A third of Walsall food outlets do not have a 'good' hygiene rating

More than 500 takeaways, restaurants and other food outlets in the borough are rated less than a four out of five, the benchmark for good set by the Food Standards Agency.

Among these are six with the basement rating of zero, meaning urgent improvement is necessary.

A total of 120 are are rated at one, meaning major improvement is necessary, while 102 have a rating of two, meaning improvement is necessary.

The remaining 295 are rated as a three and considered 'generally satisfactory', but still not classed as having good hygiene.

Among those with zero ratings include Ba Ba Reeba on Goodall Street, Food Hut on Stafford Street and Pizza Cottage on Caldmore Road. The latter was forced to be shut down temporarily after a mice infestation was found.

However the figures do represent an improvement for the borough. Back in August, as reported by the Express & Star, Walsall had nine outlets rated as zero and 152 as one.

Walsall Council said it was 'pleased' to see the improving figures and praised the impact of its new scheme.

David Elrington, regulatory services manager at the council said: “We are pleased to see the overall performance of food hygiene improving in Walsall. Our ‘Health Switch Award’ in particular is succeeding in encouraging take-away businesses to not only improve their rating but to also provide healthier meal options to their customers.

"We inspect all premises in the borough at regular intervals to ensure compliance with food hygiene standards. Our Environmental Health team work with businesses to help them comply with food regulations which in turn should help them improve their food hygiene rating score.

"Our staff are also rigorous in taking appropriate action towards those who place public health at risk.”