Six businesses in the Royston area are listed as requiring major improvements to meet acceptable food hygiene standards, a Crow investigation has revealed.

A study of more than 150 inspections carried out by North Herts District Council since the start of the year has found that, while more than half received the highest score possible, dozens of eateries were rated as below par.

Across the district 19 per cent of the places inspected were classed as ‘non-compliant’, which means they scored a rating of two or fewer out of five.

Among them were three Royston firms and three further businesses from North Herts villages nearby which all received a one star rating – the second lowest available.

Mughal Kitchen in the town’s Kneesworth Street received one star when inspected in February, but manager Abdul Jaffar said there had been a change in ownership since and that the Indian takeaway was due to undergo a reinspection by district council officers.

Fast food takeaway Golden Sun in Burns Road was given the top rating – a five – and manager Sang Wong said: “The ratings are generally good for small businesses, but it can be hard for those that struggle with English who do not understand the procedures.”

Five years ago, the Food Standards Agency introduced a nationally standardised rating scheme – from zero to five stars – and took the step of not only publishing the rating, but the report as well.

Hygiene bosses say this has generally reduced the number of places failing to meet standards, but our figures suggest there is more work to do.

Councillor Bernard Lovewell, responsible for environmental health at North Herts District Council, said: “The council has been operating the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme for two years and has been targeting resources on some of the poorer performing businesses to help them to improve their standards.

“We are really encouraged that currently only one premise has a zero rating and the broad compliance – three, four and five ratings – increased to 87.1 per cent between April 2014 and March 2015 from 80.7 per cent in 2013/14.

“Another focus has been to address the number of premises which didn’t have a rating and, as of the end of March this year, more than 95 per cent of businesses have now been rated. We have also achieved 100 per cent of scheduled food safety inspections.”

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Click here for North Herts food hygiene ratings.

l Statistics for South Cambs District Council will be published next week.

North Herts ratings map

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