The Intertek Food Hygiene Control Programme covers four areas: Properties, Products, Processes and People.
Intertek said one of the challenges faced by firms in the hospitality and food services industry is the lack of comparable audit results across multiple countries with real-time access to reports and benchmarks.
The optional programme ensures properties have correct hygiene inspections, cleaning and disinfecting processes, that products including food and water are sampled and tested to ensure best practices are used for processes and people are effectively trained to support a food safety culture.
Audits take place on average up to four times per year and can be announced or unannounced.
Depending on the size of facilities, number of sites and staff at each site, audits can take between two to four hours.
Calin Moldovean, president for Intertek’s Business Assurance and Food Services, said the programme is supported through an online platform allowing its auditors to upload reports in real-time.
“Each report will be easily accessible and linked by a mobile solution, enabling clients with multiple sites to track food hygiene and make comparisons by site. To ensure global consistency, our auditor training is also conducted though a mixture of E-learnings and local technical mentoring, providing uniformity in results.
“Following the successful completion of the audit, a client’s site will be eligible to be awarded with the hygiene control mark created by Intertek, providing visible evidence to consumers of each site’s commitment to food safety and minimizing risk.”
Intertek has 1,000 laboratories and offices and employs more than 42,000 people in 100 countries.
Businesses in Wales and Northern Ireland are already legally required to display a rating from zero to five given by council environmental health teams.
Those in England and Scotland are not forced to display ‘Scores on the Doors’ ratings.