Look before you book

Residents are being advised to make sure they are aware of the food hygiene ratings of a café, restaurant or takeaway before they visit.

Food safety officers from Rossendale Borough Council visit all premises in the borough for inspections and give a rating from 0 to 5, with 5 being the top score for hygiene and food safety measures.

It is not possible to tell what rating a business has by how clean and tidy the staff look or by how busy the restaurant is and businesses are not legally obliged to display their food safety rating in a prominent place

The way to check that an establishment is meeting the food safety regulations is to check online on the Food Standards Agency website.

In Rossendale less than 3  percent of businesses have a score of less than  3 – generally satisfactory. That means  over 500 food outlets are achieving or surpassing the minimum standards.

Sam Plum, Director of Communities, at Rossendale Borough Council, said:

“While we have lots of great places to eat in the borough the odd one is not doing everything it could do to follow the regulations.

“However, it’s people power that will encourage businesses to their raise standards by customers choosing to go elsewhere.

“So if you’re eating out make sure you look before you book.”

To find the rating for a business check online at  www.food.gov.uk/ratings or download the Food Hygiene Rating app