National Assembly Committee opens consultation on Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Bill
30 May 2012
A National Assembly for Wales Committee is asking the public for its views on a Bill that will establish a statutory requirement for food authorities to operate a food hygiene rating scheme in Wales.
The Bill also places a duty on food businesses to display their food hygiene rating at their establishment.
The Health and Social Care Committee is calling for evidence as it considers the general principles of the Bill.
Among the questions the Committee will ask are:
- whether the Bill is necessary;
- whether it achieves its stated purpose;
- whether the key provisions set out in the Bill are appropriate;
- what are the potential barriers to the implementation of these key provisions;
- whether there are any unintended consequences arising from the Bill; and
- whether the Bill sets out its proposals in sufficient detail, or whether it leaves too much to Ministers to be set out at a later date.
“Food safety has been a particularly emotive subject in Wales since the E.coli outbreak in 2005,” said Mark Drakeford, AM, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.
“I therefore welcome this Bill as a means of improving food hygiene standards in Wales.
“While the current voluntary scheme has achieved good results, the Bill makes mandatory arrangements for a simple public health measure to give consumers easily understood, at-a-glance information on the hygiene standards of food businesses”.
“The Bill, if passed, will raise awareness of food safety among the public and enable them to make better-informed choices about where they eat out or shop for food. This will be the first piece of legislation to be considered by Members of the Health and Social Care Committee and it is vitally important that we gather people’s views and ideas on this subject.”
The public consultation on the Bill will close on 29 June 2012
More information, including the Explanatory Memorandum, for the Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Bill