Food vendors delight at their Scores on the Doors
Over 70 people representing around
50 businesses were invited to the Civic
Centre on Monday 6th October 2008 to collect
their Scores on the Doors certificates, awarded by Harlow
Council's Environmental Health team.
In a keynote speech the Council's
Chief Executive, Malcolm
Morley, applauded the Scores on the Doors scheme for
rewarding those businesses who had demonstrated an
excellent standard of hygiene; for providing an
incentive for food vendors to raise
their standards and for putting information for the first time
within easy reach of the public.
| Councillor Edna Stevens, Vice Chairman of the
Council, formally activated the website at the heart of
the scheme, and the audience were given a demonstration
of its features including how easy it was to find the hygiene
ratings of food premises, including the opportunity for
operators to add further
information about their businesses to the site. |
 |
Those present who had achieved 4 and 5
star ratings were photographed as they were presented with
their certificates by Councillor Stevens, and
Environmental Health Services staff were on hand to discuss
any issues with businesses and to arrange for free coaching
sessions for those that wanted to improve their scores. All
businesses were invited to participate in coaching
sessions, 16 of which signed up for coaching on the
day.
The system worked perfectly and in the 24
hours since its launch the site has registered 2251
hits searching for scores for Harlow premises. For more
information on the scheme go to www.harlow.gov.uk and click
the Scores on the Doors link at the bottom of the home
page.
Chairman of the Environment & Community
Committee Councillor Eddie Johnson said:
"The launch of the new scores on the doors
scheme is great news for the people of Harlow, who will now be able
to make an informed choice about where they buy their food. It also
shows that we in Harlow value quality in our restaurants, cafes and
other food establishments and will hopefully encourage more
visitors to come and try out some of the fine cuisine the town has
to offer.
"It is great to see so many four and five star
awardees in the first round of certificates, which shows that there
are already plenty of excellent places to eat in Harlow. Similar
schemes are already up and running in other parts of the country
and these have a good track record of improving quality across
these areas."
Vice Chairman of Harlow
Council Councillor Edna Stevens said:
"It was great to see so many businesses here
to collect their certificates, which just goes to show how proud
they are of the very high standards they have set. Those businesses
who didn't manage to get a four or five star award now have
something to aspire to and the Council's Environmental Health team
will be on hand to give them all the help they need to reach the
high standards set by the food vendors here today."