By now pretty much everyone should know about the Food Hygiene certificate that all businesses serving or selling food and food products have to have to open their doors. But did you know that there are also different standards within that certification.

The great news for us in Heanor and Ripley is that over 500 businesses in Amber Valley have achieved the maximum Food Hygiene rating of 5, and 95% of the businesses registered achieve at least a 3.  I reckon that's something to shout about, don't you?

Food hygiene is a very important issue to us all, and is something we should all take very seriously.  Not doing so puts not only our own health at risk, but the health of our customers and the public.

The rating scheme, launched by the Borough Council in December last year, aims to inform us, the general public, about how clean and safe the food premises we're using are, including butchers, bakers, deli's, day nurseries, pubs, cafes, farm shops and any other business that is retailing food and food products.

The scheme uses a great little window sticker to let us know the business's rating before we even go in to the shop, look out for it - its a little green rectangle with numbers across the middle.  Its all helping to make us more informed about our shopping choices, and helping us to know which are the better businesses in Heanor and Ripley - a bit like we do here at thebestof. 

But apparantly not all businesses are displaying their sticker, so how else can we find out how well our favourite chippy or restaurant has performed?  Well, there is also a great website you can use to check them out if they haven't got their sticker proudly on display. The Food Hygiene Ratings web site is http://ratings.food.gov.uk

Councillor Chris Short, Cabinet Member for Healthier Communities, said:

"Our message to the public is to go onto the Food Hygiene Ratings' web site before they book their table at the restaurant and get used to using the system and spreading the word.  The ratings can change regularly so using the web site more often gives the public a much more accurate picture of the hygiene of a particular place rather than just relying on word of mouth. If they are not displaying a certificate, ask them why not? 

With Coronation Street's 'Rovers Return Inn' displaying its Food Hygiene Ratings Certificate, the scheme could not have developed a higher profile!"

Congratulations to all our fab businesses who have achieved that fantastic top rating!  If you see one, let us know who they are, they are probably one of thebest....