Food Law News - UK - 2001
FSA Scotland Press Release (37/01), 19 July 2001
ENFORCEMENT - Third of Restaurants Break Food Hygiene Rules (Scotland)
Almost a third of restaurants and other catering establishments in Scotland infringed food hygiene rules last year, new figures published by the Food Standards Agency Scotland revealed today.
The figures show that of the 20,825 catering premises inspected last year, 7,781 infringed food hygiene laws. Restaurants and caterers are by far the largest sector in the food industry.
Seventy per cent of the Scottish population regularly or occasionally eat out and the Food Standards Agency Scotland is committed to working with the catering industry as part of a wide-ranging campaign to improve food hygiene.
Dr George Paterson, Director of FSA Scotland, said:
Consumers are entitled to eat out safely. Whether it's a quick bite to eat in a café or a meal at a top class hotel, everyone deserves to be able to enjoy their food without fear of falling ill. A food hygiene failure rate of one-third for restaurants and other catering establishments is simply unacceptable. Many premises do have a high stndards but those standards should apply equally across the country. That is why we will be working closely with the catering industry as part of our campaign to drive up hygiene standards.
We will also continue to work closely with local authorities to ensure they use their extensive powers to inspect premises and take the necessary action against those which are not up to scratch. We have just started a rolling programme of local authority audits to ensure standards are enforced consistently across Scotland.
Consumers have an important role to play too. Only three-quarters of people in Scotland who experienced food poisoning last year actually reported it. We want to see far more people reporting illness or poor standards to their local environmental health department.
The following notes are included:
- The Food Standards Agency is responsible for collating quarterly returns on specified food enforcement activity from all local authorities and submitting them annually to the European Commission.
- Enforcement of food law is carried out by local authority environmental health officers.
- There were 54,121 food establishments in Scotland in 2000. Of these, 32,160 were inspected. Of those inspected, 20,825 (65%) were restaurants and other catering establishments.
- The number of establishments committing infringements was 11,901. Of these 7,781 were restaurants and other catering establishments.
- The statistics for 1999 and 2000, together with detailed local information, can be found on the Agency's website at
- The FSA's annual Consumer Attitudes Survey, published earlier this year, showed that 70% of people in Scotland regularly or occasionally ate out, that 13% had experienced food poisoning in the last 12 months, and that 74% of those who suffered food poisoning did not report it to anyone.