Dicksons, South Tyneside’s much loved traditional family pork butcher has proved once again it’s a class act, scoring top marks in the council’s newly launched Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

Dicksons shops and mobile ‘Hot Stop’ have been awarded a top score of five for their food hygiene standards in some of the first tests to be carried out across the borough.

The new Food Hygiene Rating Scheme has been introduced by South Tyneside Council to let customers know about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, hotels, supermarkets and any other food shops across South Tyneside.

The initiative, which is also being rolled out across other parts of the region and the rest of the UK, provides consumers with a visible, honest assessment of the food hygiene levels at individual businesses. Companies are encouraged to display their star rating stickers and certificates in their windows or on their doors so that customers can see at a glance how well they have scored.

Sue Hendy, technical manager at Dicksons said: “For a business handling cooked and uncooked products we have always had to have stringent hygiene systems in place. We have invested heavily in technology within our butchers and bakers at our HQ and in updating our shops to ensure that all our processes meet the high standards demanded by our customers.

All our team, whether based in store or within our factory receive regular training to ensure that they can handle food safely and confidently.

“We pride ourselves on the quality of the food we produce, making many of our products to age old Dickson family recipes, which is why we won’t allow for any slip ups and place so much importance on food hygiene. We will certainly be displaying our stars in our windows with pride.”

Established in The Nook, South Shields in 1953, Dicksons now employs 240 staff across its thriving chain of 21 retail shops and its South Shields based Head Office and production facility. It was named Coutts UK Family Business of the Year 2010 in recognition of its on-going success and growth.

It sells a wide range of premium meat products, including freshly cooked deli meats, sausages, bacon, pies, and a selection of hot and cold food on the go, all carefully produced at its South Shields base by a team of skilled craftsmen.
 

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