MOST of us suffer from a bout of food poisoning at some point, and would agree that it is a thoroughly miserable affair. Thousands of working days are lost every year because of it, thousands of hours of doctors’ time used up.

For children, pregnant women and the elderly, of course, food poisoning can be a very serious - even fatal - business indeed.

Poor food hygiene is to blame for the vast majority of poisoning cases, which means takeaways, restaurants, cafes and hotels should be doing all they can to ensure everything that leaves their kitchens is safe to eat.

According to data collected by government agency Food Standards, however, all too often this is simply not the case. Recent research shows that in Edinburgh almost 40 per cent of fast food joints and a quarter of restaurants failed food hygiene checks, the second highest failure rate in the UK.

Following this, Food Standards Scotland has confirmed it is considering using the law to make food establishments display hygiene ratings on their premises and websites so customers can decide whether to eat there.

Perhaps not surprisingly, some in the food industry are less than keen on the idea, particularly since research shows half of customers would turn away from the doors of establishments with a poor hygiene rating.

But surely consumers have every right to make an informed choice about where they eat? And surely businesses that take food hygiene seriously have nothing to fear from such a scheme – indeed, they are likely to prosper as customers reward them for cleanliness.

Those businesses not up to scratch, meanwhile, would have little choice but to improve, and a mechanism could be built into the scheme to reward this.

Publicly visible hygiene standards in our hospitals helped bring about a dramatic reduction in infections. There is no reason why a similar strategy could not see positive results in our food businesses.

The authorities should now work closely with the food and hospitality industry to make it happen.