Cllr Simon Wright, environmental health spokesman, South Hams Council, writes: Mike Matthews made a ­number of points about South Hams Council's food safety inspection programme in his letter in the October 24 issue. His comments came in light of legal proceedings taken against the Globe Inn, Frogmore. Fortunately, cases such as these are rare and ­prosecutions are based on the risk posed and usually as a last resort after adopting a staged approach to enforcement. The council's food safety team follow Food Standards Agency codes of practice. These provide criteria against which compliance is judged. Dependent upon the level of compliance, food businesses are risk rated, which determines the frequency of inspections, and this is built into the council's inspection programme. We do not release inspection reports routinely, but these can be made available upon application to the council under the Freedom of Information Act. The national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme adopted by the council lets consumers see a food business's hygiene compliance rating at a glance. This is displayed on a green and black sticker at the entrance to the premises. Ratings are also shown on the FSA website at http://www.food.gov.uk">www.food.gov.uk. Although the law currently does not require the display of the sticker, we are keen to encourage consumers to ask business proprietors their ­rating or check the FSA website prior to buying food. Some 60 per cent of our food businesses have the highest rating of five and some 91 per cent are broadly compliant, with ratings between three and five. The council has run successful seminars for businesses to assist them in meeting the hygiene standards expected and will shortly run sessions to enable food businesses to comply with the forthcoming Food Information Regulations. These require them to provide allergen information to consumers. We have a dedicated team of officers at the council that adopts a professional and ­pragmatic approach, balancing business need against risks to consumers.