A NEW study has revealed that food hygiene standards at takeaways and sandwich shops in East Hampshire are among the highest in the country.
Out of 355 council areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, East Hampshire had the 16th highest percentage of eligible businesses rated either good (four) or very good (five).
Every business that serves food is awarded with a hygiene rating between zero and five under the scheme. Of the 54 applicable takeaways and sandwich shops in East Hampshire, 66.7% had the highest rating of five. No premises received a zero rating at their latest inspection.
The council area with the highest percentage of top ratings was North Devon, where a staggering 100% were rated good or very good; although East Hampshire was not far behind on 92.3%.
The data is from inspections carried out by each local authority under the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme is on the Food Standards Agency website and the study was compiled for a company that runs a discount voucher website.
LoveMyVouchers.co.uk director Linda Firth said, “We conducted this study to help raise awareness about food hygiene ratings, as they can be a useful measure for customers deciding which takeaways to spend their hard earned money on.”
Food establishments in Wales and Northern Ireland are obliged to clearly display the rating that they receive under the Scheme, with England to follow suit from 2019.
The study details are available on the website www.lovemyvouchers.co.uk/lifestyle/takeaway-food-hygiene-study
The data can be seen on the Food Standards Agency website ratings.food.gov.uk