Birmingham city council and Hyndburn borough council have been ranked as the worst areas in the UK for poor standards of hygiene in their cafes and restaurants, for the second year running, a new analysis has revealed.
Consumer group Which? said the enforcement regime was buckling under “huge strain”, with under-resourced local authorities struggling to cope with soaring complaints from the public – about dirty conditions and food poisoning, for example – and facing an increase in their workload because of Brexit.
Using official data collected by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Which? analysed and ranked 390 local authorities across the UK. The benchmarks it used were the percentage of food businesses deemed to be at “high and medium risk” that were compliant with food hygiene standards; the percentage of premises opened but not visited or rated for risk; and interventions needed that had actually been carried out.
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