Website Names and Shames Eight St Helens Food Businesses for Scoring Zero Stars

This post is based on an article in The St Helens Star from 18/09/10. All information provided was correct at the time. Since then many businesses have been re-assessed, especially those that scored poorly on the last round of visits.

A reader has pointed out that the Tai Shan buffet has now been rated as 2 Stars and this is listed on the Scores on the Doors website, along with what each of the ratings constitute

* * * * * (5 star) Excellent
* * * * (4 star) Very good
* * * (3 star) Good
* * (2 star) Fair
* (1 star) Poor
(0 stars) Major improvement needed

Tai Shan is now rated as FAIR as opposed to MAJOR IMPROVEMENT NEEDED.

Approx 650 busineeses in The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens are listed under this scheme. Currently (August 2010) 9 are rated as zero stars and 41 have gained one star. So that means that the management systems, staff training and general cleanliness levels in businesses rated as 2 star are better than those 50 who gained zero or one star.

Here is the article "lifted" from The St Helens Star

Eight businesses have been named and shamed on a website listing council environmental health ratings for takeaways, kitchens and restaurants that serve food to the St Helens public.

The Scores on the Doors website reveals that watchdogs from St Helens Council, checking hygiene standards, gave zero stars to eight out of 642 businesses following inspections.

Those named on www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk

With the worst ratings are Café Carlos and Speedy Gonzales on Westfield Street, Continental Pizza and Crumpets, both on Market Street in Newton-le-Willows.

Also given zero marks are La Vita on George Street, St Helens, Saffron on Tamworth Street, Tai Shan Buffet (please see additional information above) and a business on Church Street that is disputing whether it served food at the time of the inspection.

Inspectors criticised those with no stars for their poor hygiene and stated that they had no confidence in the management to implement a satisfactory food safety system.

All food premises across the town are assessed to see if they are operating within the law and are given a score, which determines the next date of inspection. These vary between six months and up to three years.

Scores given are listed on the website and include public organisations with kitchens such as schools and hospitals. Rankings range from zero to five stars and there are many St Helens businesses and organisations that have achieved top notch marks.

Although there is no legal requirement to publish the scores, councils across the country participating in the scheme believe that there is strong public demand for this information to be made available.

A statement issued by St Helens Council said: “No stars determine that major improvements are needed and no certificates will be awarded.

“The business will be fully supported and guided by the environmental health officers in order to improve their standards.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have just viewed the scoresonthedoors website, and Tai-Shan was awarded 2 stars and not zero as you have claimed. Please get your facts right before publishing, as this can be very damaging for a business

Anonymous said...

At the time the article was lifted from The St Helens Star Tai Shen was listed as having been awarded Zero Stars.

They have since been re-assessed and the site shows them as having been graded a 2 Star.

I did not "claim" anything, my facts were right at the time of publication,however I should have noted that the article was from The St Helens Star, and that "the information was correct at the time of going to press"

I have amended the text of the article to hopefully address the fact that circumstances have changed since the original article was published.

I agree that it can be damaging to a business to have incorrect information shown about it.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention