Which? wants compulsory licensing for all restaurants

Rat droppings, dirty fridges and out-of-date food are causing half of all restaurants to fail their hygiene inspections, according to research published today by the Consumers' Association magazine *Which?* *Which?* researcher Pete Tynan visited 10 restaurants in Birmingham, Cambridge and London with a team of environmental health officers. Of the 10 restaurants, five failed their inspections. At one restaurant inspectors saw a mouse scamper across the kitchen floor and disappear into a hole in the wall. At another there was urine and water pouring into the kitchen through the roof, while at an Italian restaurant in London's West End they found out-of-date food in the fridge and rat droppings among boxes of vegetables. The manager of the restaurant admitted she did not have any qualifications in catering. As a result of the findings, the Consumers' Association is calling for the licensing of all restaurants in the UK. It believes this would help improve hygiene standards and would ensure all staff were trained in basic hygiene. In the UK, restaurants should be registered with their local authority before they open. But, because registration is not strictly enforced, many are not. And there is no legal requirement for restaurants to be inspected before they start serving food to make sure they have good hygiene procedures in place. Tynan said: "While most restaurants don't pose any serious health risk to their customers, many could improve their standards of hygiene." He added: "We'd like to see licensing and compulsory basic hygiene training extended to all catering establishments."