More than half of Belgian supermarkets achieve the maximum score in hygiene inspections carried out by the food agency. Smaller food stores and night shops perform significantly less well.
Results analyzed
Since last month, Belgian consumers have been able to request the inspection results of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain via the “Food Hygiene Rating” (FHR for short), an online application available on computers, tablets, and smartphones. The agency wants to contribute to consumer confidence through greater transparency.
Het Nieuwsblad put this to the test and used AI to analyze the results for 66,668 food stores, catering establishments, and other businesses. 5,185 businesses, or 7.78%, received a score of 5, “needs improvement.” This is the lowest possible score, indicating that even after a second inspection, the businesses in question still did not meet the basic requirements for hygiene and food safety.
Procedures and training
3,428 businesses (5.14%) achieved a score of 10 (“excellent”) and were rewarded with a smiley face, which means they pay a lower levy and will be inspected less frequently in the future. Remarkably, more than half of the supermarkets in the sample achieved the maximum score. No other sector performed better: butchers followed at a considerable distance with 9.57%.
“All supermarkets have uniform procedures that are applied in all their stores. These range from staff training and internal and external audits to well-thought-out logistics and stock management,” Hans Cardyn of the Comeos trade federation told the newspaper. Among small food stores and night shops, 18.5% received only a score of 5. In the hospitality industry, the figures vary greatly by sector and region. In Brussels, no less than one in four of the businesses inspected received the lowest score.
