New app shows restaurant hygiene score

The Netherlands Food and Wares Authority (NVWA) has developed a new app to inform consumers of the cleanliness ratings of the restaurants that they visit. This app is available from today and can be accessed with a smartphone as well as through the NVWA website.  The app has compiled information for almost 2000 restaurants in which customers can see whether, for example, the staff wash their hands properly, or if there has been a pest problem. The cleanliness ratings works with color coding. Green means the restaurant has passed inspection and is clean. Red means that the restaurant has violated once or multiple times. Publishing inspection details has been on the to-do list for Parliament for some time. "This is a first step. Perhaps the next ones will be the shoarma and döner shops and the cafeterias. This publication of assessments is a first step towards the publication of all 45,000 catering establishments", NVWA inspector Ghislaine Mittendorf says. According to the Algemeen Dagblad, there are currently 32 businesses with orange status. These failed two out of three hygiene inspections. Most of these violations were in food preparation. Minister Edith Schippers of Public Health is happy with the app, saying that it is a step towards transparency. "The consumer gets information and can see how the hygiene conditions are in a business. For companies, it is a good stimulus to have hygiene in good order." Schippers wants to publicize inspection results more often over the coming years, such as in healthcare and youth care, and hopes to be able to pass a law amendment to do so, the Algemeen Dagblad reports.