FAREHAM and Gosport are set to introduce a 'scores on the doors' scheme to let food- lovers know how clean their restaurants are.
The borough councils have responded to numerous requests from people about hygiene at food premises.
Restaurant-goers will be able to search an online database giving them instant access to the latest information on an establishment's score.
Th
ey will be given an excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory rating, based on the environmental health officer's last inspection.
And restaurants can have a certificate with their rating put up at their premises.
Councillor Arthur Mandry, Fareham's public protection chief, said: 'Although it will be voluntary to display the sign, if you don't see one up you might want to ask yourself why it's not there.'
But he warned that it was no guarantee of quality of the food, only the environment that it was prepared in.
A similar scheme was introduced in the USA and research found it increased standards and a 20 per cent drop in the occurrence of food-borne illnesses.
Gosport council will launch the scheme in time for Food Safety Week, which starts on June 11.
In Fareham, the plan will be debated before a decision by the council's ruling executive at its next meeting on Monday, June 11.
