Scores on the doors

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Scores on the Doors refers to the publication in the UK of Food Hygiene inspection summaries by food businesses.

A term perhaps first coined by the British comedian, Larry Grayson, on his quiz show The Generation Game in the 1980s, more recently associated with the publication of Food Hygiene inspection summary information in the UK. At the 2004 CIEH conference, the institute called upon the government to mandate the publication of food inspection information, citing similar schemes in the USA, Canada and Denmark which had been successful in improving compliance and promoting better consumer choice.

On 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information act (and Environmental Information Regulations) came into effect and councils slowly began to publish the information on the internet and via certificates. However there was no uniform grading/banding system and many councils chose their own schemes, thus making comparisons difficult and misleading. By October 2007, over 130 out of 400 authorities were publishing the information and the Food Standards agency committed to recommending a National scheme to its board in March 2008. The scheme has proved very popular with the public, the most popular site - www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk - receiving over one million hits per month with an average of 22 page views and 7 minutes per user on the site. Many examples of improvements in compliance and a study by the University of Northumbria in October 2007 confirming the benefits.