Ealing One of Worst in UK For Food Hygiene

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Borough has high percent of restaurants and cafes that need improvement

Ealing is one of the worst boroughs in the UK for food hygiene in restaurants and cafes.

Out of a total of 360 council areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the borough is the area with the second highest percentage of restaurants and cafes with poor ratings with 28.2% rated 0, 1 or 2.

The figures have been revealed by the Food Standards Agency after inspections carried out by local authorities under the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme.  

Every food business is awarded a hygiene rating between 0 (urgent improvement necessary) and 5 (very good). 

 

Cllr Greg Stafford, Opposition Leader said, ''A good food hygiene rating gives people the confidence that a business is taking food hygiene seriously.  They also need to have confidence that the Council is proactively inspecting and re-inspecting these businesses to make sure that they meet the stringent requirements of selling food that is safe to eat.

''Ealing’s rating as the second worst performing borough suggests that the Labour Administration is clearly failing residents in this area.”

Ealing Council say they are doing all they can to help businesses improve and have pointed out that in 2015/16 they served 35 hygiene emergency prohibition notices ( the second highest number in London and the third highest nationally). They carried out 12 prosecutions - the second highest number in London, and issued 1,188 written warnings.

A council spokesperson said, ''Ealing is a large and diverse borough with around 3200 food businesses and manufacturers. We work closely with businesses to help them operate safely and legally and the majority have a hygiene rating of three or above. However, those who persistently fail to operate safely and who are putting the public at risk face tough action from us and we will not hesitate to give a low rating if it is justified.

“We issue all food businesses with a window sticker showing their hygiene rating. Our advice is to always check the rating at www.food.gov.uk before buying food from any business; this includes supermarkets, cafes, corner shops and butchers, as well as restaurants; and if a business is not displaying its window sticker, to be curious about why that might be.“

18 January 2017