Todiwala speaks out in Scores on the Doors round table

Cyrus Todiwala was among the speakers at a Caterer round table debate on Scores on the Doors sponsored by P&G Professional and Fairy Expert - and you can read about it in the magazine this week.

The chef proprietor of London's Cafe Spice Namaste Indian restaurant was vociferous in his condemnation of the new programme proposed by the Food Standards Agency for highlighting cleanliness in the UK's hospitality outlets.

"How do you tell people what these stars mean?" asked Todiwala. "I went to a restaurant on Brick Lane once and a rat came into the kitchen. The chef's attitude was: 'It's not my rat, it came from next door.' It's the kitchens that feed the bulk of this country at 3am that we should worry about."

Nick Bish, chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, criticised the six-tier nature of the scheme, with more stars awarded the cleaner a property is deemed to be. "If I get on a plane, I expect it to be safe. I don't want to see some score suggesting how likely it is to crash."

James Arnold, UK business leader (sales and marketing) for P&G Professional added: "Only a tiny percentage will have interest in what the stars mean. If this is to educate the industry about what they should be doing in an ideal world then fine, but the public just want a red flag or a green flag, not three stars or five stars - they won't understand what they mean."

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