The Danish government launched a so called “Smiley scheme”
in 2001 in order to enhance the protection of consumers’ interest
(Nielsen, 2006). Regarding this scheme, all inspections results are
summarized in the form of a symbol (a Smiley face ranging from
big smile to sad face) and food establishments are obliged to
publish this symbol at the entrance door to the eating place. By
doing this, customers are provided a simple and convenient way
of identifying the hygiene conditions of specific food establishment.
According to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration,
a market survey conducted in November 2007 showed that
97% of consumers supported the Smiley scheme and this way of
presenting the hygiene conditions in restaurants and food outlets
(Denmark, 2011). A Similar system was introduced in the United
Kingdom in 2004, when the Food Standards Agency of United
Kingdom launched a pilot scheme e “Scores on the doors”
(SOTD) to make hygiene inspection information of food establishments
available at the business premises and online via the
Internet for public viewing. These schemes are intended to
measure and numerically express food businesses against legal
compliance in three areas namely, hygiene compliance, confidence
in management/control systems and structural hygiene,
with the lower score reflecting a higher standard. According to
the results of Wright et al. (2008), “Scores on the doors” schemes
encouraged food businesses to improve their hygiene standards
and might have led to measurable improvements in hygiene inspection
scores.