By Conor Sharkey

STRABANE food outlets with a poor safety record face being named and shamed, via a scheme set to be rolled out across the District over the coming months.

The 'Scores on the Doors' scheme has been devised by the Food Standards Agency and will work something similar to the star rating system currently used to grade hotels.

The scheme has already been adopted by councils in Belfast, Banbridge, Carrickfergus and Lisburn.

In these four areas, each food outlet is inspected by local authority enforcement officers who in turn gives it a score that reflects the inspection findings.

A one to five star grading is then applied and made known to consumers via a website

Strabane Council's Environmental Health Department is aiming to bring 'Scores on the Doors' into force here over the coming months.

Chief Environmental Health Officer with Strabane District Council, Paddy Cosgrove explained: "This was piloted across England some time ago, using a one to five star rating.

"We aren't sure whether we will use a one to five or one to three rating system just yet.

"But what I think the scheme will do is give the consumer an opportunity to see what we as environmental health professionals think.

"As for business owners, the incentive will be to run their business as in line with food hygiene regulations as possible in a bid to improve their rating.

"The scheme will instil confidence among consumers that the place they are eating is both clean and hygienic," he explained.

At present, Strabane District Council inspects in excess of 60 food serving properties across the District on a regular basis.

These include restaurants, take aways, schools, nursing homes and creches.

With regards to how local eateries will fair out under the new grading scheme, Mr Cosgrove doesn't believe it will cause too many headaches.

"Speaking from experience, I don't think there will be too many places in Strabane that will fall into the one star category.

"Overall, standards in Strabane are fairly high. We have done a lot of work with local businesses over the past year, through training and education and there has always been a good response.

"Everyone accepts that if you have high levels of hygiene, you will attract more customers.

"As Environmental Health officers, our role is protect the consumer and this scheme will be a physical manifestation of what we think the standards of hygiene are in our local premises," Mr Cosgrove said.

'The scheme will instil confidence among consumers that the place they are eating is both clean and hygienic.'