5. Conclusion
The hygiene rating system could encourage food businesses to
improve the level of awareness of food handlers on food safety and
hygiene and to fully implement a documented HACCP based food
safety system. This system should improve consumer confidence,
but also consumers should have easily assessable information
about hygiene inspection. Nevertheless, this rating system will be
fully successful only after public is aware of them and the same
criteria should be used in all countries.
Limitations of the research stem from the use of a convenience
sample. People interpret numbers and scales differently, but for
data analysis, it was assumed that respondents have the same
understanding of numbers and scales as the researchers. Since the
data were collected in three cities, the current result should not be
generalized. Given the great cultural and other differences within
the three cities, more research is necessary to determine if similar
results would be derived across various other continental and
Mediterranean European cities. This study did not attempt to
specify hypothesis regarding food hygiene profile of an average
European food establishment.