Horsham District Council is to ask the government to require shops, cafés and restaurants to display their food hygiene rating scores.
While the need to display the scores has been law in Northern Ireland and Wales for a number of years, it is not so in England.
Many outlets display their scores anyway, but Philip Circus (Con, West Chiltington, Thakeham & Ashington) said people may find it ‘very unsatisfactory that it is not a legal requirement’.
Essentially, the concerns is that those with lower scores simply don’t share them, leaving customers unable to make an informed choice about where to eat.
During a full council meeting, Mr Circus asked if the matter could be raised with the government, Local Government Association and the District Council Network ‘in the interests of our residents as consumer to these establishments’.
Jay Mercer, cabinet member for environmental health, recycling & waste, said he would raise the issue as requested by Mr Circus.
He added: “Our own environmental health officers, as part of the Sussex Food Liaison Group, fully support mandatory display and have made the case to the Food Standards Agency on several occasions over the years.”
As for companies caught displaying inaccurate scores – an issue reported by the BBC – Mr Mercer said no such cases had been uncovered in Horsham.
