Orchard Care Homes, provider of specialist residential, dementia, nursing and short-term respite care, is celebrating after achieving an outstanding five-star food hygiene rating across all 39 of its care homes.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) five-star rating is awarded to businesses after consideration of three key criteria - how hygienically the food is handled, the physical condition of the business and how the business manages ways of keeping food safe. Specific areas analysed included cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and pest control; as well as looking at processes, training and systems to ensure good hygiene is maintained.

The five-star food hygiene rating is the highest accolade achievable and reflects the attention to detail and standards across the entire portfolio of Orchard Care Homes’ residencies.

Heather Kerr, Cook at Archers Park Care Home in Sunderland and winner of this year’s Orchard Care Homes Heart Award for Catering Hero, commented: “We make sure the food we serve to residents is always of the highest standard. Food and hygiene form an integral part of the high-quality care we provide and we work alongside our residents to develop healthy menus to suit their needs.”

With this latest award, residents and their families can be confident that, no matter which Orchard Care Home they visit, they will be served the highest quality food, prepared in hygienic surroundings and designed to promote a healthy regime.

Dianne Lilley, Food & Beverage Manager at Orchard Care Homes, was responsible for overseeing the company’s efforts to achieve the rating, she said: “A lot of hard work has gone into achieving a perfect score across all of our homes and we couldn’t be prouder. I would like to say a huge thank you to every cook, manager and anybody else that has helped us to achieve this. Now that we have five-star ratings, we will be doing everything to ensure that we maintain this standard in every one of our homes.”

www.orchardcarehomes.com