More restaurant owners are signing up to be part of the NSW Food Authority's Scores on Doors program to show customers their food safety results.
Premises at Blacktown, Hawkesbury, Holroyd, Hornsby and Parramatta are among almost 50 council areas participating to date since the program was launched in NSW in 2011.
Scores on Doors is a scoring program that lets the public know how well local restaurants, takeaway shops, bakeries, pubs and cafes are complying with hygiene and food-safety requirements.
Winston Hills takeaway shop Chook-a-licious got a five-star rating recently. To owner Theo Asarloglou, of Kellyville, displaying his perfect score to customers helps reinforce the fact that "you can't buy experience and values".
"We've had this shop for five years but my family has 35 years of experience in hospitality and I know cleanliness is a great foundation," he said.
"Every business should take part in the program and it should be compulsory to display the certificate, regardless of the rating.
"Wouldn't you want to know if the place you're eating in is clean?"
A Food Authority spokesman said displaying food safety and hygiene scores can help businesses see more customers walk through your door.
"Customers can easily see the business has qualified for a score when they visit," he said. "Any level of certificate means the business was free from critical hygiene and food-safety issues at the time of the inspection.
"And you can also promote your score on your website and as part of your marketing program."
The scoring system makes the existing inspection process conducted by councils more transparent, it doesn't involve additional inspections and it is free to participate in.
■ Click here for details.