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There has been much made of Trip Advisor reviews in recent times, as business owners begin to fight back against potentially harmful and inaccurate anonymous reviews.

Now, however, there is a real opportunity for restaurateurs and hoteliers to really fight back against unsubstantiated claims of food poisoning. The Advertising Standards Agency has already ruled that Trip Advisor cannot claim to offer trustworthy reviews. This ruling is due to reports that some reviewers do not leave objective reviews, while others use them to blackmail business owners.

It is now thought that businesses that fall foul of unsubstantiated claims, which could be potentially devastating for the future of their business, could sue the authors of such reviews for libel.

This is important news for those businesses that comply with food hygiene practices and ensure that employees receive food safety training. While every business serving, preparing or selling food has a duty to protect the health of their customers, there are measures in place to deal with those that fall short.

Some claims of food poisoning reported on websites such as Trip Advisor are not reported to the relevant authorities, but are simply used for personal reasons to damage reputations.