Just Eat has just become the first online food delivery company to publish the official Food Hygiene Rating of every restaurant listed on its platform.
Customers now have direct access to the latest Food Standard Agency (FSA) hygiene information for over 30,000 restaurants and takeaways.
The move comes as new data reveals that 93% of people agree that it should be mandatory for all food businesses to openly display their food hygiene information online. 81% say they find it important to know the Food Hygiene Rating of a food business before they purchase food from them.
Graham Corfield, UK Managing Director at Just Eat, said, “We spoke to customers about the information they want before choosing their takeaway and their feedback was clear. They want easy access to independent information about the hygiene standards of their local restaurants and we’ve worked hard to make that a reality. This will have the dual benefit of giving customers all the information they want, while also incentivising restaurants to invest in food safety and ultimately drive standards up across the whole industry, even when food isn’t being ordered via us.”
While it is not mandatory to display the official Food Hygiene Rating of restaurants online, Just Eat’s update makes ratings instantly clear in-app and online, greatly improving transparency of restaurants’ hygiene standards and going beyond the regulatory requirements.
In addition to the food safety ratings, customers can also inform their choice by reading reviews and ratings of restaurants on Just Eat from people in their local area. Customers score restaurants across food quality, restaurant service and delivery time, and also have the option of leaving a detailed review. Last year, Just Eat customers left over 13 million reviews on the platform, sharing their feedback on the best places to eat locally.
The nationwide publication of restaurants’ official Food Standards Agency (FSA) ratings follows a successful trial of the initiative in over 600 restaurants in Northern Ireland earlier this year. Just Eat consulted extensively with the Food Standards Agency and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) ahead of the launch of the new feature going live today.
Heather Hancock, FSA Chairman said, “I am pleased to see Just Eat taking the lead by making this positive step to publish the food hygiene ratings for businesses on their website. Having this transparency allows consumers to consider food safety when choosing to order food online and will help drive up standards across the sector. I encourage others in this sector to follow suit.”
Kate Thompson, CIEH Wales Director said, “This latest announcement by Just Eat is excellent news. More and more consumers are choosing to use online food delivery platforms. The availability of food hygiene ratings at the point of ordering will enable them to make informed decisions about where they purchase food. We would like to see others follow Just Eat’s example.”
Earlier this year Just Eat announced a £1 million investment to provide bespoke training programmes to improve standards among restaurants with ratings lower than three in partnership with NSF, the leading global food safety consultants. In addition, Just Eat removed all zero-rated restaurants from the platform and introduced a new policy whereby all new restaurant sign ups require a minimum Food Hygiene Rating of three. Just Eat has also offered access to Level 2 food hygiene training and certification to every business on the platform since 2016.
