most effective measure of delivering improvement in compliance and voted in the top 20 of all Environmental initiatives this century by RSPH. Complaince up in Wales by 27 percentage points.

We would suggest the best response would be for Scotland to catch up with a 0-5 star rating scheme, matching the rest of UK. And make display of the sticker compulsory.

Full article from the Scotsman