A foodservice star-rating scheme aimed at boosting food-safety credentials was launched in the capital this week.

The Scores on the Doors initiative, which will be introduced in most London boroughs, is intended to give customers the opportunity to judge for themselves whether or not they want to eat at a restaurant, pub or take-away, before they walk through the door

The project has been widely piloted in London in an attempt to give customers greater transparency in how safe the food they order is produced.

It is hoped that the move will motivate food businesses to raise food-safety standards.

CMi has coached just under 20,000 smaller catering businesses, including take-aways, restaurants, pubs, schools and residential homes in and around the London area to help them implement the Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) initiative, which is linked to the star-rating scheme.

SFBB was developed by the Food Standards Agency and provides a programme to small caterers in a bid to help them comply with new food hygiene regulations that came into force January 2006.

Premises with the SFBB initiative in place are widely expected to achieve a higher Scores on the Doors rating than those with no documented food-safety system.

Chris Pratsis, business development manager at CMi, said: “The SFBB has been a great success and really helped businesses focus on their day-to-day practices. It has also helped them achieve a better rating under the Scores on the Doors scheme.

“A number of boroughs have found that using SFBB has provided a solid foundation for introducing the Scores on the Doors initiative. In fact, many local authorities agree that SFBB has not only provided that link but it really has strengthened relationships with these businesses.

“Since SFBB was introduced last year there have been massive improvements in standards by small catering businesses. The initiative has been a useful way of working with businesses to help them get their score up because it shows a documented food-safety management system, coming under the Confidence in Management category of the Scores on the Doors scheme.”