A NEW report has ranked areas in St Helens based on the number of venues with the highest and lowest food hygiene ratings.

Ratcliffe Cleaning Operators and Online Marketing Surgery have created the Food Hygiene Report, which analyses ratings for eateries in St Helens.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is responsible for ensuring that establishments are up to scratch in terms of food hygiene regulations, and that they are safe to frequent, rates venues following inspections.

Establishments are graded against the following criteria:

  • Hygienic food handling - Hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.
  • Management of food safety - System or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.
  • Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building - Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene.

Ranging from zero to five, food hygiene ratings are given to food handling businesses after an inspection has assessed how well they comply with food safety laws.

The rating reflects the standards of food hygiene found on the date of the inspection.

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Here is how the scores are graded.

5 – hygiene standards are very good

4 – hygiene standards are good

3 – hygiene standards are generally satisfactory

2 – some improvement is necessary

1 – major improvement is necessary

0 – urgent improvement is required

If businesses are awarded a score lower than five, the local authority officer will explain what action they can take to improve.

Which areas of St Helens have the highest and lowest 5 ratings?

Top 5 St Helens Areas with the Highest Food Hygiene Ratings

 

Area

Venues with rating of 5 (%)

Rainhill

83%

Billinge

78%

Rainford

75%

Windle

75%

Eccleston

70%

 

Top 5 St Helens Areas with the Lowest Food Hygiene Ratings

 

 

Area

Venues with rating of 5(%)

Parr

30%

Thatto Heath

47%

Newton

59%

Blackbrook

60%

Haydock

60%

 

To compile the data, hygiene ratings data were sourced from the UK’s Food Standards Agency's open data portal.

Establishments with a food hygiene rating of 5 were filtered out and then this was calculated as a percentage of the total number of rated establishments. Areas that had at least five establishments that had a food hygiene rating were picked out.

 

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of St Helens. Please get in touch at simon.mulligan@newsquest.co.uk