Additionally, face-to-face interviews were conducted by
interviewing managers/owners in the food establishments
visited in each European city. The interviews used in this study
aimed to examine the concern and awareness of the interviewees
toward food hygiene rating scheme. The interviews took place
within the premises and each interview lasted approximately
10e15 min. The first section of the questionnaire included general
information about the food establishment such as the
number of employees, the HACCP system implementation status
and the number of inspection visits and their findings related to
food safety. Due to the fact that rating these establishments is not
a legal requirement in the three countries, as no such method
exists, the second section explored statements covering opinion
of managers/owners on food hygiene rating scoring system,
legislation, the possibility of FHR to improve food safety, consumer’s
confidence and business. All statements gave the respondents
the opportunity to rate their degree of agreement
with their perception on specific statement according to a fivepoint
Likert scale from 1 “strongly disagree”, 2 “disagree”, 3
“no opinion”, 4 “agree” to 5 “strongly agree”. Finally, the managers
had the possibility to give their opinion on possible frequency
of FHR, period of follow-up visits and attitude towards
(non)announced visits.