Brisbane City Council’s food hygiene rating system EatSafe has been adopted by other councils, a move that has been hailed as proof of the success of the often-maligned program.

It’s not proof of anything, other than bureaucratic self-congratulation.

The program, developed by the LNP administration in 2010, replaced an annual visit by council food safety inspectors to all Brisbane food vendors with one that awards them a star rating.

Restaurants awarded a three star rating still receive a yearly inspection, while those awarded a four star rating receive a visit from council officers every second year.

Those with a five star rating are inspected every third year.

According to lifestyle chairman Krista Adams, four councils – two in Queensland and two in Tasmania – have now adopted the system pioneered in Brisbane, which she said brings a greater degree of transparency to the city’s restaurants, cafes and takeaway food sellers.  

Cr Adams said 91 per cent of the city’s more than 6000 food outlets had been deemed by EatSafe inspectors to be operating at a three star level or above.

However, her comments promoting the success of the program came in the same week it was revealed a South Bank restaurant awarded four stars had been prosecuted over a woman finding a cockroach in her risotto in April last year.

Council Opposition Leader Milton Dick described the reduction in annual visits as a “cop out. … It’s more PR than actually tackling food safety standards in Brisbane.

“In principle it is sounds good but in practice it doesn’t deliver what it says it will.”