On 1 October, Wales will be first to implement the new Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, a rebranded version of Scores on the Doors by the Food Standards Agency. The scheme is being introduced to 102 authorities across the UK. However looking at the new version of the scheme, I still don’t think it does enough.

The biggest concern for me is that this scheme still won’t assess wholesalers. If you look at the highly publicised food poisoning outbreaks in the last five years, they all originate from this type of source. It’s ridiculous that wholesalers are not being evaluated under the new scheme, particularly those that supply food to the most vulnerable people – children in schools and the elderly in care homes. The Bridgend butcher incident in 2005, which affected over 100 school pupils and resulted in the death of  five year old, Mason Jones, is a prime example of this.

It should also be noted that the new scheme is likely to further increase the burden on Environmental Health Officers (EHOs). They are already overstretched – with limited time, people power and resources – checking the high risk establishments. This new scheme will continue to exacerbate the problem, with EHOs having to review every food outlet within the 102 council regions which have signed-up.

For me, this is nothing more than a rebranding exercise for the FSA. With wholesalers excluded from the scheme and their standards not being visible to the public and the purchasing departments of schools, care homes and hospitals; tragic incidents like Bridgend are sure to happen again.

Earlier this week, while tucking into my bowl of porridge I was greeted with the news that Britain tops the league of filthiest hotels in Europe. Some people might be shocked by this, assuming that standards in Britain far exceed those of the rest of Europe, even the world. I, however, am not surprised in the slightest!

As a company we have worked with hotels and resorts outside of the UK for over a decade. Advising them on how they can improve standards at their establishments and protect guests from picking up a nasty bug. We have only recently started working with hotels in the UK, why is this? Well until of late, UK hoteliers’ attitudes towards health and safety were slack at best.

The main problem was, and still is, a complacent attitude and over reliance on Environmental Health Officers (EHOs). There is a mindset within some quarters of the industry that says it is easier to deal with the consequences of a health and safety breach or a food poisoning incident after it has happened, than proactively take actions to stop it happening in the first place.  Ignorance is widespread, but ignorance is not a legal defence if someone gets ill or breaks their leg on carpet that isn’t properly laid and decides to sue, nor will it do much for the hotel’s reputation.  The responsibility must lie with UK hoteliers and restaurant owners for ensuring they maintain high standards at their establishment.

This isn’t a problem that is going to go away over night and the UK hotel industry really need to step up in order to compete with its European counterparts – who can offer higher standards of quality in sunnier climes.

It is an issue that I am very passionate about – otherwise I wouldn’t be doing my job. Let’s hope the league table shames UK hoteliers into addressing the problem.

Last week we announced that we’ll be working with UK hotels on addressing health and safety needs, very similar to the way we work with our international hotel partners.

We’re already working with a Beatles-themed hotel in Liverpool called Hard Days Night on helping the hotel maintain high health and safety standards.  Once they’ve passed, look out for them on www.checksafetyfirst.com.

While many Brits think that standards of health and safety in our hotels are the highest in the world, some UK establishments simply don’t live up to our expectations.   A combination of complacency, legislation and overworked Environmental Health Officers means that UK hotels are lagging seriously behind international holiday resorts.

Over the last few years many international hotels have really got their act together by investing in systems and processes that regularly monitor key health and safety hotspots in kitchens, pools, guest bathrooms.  The recent surge in tourists holidaying in Egypt and Tunisia is testament to the success of this approach.  We hope to work with UK hoteliers to emulate the same success.

With more Brits choosing to holiday in the UK this year, we’re hoping to prevent guests from being exposed to any hotel with poor standards such as the luxury Riverside hotel in Suffolk, which was recently fined £40,000 for poor cleanliness.  Its filthy restaurant kitchen was strewn with rubbish and rotten food not fit for consumption.

Do you think UK hotels are guilty of poor health and hygiene standards?  Would you like to share any UK hotel nightmares?