An evaluation of a system in Scotland that combines food hygiene inspections and food standards has found that it is not yet working as well as hoped.
The Food Law Rating System (FLRS), introduced in 2019, combines the food hygiene and food standards rating systems that rate companies and producers into one regime.
The aim was to reduce the duplication caused by two separate systems and allow local authorities to focus their resources on high-risk, non-compliant food businesses.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) commissioned IFF Research to evaluate the FLRS to determine whether it had achieved its design objective.
Authorized food officers from all 32 Scottish local authorities and eight stakeholders, including current and former FSS staff and representatives of industry and professional bodies, were interviewed between February and April 2024.
Resource issues
There was general positivity about the FLRS flying experience. However, several pilot authorities said their concerns about the potential resource intensity were not taken into account.
Respondents were positive about combining the food hygiene and food standards systems, with most believing this was a logical step.
Most local authorities and stakeholders reported that the initial implementation of FLRS had been a difficult and lengthy process. Some authorities had only recently achieved full implementation, and some had yet to fully implement the system when they participated in the survey.
Several participants said the difficulties they faced stemmed from the unfortunate timing of the system’s introduction – in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions. Local authorities pointed to budget constraints, staff shortages and IT requirements as challenges. It was widely reported that resources were under pressure prior to the introduction of the FLRS.
There was mixed feedback about the extent to which the FLRS had delivered the intended results. Many felt that the system had been successful in appropriately aligning standards by combining food hygiene and food standards assessments into one system.
The majority felt that consolidating rating systems had reduced duplication and administrative burden. However, some said the broader inspection criteria had resulted in longer visits and an increase in post-inspection administrative work.
Visit backlog
Respondents said the FLRS performance ladder has expanded the risk category of many businesses and increased the required frequency of inspections for some categories. There was widespread demand for a review of the performance ladder, including inspection frequencies and bandings used to categorize companies.
Most local authorities reported that they are unable to meet their inspection or re-inspection targets for high-risk and non-compliant establishments under current conditions.
Some said the need to spend time regularly re-inspecting high-risk, non-compliant establishments has prevented them from maintaining planned inspection frequencies for lower-risk, broadly compliant sites , to keep track. Many were concerned that this could reduce compliance among this group.
Several local authorities and industry representatives felt that it was a missed opportunity to reform the system without including the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) in the FLRS. They said pushing food standards into information visible to consumers could push companies to improve.
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